In response to growing demand from European markets for its mobile fruit sizing AI app, New Zealand's fruit tech startup Hectre will be exhibiting for the first time at Fruit Logistica 2023.
Mid size growers and packers can use the Spectre hand-held iPad version in the orchard or the packhouse for fast reliable size sampling.
“With the high level of interest shown in our solutions, we are keen to spend more time engaging with European growers, packers and enterprise, to learn more about the challenges they’re facing and how we can help address those challenges,” noted Matty Blomfield, Co-founder and CEO of Hectre.
Along with a comprehensive orchard management app, which helps fruit growers to digitize their orchards and improve picker performance, Hectre has delivered six computer vision fruit sizing solutions in the past 24 months.
Hectre’s Spectre hand-held fruit sizing app detects and sizes more than 100 pieces of fruit per bin from a simple photo on a standard iPad. Size results are available within seconds. The mobility and simplicity mean the app can be used in the orchard as soon as the fruit is picked, or in the packhouse, providing massive increases in reliable size data to better inform the pick, the pack, freight, and sales.
Washington Fruit & Produce use Spectre (hand-held iPad option) in the orchard to help with the communication chain from the field, to the warehouse, and to sales. Their field staff take photos of full bins of fruit in the orchard, and Spectre detects and sizes the fruit. The results are shared internally, delivering large volumes of size data, earlier than ever before.
Sage Fruit were seeking a solution that could manage the huge volume of fruit they receive. In 2022, Hectre released Spectre Top Down, which combines the mobile fruit sizing app with a simple overhead camera installation. As open top trucks pass under the camera, Spectre detects and sizes more than 100 apples from each bin on the top layer of the truck, delivering an immense increase in early size data, which is shareable via CSV or API to QC, scheduling, and sales teams.
More than 5 000 apples per truck can be detected and sized by the Spectre Top Down app as trucks arrive at receiving.
Nicole Gordy, Director of Business Analytics at Sage Fruit says Spectre tech delivers a massive increase in their size and colour sampling where reliable data is crucial. "We can capture size data on more than 5,000 apples from just one truck pass as it pulls into receiving.”
Monson Fruit are another Washington packhouse gaining benefits. “With the big sample sizes we’re getting from Spectre, we can identify the right time to hit the best market for that fruit and gain the highest return. We can reduce costly pack line stoppages too. We can provide our sales teams with better projections,” states Master Operator Jaritt Hays.
Winners of the global AgTech Breakthrough Awards 2022 and 2021, Hectre will be offering a Series A investment round.
Visit them at Fruit Logistica Berlin Hall 5.1 stand A-33.
For more information:
Kylie Hall
Hectre
Tel: +64 27 419 8322
Email: kylie@hectre.com
www.hectre.com