Helping Your Bottom Line

OBJECT LESSONS
Stockton, CA-based Grower Direct Marketing, LLC provides an interesting case study in the benefits of adopting optical sorting technologies. Although the company handles a number of commodities, sweet cherries are a specialty, and cherries provide a particular challenge to traditional sorting techniques. They’re small, dark in color, high in number, and with a tiny surface area that makes it easy to miss defects and quality issues.

When the company decided to make the switch from manual sorting and inspection to an optical system, Grower Direct did not take the change lightly, traveling to Washington and then to Europe and South America to assess the different types of systems available.

“We have two optical machines from Unitec,” confirms Grower Direct’s sales director, Jim Hanson. “One machine is 40 lanes and the other is 32 lanes.”

The decision to go high-tech had an immediate effect on the bottom line. “We now have the ability to provide a consistent size and quality of fruit,” he explains. “We’ve gone from five different sizes and styles of packing to over 15.” With one ‘mind’—in the form of the software that runs the optical sorting equipment—the grower-shipper is able to more easily distinguish top-quality fruit, “versus the old way of having hundreds of humans making that decision.”

Jim Frost, product manager at Tomra Sorting Solutions in West Sacramento, CA, emphasized the differences in quality. “With our equipment, companies can see a recovery of as much as 10 percent of product through higher yields and better utilization,” he contends. “This can add up to an enormous savings over time.

“In terms of food safety, you will see a dramatic increase in the ability to spot foreign materials, and these sorting machines are far more capable of detecting very fine cracks and flaws in the surface than the human eye,” Frost adds. This level of precision can add up to major savings and increased profits, as flaws that might have previously consigned fruits to waste can now be recouped into categories lower than premium-grade produce.

CONCLUSIONS
Since optical, laser, and spectral sorting technology involves a number of different factors (such as the type and quality of the scanning equipment, the delicacy of the handling mechanisms, the degree of integration between hardware and software, the limits of interaction between automated systems and human operators, as well as the myriad machines targeted towards specific commodities), the more research company managers do before making a decision, the more it will pay off down the line. Though wading through the many options may seem overwhelming, the competition and constant stream of innovation make this a very good time to move into optical sorting.

And while the average shopper or diner may not have a clue what the difference between an optical or laser sorter is, or even how to spell ‘spectrograph,’ they’re reaping the benefits just the same.

As Key Technology’s Azzaretti puts it, “Although many end consumers don’t know much about digital sorting technology, they’re certainly aware of the benefits that technology delivers. They can rely on the fact that the products they purchase and eat will be consistently safe and of high quality, and since digital sorters also help the packing operation be more efficient and cost effective, in the long run, this translates to cost savings for the consumer as well.” With machines working harder—and smarter—than humans ever could, sorting technology is the kind of substitute even Mr. Edison would approve.