2005 has started with a full production schedule and two 20 lane sizers to build! The first is currently being assembled and shipped to Zirkle Fruit Company in USA. This is a water presize line with InVision 9000 Blemish grading for apples.

The second is for Sun Pacific in California who are adding a third packing line to their Maricopa facility. When this is installed there will be a total of 84 lanes of Compac equipment operating under one roof (including the 40 lane pregrade line), all of which are over 60m (200ft) in length. This is truly an impressive facility handling mainly Clementine mandarins.

While the Compac NZ factory is busy assembling and shipping the first 20 laner, it is not all about big machines with other orders from South America, Australia and Israel filling the books.

Check out the revised Compac Website www.compacsort.com

NIR - Identifying BBD in Apples
Taste Technologies were contacted by two NZ customers in December last year, both with internal breakdown (browning or core rot) in apples due to problems occurring in controlled atmosphere storage. Although unfortunate, this was an opportunity to perform some real research into identifying this problem with new technology.

Using commercially available NIR (Near Infra Red) technology, the Taste Technology team were finally able to make the required connection. NIR units were shipped and installed onto Compac sizers and used to remove enough of the effected apples to reach minimum standards for the market. Both customers were able to market the majority of the fruit and turn a bad situation into a profitable one.

This is an exciting breakthrough, one we hope will also recognize BBD in Braeburn to export standard. At least one machine will be installed with the technology this year, to protect against BBD. Although we hope the problem does not rear it's head again, when it does we may be able to help and use the opportunity to fine tune the technology. For more information on NIR click here.

InVision 9000 Blemish system.
Work is continuing on fine tuning InVision 9000 Blemish software and trialling new technology to keep improving the system. Apples are currently receiving most of the attention on the research front to ensure Compac technology remains the best system available on the market.

Following the success last year in Kiwifruit, an 8 lane Compac pregrader is being installed at Apata Ltd for the 2005 season. All other Kiwifruit presizers have received mechanical improvements and the latest design "G" carriers to improve fruit rotation under the cameras this season. These improvements plus trials on physical damage detection are exciting for the kiwifruit industry and will be beneficial for many other fruit type such as apples. We look forward to advising you of the results.

Compac Outlet Controls
Outlet controls are now available to provide a number of useful functions. Outlets can now be enabled or disabled via buttons, sensors or other packaging equipment at each outlet. Lights on the buttons can indicate the status. This is useful where time is required to change packaging at an outlet before the packer can allow fruit to flow. These could alternatively be used as a way of pausing fruit flow if a problem occurs without the need to pull the emergency stop cord. Many other applications apply including feeding bagging and punnet machines so contact us to discuss how this can apply to your application.

Book now for your closest operator training course in 2005!

The main fruit harvest season is about to begin or under way for New Zealand and Australia, and Compac Technicians have been busy providing pre-season servicing and maintenance. Pre-season servicing stabilizes your sorting system and can reduce downtime during the packing season. We have had excellent feedback from customers about their pre-season servicing and the results; contact your local Service representative if you have any questions about this service.

With Compac's South American market expanding, additional sales and service staff are in training to serve the Argentine and Chilean markets.  In addition, Spanish speaking technicians based in New Zealand and the United States will provide these markets with technical support.

Compac is  continuing to provide training for local agent technicians; this February, we worked with technicians from our partner HG Molenaar & Co in South Africa.

Regarding documentation, we have made some changes to the InVision User Guide, based on feedback from customers who wanted more training elements in this manual. The latest version now includes three new tutorials to train novice users in Navigation, Color Mapping, and Grade Mapping. Ask your technician about the latest version.

e-mail service@compacsort.com.

• Sorma links up with Compac from New Zealand - Eurofruit Jan 2005
  
  
• Compac Lifts Queensland Citrus Packing Operation - Central Fruit Packers Blemish Story
  The Orchardist Feb. 2005
  
  
• Compac Notches Two Decades - National Marketplace News Australia Feb. 2005
  
  
• Kiwis ready to sort European fruit - The New Zealand Herald 11 Jan 2005
  
  
• Compac marks 20 years with Consistent Growth - The Grower p59 Feb. 2005
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• Compac USA Expansion
  
  
• Gawler River Potatoes Australia