Helping Your Bottom Line

Increasingly sophisticated optical and laser sorting technology has become an essential tool for produce suppliers. Learn how new breakthroughs in machinery and equipment can speed up the quality control process, making your business more efficient and profitable.

OPTICS AND LASERS
Thomas Edison once said, “There is no substitute for hard work.” But Edison, who was a master of introducing new technologies, did not foresee the rise of optical and laser scanning—which have made it much easier for the human hand and eye to be replaced by electronic eyes, mechanical manipulators, and a computerized brain to put forth the same effort with better results and less labor.

Sorting technology tends to fall into one of three different categories: optical sorters, which use sophisticated cameras to visually inspect produce for color, shape, and size; laser sorters, which use amplified light to detect structural properties and unexpected contaminants; and combined systems, which use both lasers and cameras, often with spectrographic and other sensor mechanisms. Although optical imaging was first used to sort beans as long ago as 1932, the twenty-first century has seen a marked increase in the quality of sorters as well as radical advances in efficiency and the intelligent software to make them run.

With sorters and scanners having reached such a high point of efficiency and precision, adopting this technology is a smart move for growers, packers, and shippers, and can provide benefits to every part of the supply chain, from farm to table. But what should motivate a decision to adopt this technology, and where will its benefits be most apparent?

FACTS AND FIGURES
With recent advances in sorting technology, optical and laser scanners are applicable to almost any size or variety of fruit. Stuart Payne is the director of GP Graders based near Melbourne in Victoria, Australia and says the company’s graders are especially suited to cherries, but can benefit growers of other types of stone fruit, berries, grapes, small tomatoes (cherry and grape varieties), and even potatoes.

“Our system uses a combination of three different scanning equipment—an optical camera, a laser scanner, and a spectrograph,” Payne says. “These are layered over one another and analyzed by the software, which then allows us to deliver an unprecedented degree of precision. This means a uniformity of size, shape, color, and integrity that is simply not possible for human inspectors.”

Steve Dessaix is a procurement manager at GP Graders, and explains that yes, the initial startup costs of installing optical sorters can be a concern, but they typically pay for themselves in a very short time through the quality of the work and the elimination of slow and inefficient manual labor. “Our equipment uses multiple high-definition cameras, filtered to specific light frequencies to sort products for defects, color, and size,” he explains, which allows packers to grade more fruit and be more productive.

Additionally, Dessaix says the equipment “reduces overall sorting and packing time, and increases the quality of grading through the ability to view the inside as well as the outside of most fruits, which increases both shelf life and export potential.” It also opens up a new revenue stream, as fruit can be more precisely categorized by grade, reducing waste and resulting in a more saleable product.