5 minute read
Continued international growth Aweta
AWETA: CONTINUED
INTERNATIONAL GROWTH
Netherlands-based Aweta is leading the way when it comes to the manufacture and supply of turnkey solutions for the grading and packing of fresh produce. The company is enhancing its global reputation thanks to its continuous dedication to technological development and sales network expansion.
“2016 was a record sales year and 2017 looks set to be just as impressive,” says Mr Jean-Luc Delcassé, Aweta CEO. This growing success is the result of a variety of factors, including highly innovative projects such as turnkey plants for both round and cherry tomatoes, for the largest Spanish and French cooperatives as well as major growers in the US and Mexico.
The company’s most modern customers in Italy (Rivoira) and France have been equipped with fully automated apple pre-sorting and packing lines. The most advanced sorting solutions for citrus fruits have also been implemented in South Africa and California, as well as a new sorting line in Spain for the coming season.
Aweta also provides tailor-made sorting technologies for avocadoes and mangoes, internal scanning for peppers and advanced softness detection sensors for tomatoes, peaches and kiwis. enhanced Sorting Performance
Over the past few years, Aweta has been focusing on a new technique called ‘HyperSpectral’. This innovative optical sensor has been successfully tested on many types of fruit including apples, pears, tomatoes, kiwis, avocadoes and mangoes.
PowerVision Hyperspectral® brings significant added value to any operation when it comes to selecting external defects. It is particularly useful for identifying defects that are almost invisible, such as internal bruising or punctures. A specific spectral vision technology has been developed for citrus fruits and Advanced Vision UV uses the ultraviolet spectrum to identify clear rot on citrus – a skin defect barely visible to the naked eye.
With Inscan-Pulse®, Aweta has introduced a new version of the Internal scanning sensor, named Inscan®, in order to take the detec-
tion of internal defects a step further. It can, for example, ascertain the amount of red flesh on new varieties of apples, as well as the sugar level, water core and percentage of internal browning. This sensor is also incredibly proficient at measuring the internal properties of fruit at high speed (10 pieces of fruit per second), including juiciness in citrus fruits and ripeness as well as internal decay in avocadoes.
Mr Delcassé goes on to explain the importance of offering a highly specialised service: “In this world of constantly evolving technology, it is crucial that our customers meet the right partner to keep abreast of the latest advances made in sensor capabilities and the large range of sorting solutions offered, combining breakthrough features, added flexibility, higher quality performance and cost-reduction options. We are adamant that the end application has to fit with the customer’s vision and operational strategy and our specialists are trained to respond quickly and efficiently to all challenges.” Aweta’s specialists are: • Open-minded and flexible • Able to analyse and propose tailor-made models • Organised in teams to better cover different geographic markets and segments • Connected through the extensive Aweta network.
Aweta teams are on-hand to respond to all questions related to sorting technology and to analyse the performance of internal and external quality sorting for any produce requirement the customer has. The team can propose templates, build models and demonstrate operating systems using real-time sorting samples, either at its in-house demo rooms or at customers’ premises.
This team is in charge of solutions related to ICT, data management and traceability of products across the entire operating system. This offers customers the possibility to link operational and sales processes with their own client database and to synchronise orders with relevant packing plant, resource management, storage and excess.
The supervision interface, FlowMaster®, is able to monitor the entire sorting system. To this end Aweta has developed its own unique tools, named Lysi® and Scada®, that control flow and order management within the plant.
An International Player
Aweta’s specialists accompany its sales and service engineer teams around the world. They prepare and present sample sets in the showrooms in the Netherlands and Italy for the European market, and in California and Yakima for the US market. In addition, a sorting demonstration facility has also been established in Mexico.
These specialists are highly qualified, holding either technical engineering degrees or PhDs. Each team member has been trained in a particular field, ensuring that every aspect involved in the engineering of Aweta’s sorting solutions is covered.
“Aweta has grown constantly since our establishment and is now one of the leading suppliers of high quality sorting systems in the fruit and vegetable sector. However, our attention to customers’ needs has never changed; we always put customers first when it comes to business. We are working to: • Consolidate our achievements in the context of high-level competition • Develop our sales strategy to better serve the southern hemisphere regions – we are strengthening our local teams in Chile and
Australia as we have done elsewhere by staying close and acces sible to our customers • Continue to innovate our technology by extending the application of Hyperspectral • Accelerate diversification with new solutions for pears and oblong shaped produce such as mini cucumber with MiniQPack® and a new version of Millistar® for small products such as cherry fruit.”
Flexibility, Safety and Hygiene
Mr Delcassé adds: “We rely on our human capital and seek to empower our engineers to make customers’ wishes true. Every day we continue to learn and grow so we can deploy our knowledge in such a way that all customers ultimately benefit from our know-how.
“Aweta has the responsibility to produce and sell quality machinery. Our approach with regard to hazard prevention and safety measures is unequivocal. Our machinery meets all labour safety regulations around the world. We approach fruit handling with the same regard and accuracy: We handle products with care and attention and our equipment meets all requirements defined by the hygiene regulations of the major countries including the USA and EU.
He concludes with this message: “Sorting fruit is our passion. This year we celebrate 50 years in the industry: We remember where we started from and we know where we are heading to.” n
