Have you seen the Compac DVD?  If not, ask your local sales rep or email us at  info@compacsort.com

Compac currently has used machines for sale click here to view 

Freecall numbers are available for customers to access the Compac Service Teams in Australia and the USA.

Australia Free Call:
1800 682 857

USA Free Call: 
1877 402 1755

Technical Support is also available via email at:

techsupport@compacsort.com

For all Near-Infra-Red (NIR) internal defect sorting enquiries contact Nick Cooper at TasteTech 

Phone: +64 9 622 4434
Email: info@tastemark.com
Web:   www.tastemark.com

Compac's Website has been redeveloped to facelift the look and also make it easier for you to get in contact with your local Compac representative to receive information about Compac products - click on the above image to visit.

Export markets have quality & safety regulations that must be met by the pack house before the fruit is imported. To meet these requirements, the pack house must take a random selection of fruit to be used as a testing sample, straight from the fruit going over the Sizer - this is referred to as Sampling.

Specific regulations vary between markets, and the Sizer software has for a long time performed sampling to satisfy these different requirements.

However typical sampling methods mean that significant numbers of high-value fruit are sacrificed to meet sampling requirements. This can represent a significant cost in the production of a batch.

Our very latest innovation to the Sizer software’s sampling functionality is called Substitute Sampling. This ensures that only fruit of a particular size, grade and quality will be used for sampling.

Where regulations allow it, Substitute Sampling allows the pack house to send all high-value fruit to be packed and sold, while using low-grade fruit to meet sampling requirements, providing an instant saving.

French growers taking notes as Director of Operations Marvin Record explains the benefits of NIR use at Zirkle Fruit

Growers tour a Compac and Taste Tech line 

For the last Compac Innovations Newsletter
click here.

For past Compac Innovations click here.

Compac is very pleased to be able to announce its purchase of LENZ (www.lenzequip.co.nz), a Kiwifruit infeed equipment manufacturer based in Te Puke at the heart of New Zealand’s Kiwifruit Country, the Bay of Plenty. 

LENZ are specialists in Kiwifruit infeed and bin tipping equipment. LENZ has gained a reputation for producing quality equipment in this area and last year developed a portable Kiwifruit repacking machine

The purchase of LENZ is designed to supplement Compac’s products when delivering full turnkey solutions to customers. In fact Compac and LENZ products have often been seen side by side in installations throughout New Zealand and also in Australia. Des Langdon, LENZ’s Founding Director said “LENZ and Compac have enjoyed a close working relationship for many years and in discussing how we could make this relationship more seamless, selling our business to Compac was an obvious way forward”

Compac’s general manager Bob Saw spoke of the LENZ acquisition being an important strategic move for Compac: “A key strategy for Compac is to provide a full range of packhouse equipment for kiwifruit and for other produce. We are excited by the opportunity to welcome LENZ to the Compac group”

Food traceability is a global concern. Whether it’s keeping track of “food miles”, managing the use of pesticides or handling product recalls, the ability to track fruit from the orchard to the end consumer is becoming increasingly important. When our customer Propal (Chile) wanted to track fruit from grower orchard bin through to packed cartons, we provided an integrated hardware and software solution. The features implemented include things like: 

• Scanning barcode labelled orchard bins at the bin dumper and sending this information to the sizer
  
• Automatically printing and applying labels to cartons
  
• Automatically filling, labelling and stacking pre-sized bins
  
• Tracking grower batches across multiple machines and packing processes

All this means that product can be accurately tracked and the records analysed right the way though the way through the grading and packing process. Packhouse operators can have confidence that they're meeting their traceability requirements at the lowest cost. We’re continuing to develop our traceability offerings and will provide solutions for Glenellen (Queensland) and Fowler Packing (California) over the next few months. Some of our new features include:

• RFID packer tracking to track individual packers cartons
• Receipting orchard bins using a handheld PC/scanner
  
• Confirming label application by scanning barcodes

This will further expand the options available to customers and give even more data about what produce is flowing through their operation and allow tracking down to individual packers even if they're working over multiple outlets.

