PACKAGING LEADING THE SECTOR
BRILLOPAK
UniPAKer robotic packer at the ‘ core ’ of apple producer ’ s automation
Kent apple producer Adrian Scripps is leading the sector in terms of automation – and Brillopak ’ s award-winning UniPAKer robotic crate packing cell is the cornerstone of its intrepid approach .
Adrian Scripps ’ unwaning commitment to automation has been key to building and maintaining its market-leading position as Tesco ’ s largest apple supplier . Few apple packing facilities have adopted robotics , as they haven ’ t found solutions that enable high speed packing without damage to fruit , so instead they elect to stick with manual methods . However , by putting its trust in Brillopak ’ s pioneering UniPAKer technology , Adrian Scripps has seen a threefold improvement in productivity per person .
“ Apples are not an easy fruit to handle because they bruise very easily . This , combined with the need to execute a range of crate patterns , made this project a challenge that couldn ’ t be met by a
Reduction of labour is a consideration , but it is productivity per person that we are really interested in .
mechanical system . Brillopak rose to the challenge ,” says James Simpson , Managing Director of Adrian Scripps .
Adrian Scripps is 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 . 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 much change in the way that fruit is handled at the company ’ s centralised packing facility on Moat Farm .
In 2018 , Adrian Scripps took the decision to invest in two completely new fully automated packing and palletising lines and upgrade the end-of-line kit on two existing lines , following an investment in new flow wrapping equipment . Its existing mechanical layer crate packing systems were limiting output , as they could not keep pace with the flow wrappers .
“ Our existing packing system was working flat out at 15 cycles per minute ; we soon worked out that we could put apples into the flow wrapper much quicker than this ,” recalls James .
84 PECM Issue 49