Royal City, Wash.-based Blue Sky Onions now features the first fully-automated electronic grader from Eqraft — the Eqrader line — on the West Coast, according to the company. Additionally, Blue Sky is the first to adopt the European method of grading and packing onions.
What started out as a simple order for an electronic grader turned into one of Eqraft’s largest recent collaborations. The family behind Blue Sky took a leap of faith when they decided to invest in automation across the board. Opting for a new onion grader as well as a newly-built packing shed with several weighing and packing machines, Blue Sky is now one of Eqraft’s exemplary projects on the West Coast.
A Netherlands connection and a clear vision
Blue Sky grows, packs and ships onions to clients in the retail grocery and foodservice industry. The company is a family business and was founded in the 1970s by Jake Wardenaar’s parents, who both have Dutch heritage. Wardenaar, now owner, is responsible for the onions, from grading to packing and selling for Blue Sky.
“That also includes making strategic decisions such as investing in new equipment,” he said in a news release.
The decision to go for Eqraft’s electronic grader was years in the making, according to Wardenaar. Having a personal connection to the Netherlands, he has visited the country for years for both pleasure and business. Around seven years ago, Eqraft invited him to the first demonstration of the Eqrader optical onion sorting machine in the Netherlands.
“I went and spoke to Eqraft about what I thought had to be done to make the technology work for our U.S. onions as well,” Wardenaar said, referring to the difference in onion size between European onions and the much larger ones grown in the U.S. West Coast.
After that first demonstration and conversation, Wardenaar kept up with the grader’s development, including visiting several other reference projects in the Netherlands.
“During those trips, I got a good sense of what the Eqrader could do and how I wished to implement it in my own business,” he said. “When the time came to invest, I already had a clear vision on how we would do things, so the decisions were made fairly fast.”
Grading against the grain
Besides investing in an optical grader, Blue Sky also decided to build a brand-new shed for its new Eqraft packing line, making it the first North American factory to adopt the European packing standard. This involves storing graded onions before they’re packed, instead of packing them immediately after grading as is common in the U.S.
Mike Kooijman, technical sales executive at Eqraft, argued that it’s better to wait to pack onions, however.
“By putting the onions in bins and leaving them in storage for a little while, they are given time to heal before being packed and transported,” he said.
Kooijman also pointed out that storing onions before packing can be more efficient and flexible to client needs.
“Before grading the onions, you don’t know exactly what you’re going to get out of a batch. You might need category A onions but end up with predominantly category B,” he said. “By packing a batch of onions you haven’t sold yet, you risk having to pack the batch again because the client prefers a different type of bag.”
That increased flexibility makes a difference on the factory floor, according to Wardenaar.
“We’re really happy with how quickly we are able to react to client orders now,” he said.
More to be happy about
Wardenaar’s new lines were up and running just before Christmas 2023. While the first year was challenging, he said he’s glad he did it.
“We had to build the new packing shed, take care of the permitting process, install the new lines, get everything up and running, and learn how to work with the new equipment,” he said. “With the Eqrader, we’ve added 50% more capacity compared to the previous situation. We’re very pleased with it, as we can now do a much better job in sorting out onions with skin discoloration and internal rot and grade them accurately based on sizing.”
Wardenaar’s team is also happy with the new setup, he said.
“Thanks to the level of automation, there are no jobs that require heavy lifting anymore,” he said. “What’s left is just some light manual work, such as hanging bags onto the Baxmatic bagging machine. It’s a nice working environment for our crew.”
Ultimately, Wardenaar is glad he opted for a complete new grading and packing line, investing in a new building as well as several machines that will help him face daily challenges for the years to come.
“It was a risky endeavor because a large sum of money was involved,” he admitted, “but I think these types of long-term investments ultimately pay off.”
Like Eqraft, Wardenaar believes in looking ahead and securing future-proof equipment for the coming decades.
“Instead of trying to solve an individual problem we’re facing today, I try to anticipate the problems we will encounter further down the line, investing in comprehensive solutions that will set us up for long-term success,” he said.