To find out more about Compac's solutions for traceability issues click here 

Or contact your local sales representative here 

Over the last twelve months Compac’s Pack Printing Solutions have seen major changes, with improvements to their functionality and expansion of their application being among them.

Compac Pack Printing can now be used for many different product and pack labelling tasks from manual through to automatic labelling. “By listening to our customers and understanding their needs Compac has been able to develop Pack Printing Solutions which improve their pack house efficiencies and meet their traceability requirements easily” R&D Manager Nigel Beach said. 

Compac Pack Printing now allows pack houses to identify specific boxes within the carton handling system, collect information about various outlets from a Compac Sorter and feed this information back to pack house operators to allow real time analysis of their sorting operation. Recently Compac was able to help Chilean avocado packer Propal improve their operation by providing unique box identification and tracking.

Schoeman Boerdery of South Africa is another Compac customer who will soon be benefiting from Compac Pack Printing. Using a centralised all carton print weigh station which will improve efficiency by simplifying their printing process. Filled cartons will be able to be tracked by outlet and packer with Compac’s software applying weight and box information to their labels. Schoeman Boerdery’s Pack Printing Solution will also benefit from extended diagnostic features, a new user interface which will make configuration easier and more plugin options allowing the software to be tailored for various packing jobs.   

To find out more about Compac Pack Printing contact your local sales representative here

The new Mobile Stacking Unit (MSU) developed by Fruit Handling Systems and supplied by Compac is designed to automatically label and stack full bins of all types. 

Single bins are delivered to the MSU pick position on either existing or new conveyors, the MSU will automatically move to the pick position, transfer the bin to the lift forks where the bin is automatically labelled, rotated through 180 degrees and then stacked on the floor, a single stack can be formed opposite the bin outlet or multiple outlets can be combined into one stack.

The MSU is fully self contained with its own PLC controller and motor control centre mounted on board. Power and communications can be supplied through either an energy chain system or conductor rail and radio frequency network. A fully approved laser safety system is incorporated to allow the MSU to work safely along side operation staff increasing access to all areas of the bin filling installation.

The MSU can travel directly on an existing concrete floor or if necessary thin steel tracks can be fitted.

Compac can provide just the Fruit Handling Systems MSU to service existing bin filling installations or provide a complete system including bin conveying and a full range of bin filling solutions to accommodate all fruit and produce.

A single MSU can satisfy all the bin labelling and stacking requirements from many bin filling outlets at rates of up to 150 bins per hour per MSU. If the output is greater than the capacity of one MSU, Multiple units can be installed to work together on the same out feeds to accommodate all production requirements.

MSU's are a great way to up the productivity of your packhouse operations, if you're interesting in finding out more about the MSU contact your local Compac Sales Representative here.

Compac is now able to offer customers a carrier that is specifically designed for larger fruit types. Compac’s H carrier makes it possible to easily sort larger fruit such as grapefruit and some larger apple varieties without the fruit touching and creating an incorrect weight measurement. The carrier is also better suited to more uneven produce in terms to size and shape such as potatoes. Because of this carrier design customers can expect better carrier fill than smaller carriers along with better fruit stability.

Another point that marks the Compac H Carrier apart from others is that it allows for fruit rotation where as other carrier designs for larger fruit must make do with a static cup arrangement. The H carrier allows customers to sort larger fruit more accurately whilst still utilising other Compac sorting methods such as optical and near infra-red.   

Taste Tech has spent the last year investing time and resources into exploring the boundaries of NIR (Near Infrared) applications into the agriculture industry. Taking what we already knew and refining that data to not only improve on existing fruit and vegetable internal sorting but opening the door on new varieties of fruit and vegetables. We can now sort internally for the following:

The above represents the work we have carried out on certain varieties or fruit and vegetables in the past year and does not include existing sorting capabilities in Apples, Oranges, Clementine’s, Mandarins, Potatoes, Pears, Cantaloupe, Onions and Peaches.

We feel the continued growth of Taste Tech is now a certainty taking into consideration the opening of new doors within the industry helping our customers reduce heavy losses on culled fruit and produce. If you or your customers would like more information on any of the above named fruit or vegetables, please contact Nick on nickc@taste-technologies.com