The YCM already has a strong track record in pack houses around the world, deskilling the labour-intensive manual packing process, increasing packing speeds and delivering significantly improved productivity levels of 30% or more.
The innovative ‘One light-One fruit’ software development deskills the packing process even further, whilst the recently introduced ‘Efficiency Screen’ concept, linked directly to the YCM packing stations, provides packers with a clear view on how their packing speeds compare with their co-workers.
The One light-One fruit technology is ideal for packing products such as grapes, tomatoes and berries, where the fruits of individual varieties are of similar shape and size. The decision process for packers is very simple. The YCM is calibrated so that each light segment on the visual light display represents a single fruit. As pre-packed produce travels down the packing lines, the packs are placed on the scales incorporated within the YCM workstations. The operators are then visually prompted to ‘add’ or ‘take out’ an exact number of individual fruits to ensure pack weight compliance. Special software working quietly in the background continually monitors pack weight trends and adjusts target weights at the individual workstations to virtually eliminate expensive over-pack.
The large efficiency screens, designed to be installed above the packing lines, use packing speed data from the YCM yield control system to highlight the real-time performance of individual packers. The screens feature a simple red-amber-green light array, constantly showing how each operator is performing via a packing line schematic. Green lights indicate above average performance graduating down through amber for satisfactory to red for under-performers.
Marco are keen to point out that this is not intended as a ‘name and shame’ system, moreover it is designed to motivate packers to improve their performance through friendly rivalry. Trials show that packers are naturally competitive and strive to do better when their performance is compared with their co-workers. Understanding individual packer’s capabilities allows highly-efficient targeted training to be put in place.
Marco have established strong working partnerships with leading fresh produce growers in South Africa, , Spain, France, Kenya, Chile, Peru and the US. They have recently completed a major multi-line installations for SAT Moyca, one of Spain’s leading table grape producer.
Spain’s S.A.T. Moyca and California based Windset Farms, major growers of table grapes and tomatoes respectively, are examples of the latest international fresh produce companies to benefiting from Marco’s latest one light- one fruit pack house technology.
A key part of Marco’s success is that they design, build and install all key elements of the systems, including the hardware, software and electronics. This single-source philosophy ensures optimum reliability, especially important during busy packing seasons where pack houses can operate seven days a week, 24 hours a day.
Marco, who have a team of fully trained engineers based in the UK and Netherlands, operate a remote web-based service and support system, allowing rapid response to operational issues anywhere in the world.
For more information:
Mandy Hart
Marco Ltd.
Tel: +44 (0) 1732 782380
Email: mandy.hart@marco.co.uk