|
 |
 |
 |
| |
|
Fruit
Packaging System Throughput Increased by
Fifty Percent With Unique Marking and Vision Systems
As
seen in the November 2002 issue of Packaging World...
By coupling
a vision system with an advanced marking system during the past year,
a San Joaquin Valley fruit packing organization has been able to increase
the speed of its packaging operations by 50% and significantly boost product
count accuracies as well as material handling efficiencies. Essentially
it has a new product management system.
 Thanks
to special software developed with Matthews International experts for
its S.C.I. F.I. 3200 ink-jet marking system and using Sinclair International
Ltd's Vision Recognition System, a superior product management operation
has been launched by Fowler Packing Company for its peaches, nectarines
and plums. This is now going into its second year of what Philip Parnagian,
one of four brother partners in the company, predicts will be another
successful year in the 50 years of the organization, which was founded
by their father.
Special Requirements of Produce
" Receiving, segregating and shipping perishable
and variable produce like our fruit all over the United States -- and
much of it abroad -- takes cutting-edge technology," Parnagian says.
"Because of the critical need to deliver our product in the most
time-efficient manner, as a consignment packer we have to pay careful
attention to all aspects of our material
handling, marking, packaging and delivery
activities. In addition, we are a seasonal business that runs from May
to late September and are mandated to giving optimum shelf-life to our
product. As a result, we have to receive, pack and ship on a daily basis."
He explained
that 60 percent of the fruit processed is Fowler's own, while the remaining
40 percent comes from different growers for whom they pack and market.
Fowler grades the fruit it receives, washes and sizes it, applies stickers
and packages it in ten different styles of packs and finally ships it
in refrigerated trucks to all of its customers. Pricipally, the style
of packing is loose-filling 25 pound or heavier containers, one and two
layered plastic trays or boxes with cavities. Premium quality fruit moves
in one-layer boxes, always of higher maturity and quality.
 Process
The Sinclair vision system analyzes the image from each box of whatever
style fruit to determine the count, Parnagian explains, with the lower
count per box indicating larger size fruit. When the boxes emerge from
the Sinclair machine they enter the Matthews S.C.I. F.I. 3200 small character
marking device section.
When Application Support
Manager John Hogue of Matthews developed the blended vision/marking software
into a product management system he incorporated a bar code containing
the Sinclair quantity data and merged it with Matthews ink-jet box marking
data along with the fruit variety information and lot numbers (i.e., grower
numbers). Hogue explains that the bar code was essentially needed for
the palletizing operation. The total system, he says, assures that all
shipments contain the same fruit, fruit variety and count, but this depends
on split-second timing in the process. When received it comes in bins
4'x4'x 28" high.
For example, if the fruit is Black Beauty plums, the operator flips a
switch that connects the marking system PC to the printer. He then downloads
the Black Beauty plums and lot number (grower #) to the printer. He then
throws the switch back to connect the vision system to the printer for
the production run. For that production run the vision will be downloading
the fruit count for each individual box, which is printed as a bar code
or human-readable number. That bar code or number is used by the palletizing
system to sort boxes with identical counts of fruit.
Efficient Material Handling
 The system today processes l,800 boxes per hour per machine or 30 boxes
per minute. Parnagian says: "We used to have workers stamping individual
boxes by hand. Today we can handle intermixed boxes and quantities, stack
them on pallets with each pallet holding the same size boxes. Our special
conveying system assures efficient handling." The operation automatically
stacks boxes three high, which are bundled in threes prior to manual palletizing.
The Matthews 3200 can print one or two lines of adjustable characters
(3/32" to 13/16") at speeds up to 240 feet per minute. It has
a single source of data control because of its built-in networking software
MATTCOM™ - making it easy to monitor and control coding systems for
reliable, uninterrupted printing. It has a pressurized ink supply.
"By virtue of the new software which blends the Sinclair Vision Recognition
System and Matthews marking technology we are achieving our desired throughput
in a way that is efficient and economical," Parnagian says. "Matthews
was the only company willing to write the new software, integrate it with
the other machinery and achieve our goals. I knew I was dealing with two
good companies who understood my goals and wanted to work together. The
system took six months to develop, and it paid for itself by the end of
its first season." Overall, the new system is more accurate, faster,
permits easier handling at the retailer end, and provides superior handling
efficiencies.
SCIFI 3400 DOD InkJet Product Page
|
 |
 |
|
|
