On Friday, BelOrta officially opened its new fully-automated top fruit sorting center in Belgium. The new Belgian top fruit season is in full swing, so some 40,000 to 60,000 tons of apples and pears can pass through the cooperative's new sorting center annually. The new building had been operational for a while, but Friday marked its official opening. In the presence of staff and growers, Flemish Minister of Economy, Work, and Agriculture Jo Brouns cut the proverbial ribbon.
It took four years for this project to come to fruition. "Besides the centralization mentioned earlier, the project sprung from the desire to optimize the sorting process. We wanted a more accurate result. But it also came from a cost and personnel saving perspective," Top Fruit Division Head Laurent De Smet said earlier.
"We wanted to realize as much capacity in as few square meters as possible because space costs money. Also, we wanted to minimize forklift traffic. The latest technologies on the market are very pricey, too. Not every fruit grower can afford these, especially these days. That's why we invested in this project."
The result? An 11,800 m2 sorting center. The innovative infrastructure uses advanced technologies like optical and infrared cameras for accurate internal and external quality assessment. Also, the new center has a separate pre-sorting line for apples and a combined pre-sorting and sorting line for pears. It also has two packing lines, eight loading docks, and inbound and outbound cold stores. Plus temporary storage areas and the necessary technical and social facilities. This was all explained at the opening.
Many interested people flocked to Borgloon for the opening festivities. Even the locals were eager to take a look at the new building. BelOrta's staff thus felt a certain degree of pride at this project's completion. It is the first of its size with such technology in the world. BelOrta managed to centralize its top fruit grading from three to one site. This feeling of pride also extended to chairmen Dirk Bertels and Philippe Appeltans' speeches. Minister Brouns pointed out that it was not only a special day for BelOrta, but for the whole of Flanders.
Commissioning this new sorting center is a technological first, says Philippe Appeltans, "Maf Roda's pre-sorting apple systems, including a high-tech Globalscan 7 camera and Orphea software, are the latest of their kind in Western Europe. The Twinscan 7 installation used on the pear sorting lines is unique for Belgium. After an initial scan, the pears are turned over so that a second scan screens the other side for internal and external quality characteristics."
Dirk Bertels is equally enthusiastic about the project. "With this roughly €21 million state of the art investment, unique for Western Europe, we're taking a huge step forward in our goal to respond even better to our top fruit growers' expectations and requests from our local and overseas customers. It offers us the opportunity to join a select group of global apple and pear marketing companies," he says.
Philippe points out that realizing this grading project forms the capstone of increasing BelOrta's commercial clout. "Along with further bundling the offer with the ongoing integration with Belgische Fruitveiling, we're focusing on innovation via new apple and pear varieties and concepts and new commercial models."
"Here, just-in-time responses to market opportunities are crucial. We now have the needed capacity of up to ten tons of apples and eight tons of pears per hour. Our growers also face the issue of increasingly less availability of sufficient year-round labor. Through central sorting, we can relieve them of that at very competitive costs," Phillipe explains.
Minister Brouns had the last word: "I'm proud to officially open this project. It interfaces with and exemplifies all areas of competence for which I'm responsible: Economy, Innovation, Work, and Agriculture. Such investments are only profitable on a large scale. Flanders is fortunately characterized by a high degree of organization in fruit and vegetable marketing."
"Here, the BelOrta cooperative leads the way. This investment also fits perfectly within the common market organization for fruit and vegetables' objective, and could, thus, make use of the co-financing provided for that. The Flemish top fruit sector has had some difficult years, but this project shows we can keep playing a pioneering role in Europe through innovation and cooperation," Minister Brouns states.
After the speeches, it was time for the crowd to take a look at the new sorting center. A chance eagerly taken. Even though the machines kept running steadily, a stream of visitors passed through the center. Afterwards, according to Flemish tradition, it was time for a bite to eat and something to drink. For BelOrta, this brings an end to a long period of research, planning and waiting, but "our gaze," Philippe concludes, "can now turn to the future."
For more information:
BelOrta
120 Mechelsesteenweg
2860, Sint-Katelijne-Waver, BE
Tel: +32 (0) 126 70 260
Email: info@belorta.be
Website: www.belorta.be