Key Technology helps secure McDonald's deal

Konya Seker, the innovative Turkish processor, decided to try something different on their potato strip production line.

Unlike other potato processors that use optical sorters to remove defects on their primary lines, Konya Seker relies on an ADR®5 Automatic Defect Removal System from Key Technology. This new application, called the ADR®First solution, maximizes product quality and increases yields at Konya Seker.

"Thanks to our state-of-the-art equipment and our know-how, we're able to produce high quality product. Because the quality of our product is so high, McDonald's is working work with us. Having equipment from Key Technology helped us win that important account," said Ilker Cabukol, the factory manager at Konya Seker responsible for the company's potato operations. "Our production line is the highest capacity potato processing line in Turkey and the most modern."

The ADR 5 identifies the same kinds of defects on potato strips as many optical sorters but the removal of these defects are handled differently. Sorters remove the entire strip that has a defect while ADR cuts the defect from the strip and removes only the defect. Compared to lines with only a sorter, ADR®First achieves the same defect removal rate while reducing by-product yield loss by 75 to 80 percent.

Currently, most potato processors use a sorter on the primary line and an ADR on the sorter's reject stream to reclaim good product. This traditional configuration typically achieves a 64 percent defect removal rate. ADR®First enables a processor to achieve an 80-95 percent defect removal rate while eliminating the capital cost associated with the sorter.