Del Monte Foods' canning operation in Kingsburg, CA, reports strong success since installing vision-sorting technology on its diced peach line. "We historically relied on manual labor to sort blemished and defective fruit," says Edwin Matsumoto, plant production superintendent. "New products such as single-serve peach cups and food service items demand consistent, high quality and generate tremendous volume increases in this facility," he said. Del Monte plant managers found their solution with a Tegra® vision sorter from Key Technology, during Pack Expo '97.
Del Monte's 100,000 sq.-ft. Kingsburg plant specializes in canning diced cling peaches--processing an average of six tons per hour at peak harvest. The plant runs a 1,200 person, three-shift operation putting out 80,000 tons of peaches during the short season.