Growing productivity through smart engineering and simple automation.

Mount Erin Fruit Services, a Hawkes Bay Packhouse needed to improve production throughput. The plant originally had a forklift dump solution, allowing fruit surges through to the processing plant. After approaching Hortworx, we designed the Robotic Water Dump (RWD100) to suit their needs. Having worked with many similar machines, Hortworx took the best of various options and combined them.

Installing the machine, dump tank and safety fence Hortworx had the RWD100 up and running just in time for season.

With a base throughput of 40 bins per hour from season start, the RWD100 has gently provided fruit to the production line, ensuring continuous fruit availability and surge free operation.

Crasborns had managed to find an old Compac fruit sorter, with plans to move it into their organic shed. Falcon 2000 was tasked with providing an Infeed to complete the plant. A complete electrical rebuild of the Motor Control Centre was required to bring it up to standard, re-arrange for the new layout and motor requirements.

The decision to keep it simple as the line is only ‘for a few years’ meant a relay control structure, with Vraiable speed control of the VSDs via Pot’s on the control station. We overlayed a SICK Flexi-Loop safety control system to ensure the standard of electrical safety was of quality.

We created a screen printed panel and mounted the speed control, stop/start buttons and E-Stop indicators to make the simple control system even more practical to use.

Compac USA contracted Rob to support in control system changes with their upgrading of MSUs (Mobile Stacking Units) from Micrologix to Compactlogix.

Working with Allen-Bradley’s newest L83 ControlLogix platform, we ensured this line controlling PLC had the right connections to the updated machines. Tidying redundant code and optimising some processes for a smoother control and faster process time.

An exported turnkey sorting line from Compac Sorting. Rob was bought on to over see the electrical install and commission the line. As part of the commissioning process we began training a new Compac engineer in the process of infeed commissioning.

The line consisted of a Compac vertical plunge dumper feeding into a standard brush unit in prep for waxing, a heated drying tunnel then round to bagging on a Compac sorter.This plant utilised the AllenBradley 525 VSDs with a CompactLogix L33ER PLC to bring plantwide ethernet integration, allowing better remote service functions with full access to 90% of the devices in the system. Sick Safety FlexiLoop and FlexiLine were used for managing the E-Stops and multiple Motor Control Cabinets,  creating a seamless plant wide safety zone.