| Root Crops
New carrot handling facility at Poskitts set to be
the UK's most advanced
As one of the UK's larger producers and processors of
carrots, potatoes and combinable crops, M H Poskitt Ltd,
better known as Poskitts, has chosen leading handling
equipment manufacturer Tong Engineering to design a
new carrot handling facility in-line with their business
objectives of long-term growth, whilst minimising crop
wastage.
esigned to
incorporate the
latest optical
sorting equipment,
the new carrot
handling facility is
currently being installed on-site at
M H Poskitt Ltd in Goole, East
Yorkshire, and is set to offer fully
automated sorting of Poskitts' over
1000 tons of carrots each week.
The new Tong carrot sorting
facility will handle Poskitts washed
carrot crop and is designed and
built over two levels, incorporating
a specially designed mezzanine
floor to ensure the complete
sorting process can be completed
within one building on site at
Poskitts. Washed carrots are
received onto the new high-care
stainless steel sorting line by a
series of elevators and conveyors
that feed an impressive seven-line
optical carrot sorting system which
integrates seven fully automated
Visar Sortop optical sorters of
which Tong is UK distributor. A
sophisticated conveying system
receives the sorted crop and
transfers graded crop to boxes,
bags, or onward for cooling,
weighing and packing.
D
"As we continue to advance and
invest in our vegetable handling
processes, we are very
focussed on not only improving
the throughput and quality of
our sorting processes, but we
are also very committed to
minimising the amount of crop
that goes to waste"
"As we continue to advance and
invest in our vegetable handling
processes, we are very focussed
on not only improving the
throughput and quality of our
sorting processes, but we are also
very committed to minimising the
amount of crop that goes to
waste," explains Guy Poskitt,
Managing Director of the family
farming business M H Poskitt Ltd.
"The new Visar optical sorters use
an advanced camera system
which will allow us to fine-tune
grade specifications, ensuring no
good carrots go to waste. Where
our previous grading systems
required a considerable amount of
manual sorting and inspection, the
new Visar sorters will sort crop
automatically, ensuring a more
consistent and accurately sorted
end product. This will ultimately
increase the percentage of
saleable crop, resulting in an even
better end product for our
customers, including leading
supermarkets, whilst maximising
our yield for other markets too."
"We are proud to wash, pack
and distribute all of our products
from one site, ensuring we can
control all aspects of production.
Tong Engineering really looked at
our aims and objectives for the
new sorting facility and have
custom-designed an advanced
system that meets our
requirements, all within one of our
existing buildings on site. We are
very excited about the capabilities
of our new sorting facility from
Tong. I'm looking forward to seeing
more of our carrot crop going to
good use, and in doing so,
minimising waste," added Mr
Poskitt.
"The new Tong line at Poskitts is
one of the largest and most
advanced of its kind in the UK,"
said Charlie Rich, Export Sales
Manager at Tong Engineering. "We
have worked with M H Poskitt Ltd
previously to supply other
handling equipment for the farm,
so our existing relationship meant
that we were able to work very
24 | Farming Monthly | July 2016
closely with Guy and his team on
this large-scale project to design it
to their exact requirements. The
intelligent controls and advanced
camera sorting systems integrated
within the facility will give Poskitts
even more capabilities to achieve
an exceptionally high quality end
product, and this really reflects
their position as one of the UK's
leading carrot and vegetable
producers."
The new carrot installation is
due to be in full production for
Poskitts' busy carrot harvest and
processing season this Summer.
"The new Visar optical sorters
use an advanced camera
system which will allow us to
fine-tune grade specifications,
ensuring no good carrots go to
waste”
www.farmingmonthly.co.uk