Technology helps harness greater share of global apple pie

Remaining globally competitive requires local Western Cape companies to continuously invest in their operations, bringing in the latest technology and equipment. According to Dr Mias Pretorius, a horticulturist with Two-a-Day, a fruit growing, packing and marketing company from the Elgin region in the Western Cape, globally apples have become a commodity. “It is a volume game based on who can produce the cheapest product – and so fruit growers have to look at what their competitive advantages are.” Historically South Africa has had to contend with the price of its labour and its proximity to the markets it serves. To ensure product is globally competitive, streamlined packaging, packing lines and storage facilities have become crucial. Two-a-Day, which is responsible for more than seven million cartons of fresh fruit and 100 000 tonnes of processed fruit from the Grabouw region in the Western Cape, recently announced a major investment in its facilities – designed to significantly improve its efficiency. And bringing in the latest technology to improve its packing and packing lines is already paying off. “This investment includes the purchase of a Flow Wrap machine that does not limit packaging to the traditional tray and bag packing,” said the company’s managing director, Attie van Zyl. In basic terms f low wrapping is an advanced packaging process that over wraps a product with a film. It is a versatile and cost effective process that is used for a variety of products – from food to computer software. “When it comes to the apples and pears that we package in our Western Cape plants, it allows us to supply UK supermarkets with fruit that has been pre-packed in South Africa,” said Van Zyl. “With this technology – which is the latest trend for fruit and vegetable packing – we can pack fruit in such a way that the consumer across the world can easily examine each piece of fruit without damaging it when they want to purchase it in the supermarket.” According to Tru-Cape Fruit Marketing, South Africa’s larges apple and pear marketing company and responsible for marketing Two-a-Day’s fruit, there is huge benefit when packhouses embrace technology. “An excellent product is always easier to sell,” said the company’s MD Roelf Pienaar. Thanks to the new packhouse technology, Two-a-Day has managed to increase its efficiencies by 25%. Whilst much of this is attributed to the improvements in the packing lines and controlled atmosphere storage facilities, there has also been the impact of handheld digital devices that have significantly reduced paperwork. These are now used in the orchard, packhouse and quality control divisions. “New packhouse technology allows for sorting by weight, diameter, colour and defect,” said Van Zyl. “Previous machines only sorted by weight. This gives us greater sorting efficiency and accuracy in packing while advances in the dynamic controlled atmosphere storage means we can more accurately measure the levels of ethanol, fruit respiration and chlorophyll fluorescence.” All of these advances ultimately allowed the Western Cape apples and pears to be more competitive on the global market, he said. INSERT 1 25% The percentage increase in efficiency thanks to new packhouse technology. INSERT 2 It is a volume game based on who can produce the cheapest product. “ – Dr Mias Pretorius CAPTION 1 Technology is making a difference in the packing of fruit at Tru-Cape Fruit. CAPTION 2 Two-a-Day, the 100% grower-owned apple and pear packing and cold storage company, has invested heavily in upgrading infrastructure.