Most of the live demonstrations held in September took place on site at KRONEN’s facility in Kehl and welcomed participants from Germany, Switzerland, Norway, the Netherlands, Mexico, Belgium, and Poland. What’s more, an online demonstration via a live broadcast was provided for representatives of around 50 companies from Latin America and the USA, who were unable to attend in person.
The KRONEN project team presented the innovative processing line to customers and interested companies from the fresh-cut industry in a number of individual guided tours and discussions. The demonstration gave participants the opportunity to examine the intelligent, networked system up close while it was actually processing a product.
“From our perspective, the demonstration of the new, networked processing line was highly worthwhile: it was an excellent opportunity to experience such a line actually processing a product. It enabled us to discover KRONEN’s expertise in creating automated systems live and in person. We were particularly impressed by the integrated GEWA XL washing machine,” stated one of the participants.
The processing line, which forms part of a large-scale order, is currently located in KRONEN’s production hall in the town of Kehl by the river Rhine. Just like the fourth and final line of the order, it will be installed at the facility of its new owner, a manufacturer of fresh produce, by the end of the year. Two of these lines have already been in operation at the company since the start of the year.
Intelligent and efficient weighing, washing, drying, and sorting
The customer plans to use the processing line for salad leaves, salad mixes, and leafy vegetables to process up to 1,000 kg of baby leaf lettuce or the equivalent amount of mixed lettuce per hour. The line combines innovative washing and drying technology from KRONEN with dynamic weighing systems and mechanical and optical sorting solutions from KRONEN partners. It contains a variety of new and further developed machines, including the K850 drying system, the GEWA AF pre-washing machine, and the GEWA XL HELICAL washing machine. What’s more, recipe weighing belts from Synergy Systems and a mechanical sorting system and UVC treatment system from HiTec Food Systems are also integrated into the line.
All of the components in the line are networked. The communication between the machines and the visual displays for the machine operators help to facilitate a reliable, constant, and uninterrupted production flow. In turn, this fully automated, continuous processing enables the line to only require a small number of staff and to achieve a cost-efficient processing procedure. Last but not least, it guarantees high processing capacities and maximum hygiene and quality in production.
Video of the processing line
