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How can you ensure desired cherry quality and consistency?

Written by Fabricio Santos | May 22, 2024 11:45:52 AM
 

Are you struggling to identify and sort out cherries that have challenging defects?

 
A task that is made even more difficult due to huge variations in cherry quality across seasons, batches and varieties. Working with growers and packers around the world, we know that the world of cherry production is challenging and fiercely competitive. Nevertheless, every day you must meet the strict market standards for quality, size, shape, color and overall appearance. 


Following are the top challenges you might face, but don’t worry, we’ll also explore some solutions to ensure consistency and maximize your returns.

 

#1. Defects and diseases will damage your brand reputation.

 

Because of variable weather and growing conditions, each season has different, or more prevalent, defects which makes it challenging to deliver consistent quality. Temperature changes can cause softness and decay, while humidity leads to shriveling and ofcourse rainfall is the nightmare of growers causing cherries to crack or split. Extreme weather events, and ever stricter regulations on pesticide use, can have an even greater impact on cherry quality. On top of that, diseases, bacteria, pests, insects and fungus can cause a range of different defects that are extremely difficult to detect.

 

#2 Rejection hurts your business.

It only takes a small % of defective cherries to dramatically increase the risk of rejectionMore than ever, it’s important for growers to meet the ever-changing requirements and quality standards. On top of that, you must meet your volume and on-time commitments while preserving the consistency and quality of your packed productThat’s why it is critical that you do everything possible to ensure that each and every cherry ends up in the right place. 

 

#3. Uniformity in a world with a lot of colors, sizes, shapes and quality differences.

Every
cherry is different. So is every defect. Internal and external defects occur in many ways and can vary from season to season and batch to batch. This variability in color, size, shape and quality makes it challenging for manual graders to consistently sort cherries into uniform grades, which can affect their marketability.  

 

Sorting by hand is outdated, automation is the industry-standard.

To address the above challenges, automation of the grading and sorting process is increasingly being seen as the only way to efficiently achieve the desired quality on a consistent basisAutomation provides the added benefit of being able to maximize the value of each cherry and to easily modify grading standards to address the unique needs of your customers. On top of all that, the reduction in labor costs can significantly impact your overall returns.


The answer to all your cherry challenges in one: Ellips-Elifab.

After a season of hard work, you want to be rewarded with maximum harvest value. Regardless of weather conditions or batch quality, you can always deliver consistent quality with the Elifab cherry grading machine (powered by Ellips grading technology). By consistently meeting your client’s quality requirements each and every season, your reputation as preferred supplier is greatly enhanced.  With every cherry graded correctly, you’ll maximize the return on each harvest while delivering exactly what your customer needs.

 


This is why leading cherry growers and packers choose Elifab:

 
#1. 360° precision grading.

Meet a cherry grader with the best product handling and full surface inspection that handles each variation perfectly. The Elifab machine has been specially developed with a unique rotating carrier that gives you a 360° view of each cherry. This complete analysis, achieved with 30 high-resolution images per cherry, allows you to grade your cherries with the highest accuracy. The Ellips TrueSort external quality system can detect every single defect at speed such as stem- and nose cracks, rot, splits, softness, bruising, pitting, blemishes and more.


 


 

#2. Delicate handling, even at top speed

Gentle handling of cherries is crucial to avoid bruising, softening, pitting and scarring, which threaten their shelf life, appearance and market value. Fast processing shouldn’t come at the expense of fruit. It’s why Elifab uses our world-first, specially designed silicon curtains that reduce speed whilst keeping the fruit separated. Together with the lowest transfer height throughout the whole process, we have achieved the most delicate handling with little or no impact on your cherries. 

 

 

 

#3. True-AI. Detecting even the most difficult defects.


Artificial intelligence (AI) offers opportunities to improve your grading process with intelligent automation. With so many ways for defects to appear across every piece of onion, it’s only through Ellips True-AI that can accurately model all these combinations. True-AI, detects even the most challenging defects and onion characteristics with an eye for the smallest details. You are now able to improve detection of difficult defects like fusarium, misshapen and root tear. With grading performance moving towards 100% detection accuracy, you can fully trust the grading results and consistently deliver a superior product to your customers.

 



Revolutionize your cherry business with a guarantee of consistent quality.

Consistent quality is everything. With the powerful Ellips grading technology and Elifab machinery, you can detect the most challenging cherry defects to deliver superior quality. This allows you to achieve maximum returns and the consistent quality desired by your customers. High-quality cherries lead to improved customer satisfaction and loyalty, giving you a competitive advantage in the market.