We have been thrilled by the speed in which Brillopak engineered , in-stalled and integrated all the upstream electronics
in-step with each other again ,” explains Will . “ The speed is very much governed by the processing speed of our baggers and checkweighers . Although the case loader is capable of going faster , we wouldn ’ t want it to compromise the quality of our produce ,” adds Will .
With most carrot crates destined for supermarket shelves , consistent display presentation of the carrots , face up and positioned straight up with the branding and labels clearly visi-ble to consumers is vital . Huntapac ’ s existing merging system and bag flippers ensures that each carrot pack is horizontally aligned before being fed into the Brillopak case pack-ing machine .
Four packs are then presented individually onto a collation support plate , nudging each one along until there are four slightly overlapping packs . Director David Jahn describes the sequence : “ The concept follows a similar principle to a coin pusher arcade game . As one lands on the previous pack , gravity pushes them over to create crate-ready layer .
As soon as the four packs are in position , a side load slider gently pushes the carrot packs onto a flap opening device located directly above the crate . Simultaneously to the carrot packs lowering into the crate , the slider flap lifts , retracts overhead and drops be-hind the next set of carrots , pushing next accumulation towards the crate flap .
The flexibility of the system assists Huntapac to respond to the seasonal peak demands , including the packing of parsnips – another core part of the grower ’ s business . The night shift also regularly runs smaller Chantenay carrots on the line .
FERTILE GROUND FOR GROWTH
With Brexit and COVID compounding the resourcing issue , moving from a fastpaced la-bour intensive crate loading operation to an automated system has been welcomed by the farm . Better staff satisfaction has been observed by Will : “ Because we are removing the reliance on agency staff , our productivity per person has significantly increased . Our core Huntapac packhouse team was excited to see the machine go in and felt really con-nected to the project and the wider benefits of eliminating labour intensive routine activi-ties of this nature . The wellbeing , safety , motivational and upskilling advantages were ev-ident from day one .”
Although crate insertion and removal is
currently performed at the end of the cell manual-ly , the carrot farmer hasn ’ t ruled out automating the crate destacking and palletising phase to complete its packing automation cycle in the future .
As an extremely marginal business , automation has become an imperative in fresh pro-duce packing operations . “ In many instances where margins are already compressed , af-fordable automation can be more effective than implementing traditional lean manufactur-ing enhancements which tend to only deliver incremental efficiency improvements . Espe-cially when labour input costs are rising higher than fresh produce commodity prices ,” notes David Jahn .
Not only does the reduction of manual work streamline packing processes , it also reduces waste and improves worker safety . Flexible machines which can be adapted to seasonal produce and future packing and product applications further increases their viability , with less risk .
Due to the success of this installation , Will is considering automating case loading on all 16 carrot lines , potentially creating a dedicated parsnips line too .
Will concludes : “ We have been thrilled by the speed in which Brillopak engineered , in-stalled and integrated all the upstream electronics . Within a couple of hours our carrot case loading machine was up and running and hasn ’ t stopped performing since . The lev-el of communication throughout the project was exceptional and I don ’ t recall ever having a machine with this level of complexity run so well from day one .”
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