LUGO, ITALY - And just like that cherry season is in full swing in California, and like every year, harvest is keeping growers and packers on their toes as the season comes to a close in just a few weeks.
This season, thanks to UNITEC lines equipped with Cherry Vision technology, 12 cherry growers in California, including O-G Packing Company, Morada Produce, Chinchiolo Stemilt, Felix Costa & Sons, M&R Packing, Podesta Packing, and Warmerdam Packing, are approaching the peak of the season with ease. Nine of these lines were already operational in the past season, while three were successfully installed this year, with all of them providing great results since their launch.
“The start-up of our New UNITEC 20 lanes went well and the machine is great for Rainiers. The distribution is very even and with minimal drops. The drops are very shot and gentle on the product. The whole atmosphere of the line is calm,” Tom Gotelli, Partner of O-G Packing Company, said.
While this California season has been challenging, particularly due to adverse weather conditions during the winter that drove a significant reduction in volumes and quality issues, UNITEC’s Cherry Vision proved to be valuable for the automatic sorting of the quality.
“This year we purchased a 12 lanes UNITEC line with Cherry Vision 2. The start-up went well and we are very happy with the sorting,” said John Warmerdam, General Manager of Warmerdam Packing and Co-Founder of The Flavor Tree Fruit Company.
According to a press release, Cherry Vision, designed and developed by UNITEC’s R&D, is a reliable and strategic ally for cherry packers and marketers, and offers several advantages to customers in seasons where the quality of incoming product is affected by bad weather.
This season, Cherry Vision made a difference as the automation and high reliability of its sorting abilities based on internal and external quality helped save in labor while also allowing uniform and consistent final packs that continue to create a positive relationship with customers and ensure a top quality product.
“We installed 16 lanes equipped with UNITEC Cherry Vision this season. Start up went really well. UNITEC had a lot of support onsite to insure the start up. We all installed a UNITEC Cluster cutter that is working extremely well and a UNITEC Eliminator sizer that is very gentle and does a good job at taking out the small fruit,” said Fred Podesta, Owner of Podesta Packing. “We also installed a AC_350 high speed box fillers. This filler is gentle and handles the volume that UNITEC said it would. All in all this was a very good investment for M&R and Podesta Packing.”
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