CUSTOMER OBJECTIVES
Gerber Poultry processes and packages chicken products for retail distribution across the Midwestern
United States under the Gerber Amish Farms Chicken label. To meet increasing demand, off icials at
the company’s processing plant in Kidron, Ohio, planned to enhance and optimize their tray-sealing
line. Key to the project’s success was the ability to correctly sort tray packs to different wrapping
machines, depending on their product. Gerber Poultry had several goals for the tray-pack sealing
area upgrade, including:
9 9 Limit labor needs in the area
9 9 Reduce product waste from damage or errors (e.g.,wrapping the wrong product)
9 9 Enable higher throughputs of up to 150–187 trays per minute (depending on tray size)
with 99.9% system accuracy
9 9 Safeguard product quality by ensuring gentle handling and no cross-contamination
FOODMATE ND INTRALOX COLLABORATION
PACKING AND
DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS
To achieve their goals, plant off icials determined they would need an automated, multilane tray-
pack sorting solution that integrated a camera-based product recognition system. The plant's cut-up
system consisted of the Foodmate OPTI Flow Cut-up System drip line out of the chiller to a weight
transfer system to distribution line with vision grading. Three (3) buffer transfer machines to three (3)
EFFICIENT FINAL PRODUCT TRAY WRAPPING
retail f rame cut up lines, multiple WOG drops and one 8/9 piece cut-up line.
Gerber Poultry opted for an Intralox® Active Integrated Motion™ (AIM™) Multilane Sorter combined
THE STRENGTH OF FOODMATE AND INTRALOX COMBINED INTO ONE SOLUTION: TRAYSORT
TraySort was developed by Foodmate and Intralox to facilitate and improve our customers’ final
distribution goals in packaged chicken and meat products. The newly developed TRAYSORT grading,
packing and distribution system aims to improve labor management, reduce packaging waste and
TRAYSORT CONTROL&DISTRIBUTION
through logical conveyor layout. Foodmate and Intralox’s goal is to ultimately create a highly efficient
environment for each plant, executing the best in automation capability in cut-up, production and
distribution.
TRAYSORT
The AIM Multilane Sorter ensures increased tray-pack throughput with faster line speeds, reduced
product damage, and reduced downtime. Washdown capable, the automated AIM system provides
gentle product handling at high speeds, eliminating the need for manual workers to sort, restyle, or
reorient trays. Labor expenses are eliminated, as are the cross-contamination risks associated with
manual tray handling.
Using advanced camera and lighting technologies, the InVISION Camera Grading System recognizes
and grades tray-packs according to specif ied production requirements and determines their
distribution (or other actions). It then communicates the distribution or action to the sorter—all
without the need for labels, barcodes, or additional processes. The combined solution, the Foodmate
offers touch-screen automated pre-programmed product recognition criteria such as:
9 9 Tray size
9 9 Tray color
9 9 Product type
9 9 Product quantity
9 9 Orientation on belt
9 9 Tray gap detection
9 9 Foreign Object Detection
TRAYSORT Packing System - optimizes the capabilities of both components into an uncompromised,
fully automated system.
RESULTS
It was a true collaboration f rom Gerber Poultry, Foomdate and Intralox to support Gerber Poultry
safeguard product quality and food safety, minimize waste, and achieve its desired throughput
targets. Most signif icantly, Gerber Poultry has eliminated labor needs in the area by four full-time
equivalent (FTE) positions, thereby saving upwards of $280,000 per year. The company plans to
include additional AIM conveyors in later phases of its project.
9 9 Product Overhang Detection
and vision technology and Intralox’s vast experience in maximizing product handling requirements
available commercially as the Foodmate TRAYSORTPacking System.
increase throughput. The partnership brings together Foodmate’s innovative and efficient cut-up line
with an InVISION Camera Grading System f rom Foodmate. The combined AIM/InVISION system is
TRAYSORT offers:
9 9
9 9
9 9
9 9
9 9
Consulting
Increased productivity
Automated product recognition
Improved product handling and optimal presentation
Touch-screen automated product recognition criteria
9 9 The correct product is directed to the correct wrapping machine again saving on packaging
costs and labor.
How TRAYSORT increases your productivity
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99.4% 99.9%
Vision system
performance System Accuracy
9 9 Badly packaged product is rejected before wrapping, saving on packaging costs and labor.
9 9 The system can work with tray gaps as small as 6” thus increasing throughput
9 9 TRAYSORT Safeguards product quality by ensuring gentle handling and no cross-
contamination. The Active Integrated Motion Multi Lane Sorter from Intralox is fast, gentle
and accurate, resulting in stable product in the tray allowing for optimal presentation.
Utilising inVISION Camera Grading System from Foodmate, the system can recognise and sort products according to customer requirements.
$280,000
Approximate Annual
Savings
99.9%
System Accuracy
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