52 | Punchbowl Kiwifruit Services: Packhouse development Richard Loader New technology provides the punch Punchbowl has developed layer tray packing technology specifically to increase the efficiency of the people doing the packing. HORTICULTURE “A person operating in the standard manual lanes can pack a maximum of 1.5/1.6 trays per minute, while the technology enables people to pack seven trays per minute.” The addition of sophisticated technology plays a starring role in a major redevelopment at Punchbowl, a family owned and operated specialist provider servicing New Zealand kiwifruit growers. The redevelopment at the company’s Patumahoe site in South Auckland, includes the construction of a new coolstore with capacity for 800,000 trays, and plans to build more coolstores in the future as demand continues to grow. The packhouses floor area has been increased by 50% bringing it up to 4000sqm. But it is the technology inside the packhouse, some of which has been designed and developed by Punchbowl, that provides the real punch in the project. Simon Craig, Company Director and General Manager (Field Services) says because kiwifruit is a bespoke industry and the way the fruit is packed into boxes is different to other fruit, Punchbowl has developed layer tray packing technology specifically to increase the efficiency of the people doing the packing. He says the key driver behind developing this technology was the increased cost of labour, along with the short supply of labour. “We opted to make the people doing the packing the most efficient people they can be placing the fruit into the trays, rather than go down a fully automated route. “A person operating in the standard manual lanes can pack a maximum of 1.5/1.6 trays per minute, while the technology enables people to pack seven trays per minute. So, making the people we employ as efficient as possible was important.” Designed and developed from scratch by the Punchbowl team over a very short timeframe during COVID, the cutting-edge technology includes the software, user interface and all necessary machinery. “Another key benefit of the technology going into the packhouse is that it has changed the workforce that we employ to do the layer tray packing,” explains Simon. “The machinery will require higher skilled people to operate and work with the machines. So it is changing the landscape of the staff we employ.” In addition to the fruit packing technology, Punchbowl has also invested in packaging equipment from Niverplast, a leading global manufacturer of integrated Packaging Automation Systems. “The equipment places bags in a box that the kiwifruit is being is packed into and then closes the bag. “While that process seems quite rudimentary, it is quite a labour-intensive process doing it manually. “We had looked at various machinery providers around the world when we first decided to go down this track of automating the packhouse as much as possible. “We flew over to the Netherlands to visit Niverplast and decided their machinery was best for us. We brought the machinery in and installed it into our packhouse, and now have the agency to distribute it out into the wider fruit packing sector, along with our own packing technology.” Completing the suite of technology in the packhouse is an off-the-shelf Maf Roda optical grading system from France. Driving the redevelopment project is the significant growth in kiwifruit orchard development over the last six years, both by Punchbowl and new and existing growers in the area, that are just starting to come on stream now and over the next few years. The packhouse project commenced June of this year and, along with the new coolstore is on track to be completed in time for the start of the 2023 harvest at the end of February. “For the packhouse in particular, we have a very short time frame in which the construction of the building and installation of machinery can be completed. Unfortunately, kiwifruit doesn’t wait. It doesn’t like sitting on the vines when it is ready to be harvested.” PH 837 8445 20 THE CONCOURSE, HENDERSON AUCKLAND WE ARE PROUD TO SUPPORT PUNCHBOWL KIWIFRUIT SERVICES
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