The Most Important Piece of the Puzzle in Automating Product Inspection

Each potato processor aims to maintain control over the product quality they deliver to their customers while increasing process yield. They are increasingly looking for equipment that achieves these goals while being simple to use. Technology must be intuitive now more than ever, allowing a new operator with no technical background to learn how to use the equipment in less than an hour.

“Potatoes themselves have their own specific set of defects that sets them apart from sorting other types of vegetables, but there are also the requirements specific to sorting & processing potatoes, for example handling the wide range of different sizes, and data about length, shape, throughput and so on,” Buhler’s product manager, Joel Chase, mentioned.

One of the most advanced potato sorting types – optical sorting – is characterized by very high throughput requirements, highly automated processes, a challenging environment, 24-hour operation more than 350 days a year, no tolerance for foreign objects, and extremely high customer quality standards.

This type of sorting is the most important piece of the puzzle in automating the inspection of product at various stages throughout the process. It allows processors to achieve unprecedented levels of food safety, product quality, and consistency. The throughput of modern optical sorting devices combined with the accuracy and reliability in detecting foreign material (FM) and product defects cannot be matched by any other technology. The potato processing industry would not have been able to achieve exponential growth over the past decades without the implementation of optical sorting equipment. Optical sorting equipment is also providing a huge amount of valuable process data that helps processing companies improve their process, and product quality and save cost.

“Optical sorters feature sensors that can recognize a wide range of product attributes including color, length, diameter, shape, structural properties and chemical composition to detect and remove FM and defects from the product stream and separate product by grade,” Key Technology’s marketing director, Marco Azzaretti, told Potato Business Digital. Non-optical sorters such as rotary sizing and grading systems and multi-deck shakers rely primarily on mechanics instead of computerized devices to perform various operations such as separating product by length or diameter or removing fines or FM that is either heavier or of a different size than good product.

An optical sorter offers the ability to sort for the widest range of product characteristics simultaneously, among many other benefits. The biggest downside to a digital sorter, compared to non-optical alternatives, is the initial cost of the equipment, although improved product quality, increased yields, and reduced operating costs often generate a rapid payback.

You can read the rest of this article in your complimentary e-copy of Issue 3 of Potato Business Digital 2022 magazine, which you can access by clicking here.