AUTOMATION
The Axis system lifts to the top of the room to enable filling and spraying.
At Marco Deckers KG, two rooms have now been equipped with the Axis harvesting system from Northern Ireland. The MPU, which moves with the conveyors, grades and weighs mushrooms and supplies punnets automatically.
A belt with different sized holding fingers rotates once around the entire bed.
The Axis system also trims the mushrooms automatically.
continued to develop our systems. In around 2000 we have developed our original MPU (Mushroom Processing Unit) based on the existing systems of our customers. It was built by Ivan Doakes, the father of our current owner Alan Doakes. Axis Technology and Development Ltd. was established in 2013. We think we can boost user productivity by typically 250- 300%. The mushroom holding fingers can accommodate mushrooms from 10 to 80 mm in diameter. As well as at a Highline farm in Canada, our system is also in action at Marco Deckers in Gelder-Pont. We have received feedback on the initial results and are seeing a performance of between 53 and 59 kilos per hour per picker, including the operator at the MPU. Once the pickers are used to working with our system, these figures will certainly increase. The automatic weighing system also reduces the amount of overweight in punnets by up to 8% and increases the yield per room by up to 10%. We think we have a great system that can be integrated into existing farms without having to modify the shelving.”
www.axisharvesting.co.uk
GTL Europe’s tilting bed system
GTL Europe was also aware that it is easier to pick mushrooms that come towards you. That is the idea behind their tilting bed system, as har- vesting is easier for the pickers if they have a clear view of the beds. During harvesting, again done using two hands, the pickers place the mushrooms onto a conveyor belt with openings that moves along with the platform they are standing on, including up and down. There is a conveyor for each picking platform, so two for
42 MUSHROOM BUSINESS
each row of shelving. The conveyors transport the mushrooms outside the growing rooms to the packing stations. At these packing stations the mushrooms are sliced to the desired length, removed manually from the conveyor and placed in the right packaging. The system has already been installed at several farms, for example at Deckers in Gelder-Pont, but also at Bilsland in Schwaigern (see page 8), Germany and at Nesco in Sint-Oedemerid, the Netherlands. French, Swiss and North American farms also already use the system. It is possible, but not necessary, to separate the pinning and harves- ting activities, in which case the beds are
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