Key Technology's Optyx sorter
Laser sorter for California walnuts

Sacramento Valley Walnut Growers, LLC (SVWG), a grower-owned processor and marketer of shelled walnuts, is focused on providing superior quality product.  Consistently hitting high product specifications is key to their success.  They recently installed Optyx with Raptor, a sorter from Key Technology that combines lasers and color cameras on one platform to achieve the most complete sort.

“Before we selected Key, we looked at sorters from three different suppliers.  We knew we wanted a laser sorter because it had to be effective in removing foreign material and shell.  Two of the laser sorters we looked at did one or two things well but the Key sorter did everything well,” noted Mike Procunier, Operations Manager at SVWG.

“Because Optyx with Raptor uses cameras as well as lasers, it can sort for size and shape, including detecting a broken shoulder; the others can not.  And Optyx is the only one that can do a reverse sort where good product is ejected instead of bad, which helps us recover good product during re-work.  These were the deciding factors.  It was an easy decision.”



SVWG selected Key’s Optyx 6795 with Raptor, which features top and bottom lasers and two top-mounted color cameras inspecting product within a 48-inch wide scan area.  Using color cameras, Optyx analyzes each object’s size and shape as well millions of subtle color differences to detect and remove defects.  The Raptor laser reliably detects foreign matter based on differences in the structural properties of the objects.  The Optyx 6000 with Raptor can sort up to 20,000 lb of walnuts per hour.

“Shelled walnuts are graded by size, color, and shell count,” explained Procunier.  “With our old sorter, we incurred greater hand sorting costs to achieve our desired specs, with the Key we have been able to set higher specifications for customers that require them.  At the same time the lasers are looking for shells, fibers, membranes, and other foreign material, the cameras inspect color, size, and shape.  In addition to detecting defects, the cameras allow us to identify broken shoulders so our halves are both cleaned and sized in one pass through the sorter.

Publication date: 11/4/2009

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