Unitec have developed new solution for pear sorting

"It's like we're repaying our debt to the pear sector. We first tested our automatic sorter prototype on pears in 1986," recalls Angelo Benedetti, President of Unitec, as he introduced Unical 9.0 with Pears Sort during Fruit Logistica.

Everyone knows pears are delicate fruits and Unitec has developed a unique system to prevent any damage. Pear Sort analyses fruits from two different perspectives and images are compared electronically. This way, both internal and external defects that may compromise market performances are detected. All this is possible despite the irregular shape of pears.

2017 was a good year for Unitec as it contributed to the success of the cherry and blueberry sectors thanks to its Cherry Vision 3.0 and Blueberry Vision technologies. Appearance must be perfect when it comes to these fruits, as consumers look for produce that is excellent.

Unitec's Cherry Vision 3.0 is a smart technology with high-res "eyes" that scan cherries and classify all their quality parameters like never before, guaranteeing the maximum reliability to retailers.

The case of blueberries is particularly interesting: presentation is crucial for the success with commercial partners and final consumers. The international blueberry sector (mainly Chile) has grown rapidly in recent years. Blueberry Vision proved the perfect solution to inspect fruits both internally and externally without damaging them in any way.

The machine can also be used with apples, citrus fruit (oranges, clementines, lemons, etc.), plums, peaches and nectarines, apricots, kiwis, dates...

Unical 8.0 with the Apple Sort system is the first apple processing technology in the world that can be entirely sanitised so as to prevent the fruit being contaminated during processing. Unical 8.0's easy-to-clean design was certified by Bureau Veritas.

"The objective is to supply a versatile piece of equipment that can adapt to different types of fruit. We are talking about dedicated technologies suitable for the needs of each single product."

"Sorting fruit automatically enables the reduction of labour costs (at the same time relieving operators from heavy repetitive tasks) and is the only way to guarantee produce with consistent characteristics, essential to establish a relationship of trust between suppliers and retailers and between retailers and final clients."

"What gratifies us mostly is our clients' smile when they reach their objectives thanks to our technologies."

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