Italian cooperative Apofruit invested in a Compac InVision TotalView cherry sorting platform in 2018 to enhance it ability to deliver consistent quality efficiently. The system was installed in time to save the 2019 cherry season, which got to a terrible start with heavy rains that compromised the quality of the crop. With the InVision TotalView platform, Apofruit was able to recover good fruit even from the poor lots it received in the early weeks, resulting in a positive outcome for the cooperative, which closed the difficult season profitably and was able to support its farmer members.
Apofruit is an excellent example of the advantages that Compac’s automated sorting technologies can bring to packhouses, as explained by Roberto Ricci, Compac regional director EMENA: “Compac has developed extensive experience in the world’s key cherry markets, including Washington State and California in the USA, Chile, New Zealand, Italy, Greece and Turkey. This enables us to develop innovative solutions tailored to meet the diverse needs of processing plants. As Apofruit’s experience shows, by transferring this experience to marketing focused companies we can help them guarantee the quality of their premium products and give them a competitive advantage.”
Italian cooperative Apofruit operates 11 fruit and vegetable processing plants and 15 facilities for produce collection and storage in the country. It works closely with its farmer members from across the national territory. In its more than 50 years of operation, it has maintained a steady growth aiming for a high degree of specialization in the country’s main fruit and vegetable products. It strives for continuous quality improvement and variety, innovating in its offering and processes, and providing tailored services to match the requirements the different retail channels. With this aim, in 2018 the cooperative invested in Compac’s InVision technology for their cherry processing line at their plant in Vignola and for sorting organic apricots, peaches, nectarines and citrus fruit at the plant in Scanzano Jonico. Both systems were supplied, installed and supported by Compac’s partner in Italy, ICOEL.
How to deliver consistent product from an inconsistent supply
Apofruit’s decision to purchase the Compac technology was driven by its mission to consistently deliver the highest quality produce to its customers, as well as two key challenges of the sector. The first one is meeting the very different requirements of the various types of Apofruit’s customers, which range from supermarket chains to smaller retailers. Flexibility and speed are key to success.
The second challenge derives from the fact that the bulk of the country’s cherry production comes from small farmers. The cooperative receives a multitude of small lots of mixed quality. These are collected at its facilities where they undergo a water-cooling process, then shipped to the Vignola plant near Modena for grading, processing and packing. This fragmentation of the supply significantly adds to the complexity of managing the whole process from receiving, storage and processing, all the way to the final sale. It also means processing a supply of mixed quality to deliver a consistent product, which would be impossible without significant manual grading –resulting in additional labor costs.
World leading size, shape, color and blemish grading for cherries — even from poor fruit lots
The solution offered by Compac is a full Compac SFS 6L InVision 5-View line, later upgraded with the TotalView inspection module. The InVision technology combines powerful imaging, controlled lighting and cherry rotation to enable accurate and consistent grading for size, shape, color and blemishes. This performance is taken further with the TotalView module, which provides seven views of the cherry and detects stem and nose defects such as rain cracks and mildew, while keeping current production speeds.
