The Global Cherry Summit brings together key players in the sector. This year, organised by Yentzen Group and the Chilean Cherry Fruit Committee (formerly ASOEX), more than 1,400 people attended. The growth of the Chilean cherry industry has experienced an exponential rise in the last decade.
TOMRA Food's attendance is therefore in line with its objectives: to showcase its comprehensive sorting solutions; expand its market presence; establish contact with the sector; reinforce its knowledge; and foster collaboration within the cherry industry in Chile.
Furthermore, as part of its regional structure, during the 2023 season the TOMRA Food team presented the opening of its new service and storage center in Curicó (Chile). This places the company at the epicenter of one of the most renowned cherry producing regions internationally.
“With the cherry industry experiencing dynamic growth, we recognise the importance of being closer to our customers to provide tailored solutions. Our solutions improve the profitability and efficiency of cherry growers and processors. But the product alone is not enough. At TOMRA Food we want to provide exceptional service and attention. This includes offering technical assistance, training programmes, maintenance and support to ensure optimal performance for each project. The new service centre in Curicó and the new technical team are key to achieving these goals,” says Klaus Erdmann.
TOMRA Food, comprehensive solutions for a growing market
TOMRA Food’s main objective for the cherry segment is to offer comprehensive sorting and packaging solutions that can meet the specific challenges and requirements of cherry growers, packers and processors, thereby optimising the quality of the final product. In other words, providing the precise technology to eliminate defects and poor quality fruit, with the consequent increase in the quality of the final product. In addition, TOMRA Food solutions are designed to improve the operational efficiency of the plant, allowing for greater productivity (more kg/hour/per lane), automating manual tasks, reducing labour costs and minimising downtime.
“We want to help our customers minimise product loss and maximise their yield and profitability. TOMRA Food solutions focus on equipment that gently handles fruit, as well as efficient sorting algorithms that reduce waste and optimise yield throughout the production process. Among TOMRA’s most in-demand solutions are cherry sorting and grading systems, which are essential for ensuring consistent quality and eliminating defects such as bruising, rain cracks, rot or general cosmetic defects,” says Benedetta Ricci.
TOMRA's LUCAi™ software and improvements in speed and interface
Technologies that ensure quality, traceability and data analysis are becoming increasingly important in the cherry industry. Cherry fruit is delicate and prone to damage during processing, so the industry is looking for technologies that allow for gentle handling, with cushioned falls and water transfer systems that protect the product. All of this is crucial to minimise impacts and preserve the integrity of the fruit throughout the entire processing line.
Furthermore, TOMRA Food solutions, which have been enhanced with a 15% higher speed and a simpler user interface, enable growers to track cherries throughout the supply chain, monitor quality parameters and make data-driven decisions to optimize processes and improve product quality.
This is the case of software LUCAi™ for the InVision classification platform2, promoted at the Global Cherry Summit, which allows the packaging process to be optimized, its performance and efficiency to be increased and a product of the highest quality to be guaranteed thanks to its excellent ability to detect defects. This new development incorporates the latest advances in D technology.eep Learning TOMRA AI. It uses pre-trained models that teach computers how to treat data, including complex patterns from photos, to achieve unprecedented sorting accuracy. Developed by a team of scientists, engineers, researchers and industry-leading experts, this technology has been successfully applied to blueberry applications on the KATO260 and more recently to apples on the Spectrim X platform. TOMRA Food engineers combined their experience with their deep knowledge of cherry sorting, grading and packing to extend the benefits of LUCAi™ software to the InVision grading platform.2.
With these improvements to its service and solutions portfolio, TOMRA Food continues to move forward in becoming a trusted partner for cherry growers and packers, contributing to the success and sustainability of the cherry industry worldwide.
