A crucial lifeline for the sustainable and high-quality potato industry is data. Businesses have access to the most sophisticated data tracking in optical sorting with Bühler Insights.
Understanding the monetary value of a company’s time is crucial to comprehend the value of data in optical sorters. The company’s specialists estimate that if a company is manufacturing EUR10,000 worth of vegetable goods an hour and a problem is found two hours later, the company may have lost EUR20,000 in revenue.
“This is just scratching the surface of the value of data in […] potato sorting, but it gives an idea of the cost of not connecting and utilizing data. The world needs to adapt to survive, and that includes the agriculture sector. Simply, data provides us with statistics that show behaviors, human behaviors, and machine behaviors. The more we understand behavior, the more we can optimize, patch up the leaks, react speedily, and create a leaner, healthier business,” according to Bühler’s experts.
Blockages
Frequently, potato processing will involve frozen products. A common problem is when a product clump or ice chunk gets stuck and causes a blockage. This becomes a more significant problem when the blockage obstructs the camera view detecting the product. In this scenario, a perfectly good product can end up in the rejected stream, wasting resources and money.
As a solution, the company’s experts say that the data integrated into Bühler SORTEX machines easily and instantly recognize blockages, reporting them on the dashboard and triggering an alarm This means the issue can get sorted quickly with minimal contamination or loss of good material.
Variations in Product Quality
Two differently farmed potatoes may both be nutritious, but they’re not always equal when it comes to processing costs and quality. Fruit and vegetable processors will often receive their raw materials from multiple suppliers.
“The problem? One supplier’s quality may be better than another despite both farmers being paid the same. This could go unnoticed without the ability to measure and analyze the wasted material,” the specialists mentioned.
In this case, the solution comes from data that can effortlessly show which supplier has a greater rejected percentage appearing in the dashboard. The data will visually show problem areas, allowing customers to identify and act to reduce costs and become leaner.
“This could mean negotiating with the supplier for a better deal, and if they ask for proof, they can always be shown the data,” the company’s experts declared.
Human Error
Companies will often process more than one type of product, and SORTEX is highly skilled at sorting different products, the problem is when operators forget to switch the mode accordingly to the product.
As an explanation and a solution, the company’s engineers say data outperforms human reliability. Bühler Insights provides a timeline of the mode selected, making it easy to track the issue and resolve it before too much good product is wasted.
“While the agricultural world is still rooted on the ground, the digitalization of agriculture is increasingly being seen as an ally in keeping fruits, vegetables, and potatoes high quality, clean, and sustainably produced,” the company’s experts concluded.
A source: https://www.potatobusiness.com
