Snack Tomato Sorting Technology

GP Graders > Snack Tomato Sorting Technology

Cherry & Grape Tomato Sorting Like Never Seen Before

Combine nearly sixty years of manufacturing experience with over 30 years of highly successful cherry grading, then add cutting-edge vision systems technology and you’ve got the next generation of sorting capability available for the snack tomato sector. Cherry, grape, and mini roma tomatoes can now be sorted and packed at a consistency not seen previously, resulting in a higher price paid for your product, all the while, reducing the cost of labour.

The demands of consumers are unrelenting and the players able to maintain the strict standards set will enjoy their share of the pie. Partnering your snack tomato business with GP Graders knowledge and high-quality machinery ensures you’re prepared for success.

This might just be the wisest investment decision you can make for your pack-house.

At the heart of all our AirJet® graders, gpVision™ encapsulates super high definition (HD) cameras, an advanced LED lighting arrangement, real time control unit and a complete firmware, software and user interface solution. We’ve designed and produced our own proprietary electronic systems, mechanical hardware and software platform, utilising the best programming talent and electrical engineering methods available, to create a robust, reliable, and future-ready solution that will serve your business for many, many years to come.

gpVision™ is the industry benchmark for sorting of cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, mini roma tomatoes & various other ‘snack’ size tomatoes.

Accurate Size Separation

With superior sizing accuracy, the AirJet® grader provides you and your customers, with the confidence that your product will meet size specifications.

It allows for:

size grading into finer size increments so that each high- value grade can command the highest price
complete control over the ‘give away’, if any, in each size grade
the elimination of oversize in undersize, and vice versa.

Colour Separation

The AirJet® grader achieves perfect colour separation and provides a consistent and uniform pack colour. Multiple colour ranges for any grade of tomato can be run consecutively, and colour blemishes are programmable and detectable. Multi-colour tomatoes can also be handled, programmed via skin colour coverage percentages.

The benefits of perfect colour sorting are two fold. Not only are you able to separate out your under-ripe fruit for storage and further ripening but studies have shown that tomatoes packed with like ripeness fruit have a longer shelf life than mixed packs.

Defect Sorting

gpVision™ finds more defects and more of the defected fruit.

Extensive testing has gone in to the development of our cherry & grape tomato grading solution and the results are highly impressive.

The gpVision™ system can successfully detect SCAR, SHRIVEL, SOFTNESS, STEM/LEAF and CALYX ultimately enhancing the overall quality of output.

The unique way we analyse each tomato, we offer you the ability to separate the quality of produce into multiple quality grades, i.e. first, second, third, fourth, etc.

Tailored Solutions

We recognise that every pack-house is unique. To this end, your business will benefit from our knowledge and experience to ensure the most suitable solution is presented and installed.

We have a range of peripheral machinery to handle your fruit, a variety of machine configurations, and the know-how to recommend the best solution for your specific requirements. If your tomatoes are destined for specialised packing equipment then large bins might suit your exit systems better or if boxed fruit is your standard then electronic carton fillers may be more suitable.

Talk to us today about how we can assist with getting the right solution in place for your packhouse operations.

Reaping the Rewards

Savvy operators are already benefiting from partnering their snack tomato businesses with GP Graders.

Luke de Paoli from Sunripe in Bundaberg, QLD has had an 8 lane AirJet® grader recently installed and had this to say:

“Our new GP AirJet grader is punching out some serious volume, doing on average 240,000 cherry tomatoes per hour. We’re processing 2 to 3 times the amount of our old sorting machine and we’ve got defect detection pulling out a great deal of bad fruit, helping to reduce labour costs.”

An incredibly wise investment, especially in a time of increasing labour costs, an AirJet grader will pay for itself within a matter of years.