CONTROL & AUTOMATION TRIPLING PRODUCTIVITY
BRILLOPAK
Apple producer picks Brillopak to automate packing facility
A complete end-of-line automation project with Brillopak has seen Adrian Scripps , Tesco ’ s top apple supplier , triple productivity per head .
The project saw Brillopak install two PAKStations , four UniPAKer robotic crate packing systems , four Crate DESTAKers , two bale arm closers , four vertical accumulation units and three robotic palletisers . Thanks to this investment , Adrian Scripps has tripled productivity from 2.5-5 packs to 15 packs per person per min . This has enabled the packing hall to align its capacity with increased production that has come about as a result of replanting orchards , introducing new varieties and adopting new farming methods .
“ Any equipment investments in our packing house have to stack up against investments in our orchards ,” says James Simpson , Managing Director of Adrian Scripps .
Adrian Scripps ’ commitment to automation has earned this family business pioneering status in a sector that is heavily reliant on manual labour for picking , processing and packing .
“ In our sector it has been difficult to automate ; you might assume that apples flow easily because they are round , but they don ’ t … and pears are even more awkward , so there are considerable handling challenges to overcome . But we have invested significantly in automation so that we can pack apples more efficiently and it is paying dividends ; our productivity per person has been accelerated by robotics ,” says James .
From starting life in 1960 as a traditional Weald of Kent fruit , hops and livestock farm , Adrian Scripps has grown into one of the UK ’ s premier growers and packers of English fruit . Several varieties of apple – Braeburn , Kanzi , Jazz , Opal , Gala , Red Prince and Bramley – along with Conference pears and blackcurrants , are grown on five farms totalling 750 hectares .
As well as being the UK ’ s largest exporter of apples , the family owned farming business is one of Tesco ’ s key apple suppliers – a relationship that stretches back more than 30 years and has seen
Brillopak immediately understood what we were looking for and very quickly got to grips with the challenges .
much change in the way that fruit is handled at the company ’ s centralised packing facility on Moat Farm .
TOP OF THE TREE
In a sector that has historically shied away from automation , Adrian Scripps has become something of a trailblazer whilst remaining true to its roots as a family farming business .
Whilst every single apple is still handpicked , the company ’ s sorting operation has been automated for over 30 years . Here , fruit is transported through a presizing machine in water channels ; letting the apples float like this protects them from bumps , bruising and damage that may result from over-handling . Imaging technology checks the colour , sugar content , internal quality , size and shape of each individual apple , identifying any blemishes and imperfections . Apples are then graded by weight , quality etc . Same category fruit are packed into 300kg plastic crates and transferred to the packaging operation .
“ This means that the packaging operation is presented with a uniform product that has already been sorted and graded ,” says James .
It is the packaging process that has been the company ’ s focus for automation in the last eight years , initially with the aim of reducing handling through a linear automated process .
Historically , apples were sold either loose in moulded fibre trays or in plastic bags with a neck tie . Both packing operations were entirely manual , and packing staff worked at a rate of 2.5-5 packs per minute ( ppm ) on average .
Then , in 2013 , Adrian Scripps took the decision to invest in automated flow wrapping equipment , accelerating the speed of the packaging operation .
“ That left us with lots of packs coming off the flow wrapper at speed , creating a very repetitive task – that was when we engaged Brillopak , who we knew had experience in automation in FMCGs for the grocery trade ,” explains James .
On visiting Adrian Scripps , Brillopak quickly got the measure of the situation .
36 PECM Issue 47