Transcript NCDA: Pickle Sorter Project Proposal

NCDA: Pickle Sorter
Project Proposal
Project 98.09
Sponsored by Ed Kee of
Keeman Produce, Lincoln, DE
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Project Background
• Title: Pickle Sorter
• Sponsor: Ed Kee of Keeman Produce
• Problem: The pickling cucumber industry
currently separates undesirable cucumbers
from desirable ones in an inefficient manner
(manually). Mr. Kee would like a device to
efficiently and reliably separate the usable
cucumbers from the unusable ones.
Schematic
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Size Catagories
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1A: 0.5 - 0.75 inch diameter
1B: 0.75 - 1.0 inch diameter
2A: 1.0 - 1.25 inch diameter
2B: 1.25 - 1.5 inch diameter
3A: 1.5 - 1.75 inch diameter
3B: 1.75 - 2.0 inch diameter
Oversize: > 2.0 inch diameter
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Undesirable Cucumbers
• 3 Catagories:
– Oversized (Diameter > 2 in.)
– Relish (Broken)
– Cul (Crooks and Nubs)
• Constitutes 18.4% (average) of Total Crop
– Oversized: 3.8%
– Relish: 7.8 %
– Cul 6.8 %
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Definition of Cul
• USDA specification (1936):
“...materially curved, materially tapered
more than normal at one or both ends, or
otherwise materially misshapen for pickling
purposes.”
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Mission Statement
• To provide an integrated, automated system
to sort out undesirable pickles on the
processing line.
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Customers
Customer
Keeman Produce
Sorting Labor
Pickle Mftrs.
General Public
Growers
Harvester
Manufacturers
Plant Equipment
Manufacturers
Plant Managers
Plant Managers
Growers
Person
Ed Kee
Keefe Carlisle
Randy Spence
Ray Kenning
Rusty Stevens
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©
SSD
Name
Kee, Ed
Organization Rank 1st Want 2nd Want 3rd Want 4th Want 5th Want
Keeman Produce
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Cost
Speed
Sorting Labor
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Speed
Effectiveness Working Area Reliability
Pickle Mftrs.
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Working Area Cost
General Public
2
Cost
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Working Area Effectiveness Speed
Portability
Harvester Mftrs.
5
Working Area Speed
Portability
Effectiveness Reliability
Plant Equipment
Manufacturers
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Cost
Effectiveness Reliability
Spence, Randy Plant Managers
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Effectiveness Cost
Speed
Reliability
Kenning, Ray
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Effectiveness Cost
Speed
Reliability
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Working Area Effectiveness Speed
Portability
Carlisle, Keefe Growers
Plant Managers
Stevens, Rusty Growers
Speed
Effectiveness Working Area Reliability
Effectiveness Speed
Reliability
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Metrics
• Harvest Season: 80 days
(Endurance / Reliability Metric)
• Approximate cost of Sorting Labor per plant
each season: $185,000
(Our total cost of operation must improve
on this cost)
• % of Harvest needing removal: 16-25%
– Between 5% and 9% of Total is Cul
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Metrics (continued)
• Operating speeds of conveyor system:
– 100 ft/min at primary intake area
– 50 ft/min at secondary sorting area
– ~2000 Bushels/hr = ~400,000 Pickles/hr
• Effectiveness Goal:
– 80% accurate removal of crooks and nubs
– No more than 5% usable cucumbers removed
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Approach Method
• Location of sorting mechanism:
– In cannery as opposed to a Harvester-mounted
system
• Speculation as to approach:
– Imaging-software driven
– Desirable to integrate with current conveyor
system
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Benchmarking
• State of the Art: No economical, efficient
System currently exists for removing Cul from
a Cucumber harvest.
• Strategy: Research methods of conveyance,
shape identification, imaging, and other related
concepts that could be used in an efficient,
economical system.
• Also: Judge the feasibility of adapting an
existing Potato sorter to our purposes.
COMPANY
Ensco
Autoline
Button
SYSTEM
Hand Labor
RANK
DESCRIPTION
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Undesirable pickles
are manually removed
as they pass through
inspection area
Prosort® produce
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Integrated visual
sorting eqpmt
imaging software/
mechanical sorting
system
Fruit Sorting System
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PC Controlled
integrated grading and
sorting
Harvester / Sorter
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Integrated
harvester/inspection/
sorting mechanism
ESM
Length inspection
International system
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FMC Corp.
Mechanical fruit
sorter
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Lockwood
Graders
Food product
inspection and
sorting
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Mechanical sorter
controlled by length
inspection equipment.
Solenoid activated
paddle, controlled by a
color scanning station,
knocks bad pieces off
conveyor
Mechanical sorter
controlled by image
inspection eqpmt.
ADVANTAGES
Reliable, effective
DISADVANTAGES
High labor costs
Advanced software, Cost? Mechanical
designed for produce eqpmt provided by
applications
others.
Turnkey solution
Does not grade by
shape.
Removes bad
product before
shipment to plant
Designed
specifically for
tomatoes. Scans for
color only
Readily adaptable to Length inspection
pickle line
only
Fully integrated
inspection and
sorting
Sort by color only
Designed for
produce industry
Inspected for size,
weight, color only
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Current Progress
• Meetings with the customer
– Teleconferencing and in person
• Brainstorming
• Information Gathering
– Specific to our customer wants/constraints/etc.
• Benchmarking
• Following SSD© procedures
• Preparing Project Proposal
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What’s Next
• Planning a visit to Vlasic’s packaging site
• Gathering more information from
manufacturers of similar systems for other
types of produce
• Mathematical definition of ‘Good’ and
‘Bad’ cucumbers
• Continued regular Team meetings