Sunriver Citrus, which currently processes around 84,000 tons annually in its three packhouses, says it expects its rapid growth of the past seven years to continue.
With that growth, the citrus producer and exporter based in the Sundays River Valley in South Africa needed sorters that deliver consistent grading to supply a ideal product, Theunis Bester, production manager for Sunriver Citrus, said in a news release. In 2018, the company introduced the first Tomra 5S Advanced sorter to its operations.
“We used to have issues with light blemish sorting before we installed the Tomra sorter; now we don’t battle it anymore,” Bester said. “We are packing better-quality fruit because of the consistent good grading, and this good quality helped build our brand in the markets.”
Sunriver Citrus said it replaced sorters in the other two packhouses with a second Tomra 5S Advanced in 2023, followed in 2024 by a third one equipped with the new Dynamic Lane Balancer.
“The sorters have had no mechanical problems and reduced a lot of downtime and sorting labor — and with the performance they deliver, we need almost no manual sorting,” Bester said.
The Tomra 5S Advanced sorter builds on the performance of the Compac Multi-Lane Sorter to deliver accuracy and gentle fruit handling, the release said. Its specialized software features programs for element mixing, exact pack out optimization and throughput control, providing high efficiency across the line, according to the company.
Sunriver Citrus’ third Tomra 5S Advanced included a Dynamic Lane Balancer — the first to be installed in the country, the release said.
“The first reason for installing it was to address space limitations in our new packhouse and to push the volumes through without having bottlenecks at the sorter by ensuring even spreads on the lanes,” Bester said.
The Dynamic Lane Balancer automatically optimizes the flow of fruit on the sorter to ensure an equal distribution across all lanes, the company said. It constantly makes automatic adjustments based on data from its interface with the sizer software.
“We have a more even spread on sizer lanes, and this enables us to push more volumes,” Bester said. “We achieve 10% more volume on packing per day, and the sorter can run slower because of the good spread on the lanes.”
