Established in 1967, the company boasts a 22 percent market share domestically and has built a network of customers across 20 markets including Germany, Israel and Japan.
Fevita’s customers include international supermarket chains Lidl, Aldi and Tesco as well as Hungarian retailers Spar, Co-op and CBA. The company is expanding into more markets every year, so it is becoming increasingly important that its products meet strict food safety and quality standards.
A new peeling solution
Peter Hegyi, project engineer at Fevita Hungary Zrt., says: “We have been processing high-quality vegetables and fruits for 50 years. It’s very important for our business that we efficiently process the fresh produce arriving onto our production line, such as sweetcorn, peas, beans, carrots, parsnips and potatoes. Processing could mean anything from analysing and removing defects to peeling, cleaning and dicing."
“Our ambition is to become a global exporter to hundreds of markets and to do that we knew we needed to increase our capacity. The processing line was running smoothly but had reached its full capacity just as we saw rising demand for carrots and many of our other products."
“To achieve our objectives, we looked for a long-term investment with a partner organization that could provide us with a modern and reliable sorting solution – all of which led us to TOMRA Sorting Food.”
Fevita’s previous peeling machine processed eight tons of produce per hour, however approximately twenty percent of this was being discarded as waste. Hegyi continues:
“We already owned two of TOMRA’s optical sorting machines elsewhere in our production line and we hoped the company could provide us with more efficient peeling technology."
“We worked closely with the people at TOMRA to design the correct solution for our business, enabling us to produce an improved and more consistent product for our customers.”
The team from TOMRA partnered with Fevita to understand the safety, quality and performance requirements for their process. The Odyssey steam peeling solution that was developed was a fully-enclosed unit with shorter processing time and faster peeling; as well as a single-touch panel to easily control the line.
The solution has enabled the processing line to increase capacity to 8-12 tons per hour, perform more efficiently and improve the quality of the finished product. “The TOMRA Odyssey steam peeling solution is cost effective and highly efficient, helping to reduce operating costs and product loss.” Mr. Peter Hegyi, project engineer, Fevita Hungary Zrt.
The solution that Fevita has now installed has brought other benefits such as reducing water usage. Hegyi adds: “We are the first company in Hungary to own the Odyssey steam peeling technology, making us more ‘green’ as a business and helping us stand out from our competitors.”