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Left top: Pacific Nuts premises outside view. Left bottom: Pacific Nuts orchards. Right: SORTEX F walnut sorting at Pacific Nuts[/caption]
Left top: 3-in-1 machine close up. Left bottom: Pacific Nuts quality products. Middle: Christian Infante General Manager at Pacific Nuts. Right: Uriel Tosco Managing Director at Sortechnology SpA[/caption] 3-in-1 solution The SORTEX FB2 can smoothly handle walnut halves of up to 8-ton capacities per hour in a 1200 mm tray. With Bühler’s unique ability to ‘split’ its machines for multiple re-sorting, both mechanically and at a software level, Pacific Nuts has benefitted from a ‘three-machines-in-one-solution,’ consisting of 600, 400, and 200 mm independent partitions. The primary partition is intended to quickly and efficiently process an average of 1.5 to 2.5 tons of walnuts halves per hour, removing not only color defects, septum nuts, and foreign material such as sticks and stones, but also sorting the halves by shape – this allows Pacific Nuts to remove any large, medium or small pieces from its main product flow. The remaining two partitions are used to re-sort the rejects online, helping to reduce good product losses and unnecessary bins/grain containers handling and optimizing logistics and processing times within the plant. Unique shape technology “After the cracking process, a mixture of halves and quarters is obtained, which are separated by sieves and also by the SORTEX F. Having a system for the separation by shape and size is really helpful since it allows us to keep more than 85% of our halves. Reaching these values simplifies the task at the selection tables, which increases our efficiency and allows us to produce a high-quality product,” Infante says. This is all thanks to Bühler’s PROfile shape detection software. Unique shape recognition algorithms can detect any misshapen halves (3/4, large, medium, and small pieces), as well as sticks and foreign material. “PROfile technology ensures that we have minimum product waste and maximum profits,” Infante mentions. "Uriel Tosco, Managing Director at Sortechnology SpA says: "The SORTEX F is a popular choice amongst nut processors in Chile due to its incredible versatility. With the ability to solve up to three different processes in the same sorter, the SORTEX F simultaneously combines our cutting-edge color, texture, and shape technologies for unmatched FM detection.” Challenges and opportunities Like many businesses, in 2020, Pacific Nuts faced challenges that they could never have anticipated: a world pandemic. Infante states, “Fortunately, the food industry and, in particular, our business did not stop. On the contrary, consumption of our products increased throughout the year, which allowed us to end the year on a positive note. “In 2021, we will be taking the opportunity to update our machinery and increase our production capacity by 30%, meaning in this coming season, we will have more and better-quality products to offer our customers.” –By Bühler Source: Email/GFMM
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