Unitec Innovation For Washington And Oregon Cherries: A Revolution In Efficiency

Wenatchee (WA) – After the excellent results achieved by California packing houses thanks to Unitec technologies, cherry season goes on with Unitec innovations, with two 48 lanes cutting edge installations set up in The Dalles (Oregon) at Orchard View packing house and in Dallesport (Washington State) at The Dalles Fruit.

“By using Unitec technologies – Donald Gibson, General Manager of The Dalles Fruit, declares – we are obtaining significant benefits: more accurate sizing, the ability to defect sort with less manual labor, the ability to detect the internal condition of the cherry with the infrared cameras.  This allows us to set softness parameters, which was not possible in the manual sorting system we were using.”

Both installations are equipped with Cherry Vision 2 technology, the system completely developed by Unitec for the selection of internal and external quality of cherries, that represents an important step forward in the quality selection of these fruits.

This means high production volumes and a real revolution in terms of efficiency, also thanks to the automatic package filling system AC_350, 100 % made in Unitec.

On one hand, high productivity and efficiency. On the other hand, accuracy and reliability when sorting and packing.

“We are getting really good results with this Unitec technology in terms of defect removal. – declares David Ortega, one of the owners of Orchard View. –  It can sort out things that we never got out before, customers are much happier with the quality of the product they are receiving and our sizing is much more accurate than our old technology.”

“Our clients are growers, and the people that buy our cherries. – Donald Gibson of The Dalles Fruit adds –  The growers are getting a much better job at sorting, we are able to deliver a better product to our consumers, so I think it’s a win-win.”

What holds these factors together is Unitec innovation, applied to complete installations such as the ones that have been recently set up, which are the result of a close partnership between Unitec and two companies that are eager to meet the market needs with quality, professionalism and efficiency, such as The Dalles Fruit and Orchard View.

After all, this is in Unitec DNA: continuous innovation and cutting edge solutions that are inspired by the real needs of packing houses and that can therefore bring about important improvements in terms of cost reduction, quality selection and higher efficiency of the packing phases.

“The machine worked great from out of the gate. – concludes David Ortega, one of the owners of Orchard View – It was a huge jump for us, a very large packing line, to go to a 48 lanes which at the time was the largest in the world. For us their machinery worked great. ”

To sum up: improvements that considerably increase the packing houses profitability.

Unitec S.p.A. is an international company that operates in more than 50 countries out of Italy, in which it has 95% of its turnover.

It specializes in the design and manufacturing of innovative technologies for processing, sorting, quality selection and packaging of over 35 kinds of fresh fruit and vegetables.

For over 90 years, UNITEC has been committed to improving fruit and vegetables processing quality in the several countries of the world where it operates, providing technological solutions and services based on innovation and at the highest standards in terms of reliability and profitability for its Clients.

On an international level, UNITEC has created a network of branches of its own in some of the leading fruit and vegetables producing countries (Washington and California in the USA, France, Spain, Chile, Argentina and South Africa) and a sales structure that allows it to meet clients’ requirements in the over 50 countries in which it operates.

Source: Unitec S.p.A.