In the fruit processing industry, handling produce quickly and accurately is the key to quality product.
Technology such as UNITEC’s Cherry Vision 3.0 allows just this and is currently operating in Centralpac and Remarkable Orchards’ packhouses in Central Otago.
The Cherry Vision 3.0, an evolution of the Cherry Vision 2 UNITEC system, is an intelligent and automatic technology allowing accuracy in the quality selection of cherries.
The processing technology can classify fruit according to multiple quality parameters independent from each other. This includes external and internal quality as well as optical calibre and colour.
With this equipment, Centralpac and Remarkable Orchards are able to sort fruits according to the preservation and distribution needs for different markets and offer the final consumer cherries of a quality that meets their tastes and expectations.
UNITEC’s high automation and accuracy means packhouses can save on labour and increase production efficiency.
“A product characterised by such consistency in quality is a product capable of winning over the end consumer in the long term, because it minimizes any disputes between the agreed quality and the quality actually delivered,” says Angelo Benedetti, UNITEC president.
“Therefore, thanks to UNITEC technologies, packing houses can achieve a competitive advantage and enjoy export opportunities otherwise unthinkable, even in countries far away from the place of handling and with particularly high-quality standards.
“Therefore, our technologies are ideal for the New Zealand market, which focuses its export activities toward Asian countries, which are notoriously very demanding.”
The company works with customers to understand their needs and accommodate their requests as well as conducting further research and development.
“From this combined action derive technologies which can respond with great effectiveness to the needs of packing houses all over the world: increase in the efficiency of handling processes; labour costs reduction; maximum reliability and precision in classifying fruit according to multiple parameters, thus achieving a particularly homogeneous product within each package and over time, which is able to satisfy even the most demanding consumers; high delicacy in fruit treatment, which can preserve all the organoleptic characteristics of the product; enhancement of the quality offered to the market.”
