US-based Walker Cranberry, a grower and processor of fresh cranberries under the Ocean Spray brand, has increased its production efficiency and capabilities by automating its cranberry sorting process.
The company installed Key Technology’s Optyx 3000 Series Sorter with raptor laser technology to maximise the removal of defects and foreign material while reducing labour costs.
The Optyx 3000 has improved product quality consistency without using a lot of manpower.
Prior to installing Optyx with Raptor, Walker Cranberry relied on 24 hand sorters to pick out inferior or defective cranberries and now they only require two.
The company noted that in the past, if a problem on the line occurred, it had to be slowed in order for the hand sorters to keep up.
However, the Optyx 3000 enables the flow on the line to be consistent regardless of the quality of the incoming product, which in turn allows the company to run the bagging machines at maximum output.
Optyx 3000 Series Sorter
Optyx with Raptor uses a combination of colour cameras and laser technology to inspect the fruit and automatically removes defects and foreign material based on colour, size, shape, and the objects’ optical properties.
Depending on the needs of the application, Optyx with Raptor can be configured for either single-side or top-and-bottom scanning.
It can be equipped with multiple cameras and sensors, including colour, ultraviolet, visible infrared, and monochromatic cameras as well as Key’s newest FluoRaptor fluorescence-sensing laser technology.
For more information contact Anita Funk from Key Technology.
www.key.net