In mid-December, Apple King of Yakima, WA upgraded its existing Ellips TrueSort apple grading & sorting technology to incorporate Ellips’ “Artificial Intelligence” solution called True-AI.
Outstanding grading results with artificial intelligence
According to Kyle Mills, Apple King’s Operations Manager, the results have been outstanding. “We have always felt that our Ellips grading technology provided us with a competitive advantage based on its overall performance including the ability to accurately detect both external and internal defects. With the True-AI upgrade, we have significantly enhanced our grading capabilities. We are now able to detect even the most difficult defects, such as stem bowl cracks, at a very high level of accuracy with minimal false positives. During the first three days of operation, we ran Honeycrisps and Galas both of which exhibited a fair amount of stem bowl cracks and our results were truly impressive.”
The next generation of apple grading solutions
Ellips has been developing its True-AI solution over the past three years. This solution delivers near-perfect grading accuracy by facilitating the detection of complex defects and produce characteristics. Additionally, the system operator’s tasks will be more automated, thus providing more time to focus on other important issues. As grading performance moves towards 100% detection accuracy, grading and sorting tasks can be done with minimal staff. You can also be assured that each piece of produce ends up at its rightful destination thus ensuring maximum returns and the desired quality for your customers.
Ground-breaking new technology
In 2022, True-AI was implemented across multiple commodities, including dates, pomegranates, apples and, most recently, onions. Upcoming implementations will focus on blueberries, cherries, kiwis and other fresh fruits and vegetables. True-AI is unique in its performance and its implementation. The AI functionality can be easily added to new or existing systems and requires little system operator training or effort on behalf of our customers. Importantly, future True-AI updates, based on targeted defects or specific needs, can be quickly incorporated into the system.
Detect every defect
Following the first week of operation, Ray Keller, Apple King Owner, was similarly impressed. “We have worked with the Ellips Group for a number of years and can always count on them to deliver an industry leading solution whether it is related to apple handling, grading technology or system reliability. Their True-AI technology is truly ground-breaking. From day one, the improvements were immediate and visually apparent. Even apples with difficult-to-detect defects that previously might have ended up in the packing area were correctly sorted. This improved performance will help in our continual quest to improve productivity while delivering the most consistent pack to our customers. Additionally, we can now more effectively incorporate automated packing technology at the various packing exits since manual intervention can be virtually eliminated.”
