"The new system guarantees satisfied customers and lowers export risks," says Two-a-Day (Pty) Ltd Group Operational Director Dawid Malan. "It means greater productivity and confidence in our ability to supply fruit of every given grade and weight on a consistent basis."
Two-a-Day (Pty) Ltd is one of South Africa's largest suppliers and exporters of apples and pears and Malan is referring to the most modern sorting system in the world, installed at their plant in Grabouw. This came after software malfunction with their previous system. A lengthy process to pick a new supplier followed. Criteria including quality, spare parts and user friendliness played a significant role in Greefa of Holland and MED Automation being appointed to supply the new sorting system.
Over the years Greefa has focused on the development of defect-specific sorting, and the newest version - the fourth generation Intelligent Quality Sorting (IQS4) line - adds significant value to the grading of summer fruit such as apples and pears.
The high resolution colour and infra-red cameras combined with the new software developed by Greefa, cancels out the use of sorting by hand almost completely. This not only saves time and effort, but is also extremely accurate and consistent.
At least 60 3D photographs are taken of each fruit. This results in a very reliable record of each intake's quality, colour intensity and the percentage of green to yellow to red.
"This means quick and accurate sorting, and because the fruit is subjected to the minimum physical handling due to Greefa's patented flap-system, you get a better end product of consistent quality," Malan explains.
The aim is to eliminate sorting by humans and only to use employees for the removal of rotten fruit right in the beginning and for packaging as such.
"This way we run no risk of human error and the packer is relieved of his task to get rid of fruit that had slipped through because of this. The packer is left only with the task of packing. Multiple handling is now also a thing of the past as the machine itself does the grading.
The traditional way of having a sorting table with a group of people sorting produce is being replaced by an automatic sorting system. The result is that the development per square meter is much cheaper, because a much smaller space is needed for the same output but with a more consistent result.
MED Automation and Greefa's innovative approach to output and abilities of equipment lowers the risk with a major capital investment. Time, effort and money will be saved over the medium to long term which will enable companies to fund future capital development," says Malan.
"In the meantime we continue our good relationship with MED Automation and Greefa and stay in touch on a weekly basis to improve the programme's accuracy to get it as close to 100% as possible."
