Compac, which is part of Tomra, has a new generation box filler designed to handle delicate fruit.
The Gentle Box Filler+ handles the easily-damage fruit while giving packers a significantly higher throughput, increasing productivity, efficiency and flexibility, according to a news release.
The Gentle Box Filler+ (GBF+) adds automation components to build on Compac’s original design. The equipment gently deposits fruit into the bottom of the pack and uses vibration to settle the fruit while preventing damage, according to the release.
The GBF+ is ideal for bulk packaging kiwifruit, stone fruit and similar fruit, according to the company.
The box filler also is ideal for pre-grading setback packing, which is handled twice.
“Compac’s GBF original design provides the gentlest loose filling available on the market, which explains its continued success,” Paul Ramson, director of Solutions Architecture Product Management at Compac, said in the release.
The company’s customers have box fillers topping one million boxes filled, he said, and the new-generation GBF+ builds on that.
“It is just as delicate in its handling of the fruit, and it works faster,” Ramson said in the release. “For example, in a typical New Zealand kiwifruit application, it roughly doubles the throughput that can be achieved – with no compromise on the quality of the product. We have tested it extensively in-house and validated it in a 10-filler installation at a New Zealand packhouse.”
With a higher throughput, packers need fewer outlets to meet packout goals. That means the sizer doesn’t need as much length, resulting in a smaller footprint and flexibility to diversity the product line, according to the release.
