How can you ensure desired onion quality and consistency?

 

A task that is made even more difficult due to huge variations in onion quality across seasons, batches and varieties. Working with growers and packers around the world, we know that the world of onion 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 & growing conditions, each season has different, or more prevalent, defects which makes it challenging to deliver consistent quality. Extreme weather events, and ever stricter regulations on pesticide use, can have a big impact on onion quality. On top of that, disease, bacteria and fungus can can cause a range of different internal defects that are extremely difficult to detect.

 

#2 Rejection hurts your business.

It only takes a small % of defective onions to dramatically increase the risk of rejection. More 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 product. That’s why it is critical that you do everything possible to ensure that each and every onion ends up in the right place.

 

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

Every onion 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 size, shape and quality makes it challenging for manual graders to consistently sort onions into uniform grades, which can affect their marketability.  

 

Sorting by hand is outdated, automation the industry-standard.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 basis. Automation provides the added benefit of being able to maximize the value of each onion 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 onion challenges in one: Ellips-Elisam.

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 Elisam onion grader (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 onion graded correctly, you’ll maximize the return on each harvest while delivering exactly what your customer needs.

The improvement in quality has been outstanding, with zero batches being rejected by our retailers. Previously, Groka had to offer discounts of 5-8% due to quality inconsistencies, but now this has been significantly reduced to only 1-2%. This represents a substantial improvement.

Volker Peters - Groka

This is why leading onion growers and packers choose Elisam:

 

#1. 360° precision grading.

Meet an onion grader with the best product handling and full surface inspection that handles each variation perfectly. The Elisam machine has been specially developed with a unique rotating carrier that gives you a 360° view of each onion. This complete analysis, achieved with 90 high-resolution images per onion, allows you to grade your onions with the highest accuracy. The Ellips TrueSort external quality system can detect every single defect at speed such as rot, black mold, sprouting, misshapen, mechanical damage, sour skin, watery scale and more.

“The technology around the sizers and the cameras have changed what we are able to deliver to our customers. We found that the quality is more consistent, we found that the rejections are fewer and we have found that it makes the difference to stand out in a very challenging and competitive environment”

Shay Myers - Owyhee Produce

#2. Internal defects have nowhere to hide.

Your onion may look perfect on the outside, but the internal quality may be a different story. Onions can be affected by various internal diseases or defects. These internal problems, such as core rot, ring rot, sprouting, are not good and cause a chain reaction, as onions with internal problems can infect other onions during storage or export. With the Ellips TrueSort internal quality system, you can see through the entire onion (instead of just underneath the skin) and accurately detect internal defects. By virtually slicing the onion into pieces (up to 20 scans), you can examine and recognize these defects at lightning speed. Sometimes it’s even possible to detect internal diseases at an early stage.


“The new packing line has successfully met quality targets. The system’s internal defect detection is considered top-notch and even exceed industry standards”

Cameron Skeen – Baker & Murakami

 

#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.

> Explore the powerful benefits of True-AI


“The upgrade to True-AI has been a huge step forward. With True-AI, we have been able to greatly reduce post-control”

Benny Murre – Top The Onion Group

 

Revolutionize your onion business with a guarantee of consistent quality.

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