Mouton Citrus, located in the Western Cape, has become the first citrus company in South Africa to gain access to the fruit sizing app, Spectre.
Created in New Zealand by fruit tech company Hectre, Spectre is a fruit quality computer vision AI tool, detecting large sample sizes and serving up accurate fruit size and colour estimation data in seconds, and all from the simple click of an iPad or iPhone.
Hectre’s computer vision AI solution, Spectre, pre-sizing groups of clementine bins on receiving, providing a sample size of more than 1600 and delivering results within four seconds.
Izandre Ras, Supply Chain and BI Manager at Mouton Citrus says the company places a lot of focus on accurate data. “You need to have trust in your data to have the confidence to make the right decisions and add value to the supply chain. The amount of data in the production, packing and marketing of fruit, is enormous. You need real-time accurate data.” Scanning the latest tech updates and staying current with fruit industry innovation, Ras was quick to react after learning about Spectre from a FreshPlaza article.
“Growers are using Spectre in the orchard to gain real time data to determine how well the pick is fitting the brief. They tell us they use Spectre to adjust the pick as needed, to show pickers what needs improvement and if they’re vertically integrated, they share Spectre data with their packhouse and sales teams who value early data on what’s coming in off the pick. For packhouses, accurate early size and colour data on receiving provides critical inputs to strengthen decision making for storage, packing and sales, leading to reduced packing line costs and more sales,” says Hectre CEO, Matty Blomfield.
Spectre detection in action as it sizes lemons.
“Managing the supply chain, with a business intelligence background, I always revert to the data. Currently we have to use bin stock on a daily basis to make decisions on what type of fruit we can expect once it has gone through our packing facilities. A sample of fruit is taken with each batch to determine the estimate size of the fruit. That sample size is too small but with Spectre we will be able to take a sample of what the size will be of each bin, making the estimation significantly more accurate. This will enable us to service more customers, save costs and most importantly this solution is scalable,” explains Ras.
For more information, please contact:
Kylie Hall
Hectre
Tel: +64 27419 8322
kylie@hectre.com
www.hectre.com