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Customercase: “The Optica does more than expected”

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“The Optica does more than expected”

A sunny spring day in Wieringerwerf, North-Holland. The Knibbe family is sitting opposite of us, on appropriate distance of course. Openly, we speak with the brothers Jim, Luke and Nico about their company, the motives behind choosing for the Schouten Optica and of course their experiences with the Optica. Within a short period of time their parents David & Jolanda will take a step back, that’s why they decided to let the future speak. David has given an interview in the past about the purchase of his first Schouten machine.

"we do a lot more, with less people”

It doesn’t go overnight
The whole process, from purchase un till installation, took around two years.  The purchase of the Optica is a big investment and therefore, not an easy decision for a business owner. That’s why David Knibbe visited several different companies in the branch. The most important visit took place at the farm ‘De Lugt’ on Texel. “We immediately got excited when we arrived there”, according to Jim. The way in which the Optica made the processing of the potatoes more accurate and efficient, made us sure we should invest in the Optica”. The decision-making went relatively fast, also because we put a lot of time in the preparation. Together with the account manager of Schouten we looked in to and worked out several different formations before we found the most optimal solution. “The account manager showed us the different possibilities and brought in effective solutions when he visited us.” Jim told us.

The Optica wasn’t the only optical solution we looked in to. “The alternatives in optic sorting were comparable in price to the Optica, but the capacity and experience was a lot lower”, thus the brothers. Eventually, that was the decisive factor for the family to pick the Schouten Optica.

Short lines
During the whole process, the Knibbe family had several points of contact. “The process went smoothly and it was easy getting in touch with everyone from Schouten for possible questions or different things’’, according to Nico. The Schouten team has worked in close contact with the family to make the installation smoothly and according to all their demands. The usual small startup problems in the beginning of sorting season were resolved quickly and when necessary the Schouten employees stayed to sure everything was working correctly, even after working hours. The installation was delivered in the week we agreed up on!

More advantages than expected
The arrival of the Optica has brought us several advantages. The biggest advantage is the enlarged capacity. We do a lot more with less people. We went from 80 tons to 100 tons per day, with outliers to 120 tons. Another big advantage is that the sorting by size has become a lot more accurate. As an example Nico showed us that from a test of a colleague grower they still had 20% seeds from a batch which had gone through a conventional sorter with sieves twice. “ The potatoes are sorted perfectly! The inspector doesn’t even need his own measuring device”, said Jim.

Finally, because of the dust extraction system which comes with the Optica, the dust production has decreased significantly. “ Before the Optica we couldn’t even see the end of the barn, the dust reduction in the barn has led to a healthier and more fun workspace, which is also a big plus” according to Jim.

"A smooth process"

Did you know?
What needs to happen for potatoes to be grown and harvested? At first the potatoes have to be planted. This happens in April. The potatoes need approximately 100 days to grow. After that, they are harvested preferably in August and September. Of course, this is the ideal situation. However, sometimes harvesting takes longer than desired, depending on the weather. After harvesting the potatoes are dried. In this process it is important that the potatoes develop a thick skin.

The Optica CS in action

  • Control Panel Optica CS

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  • Overview of the setup

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  • The result

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See all photo's

Advantages of the Optica CS

Accurate sorting

The Optica sorts a lot more accurate than a traditional sorter. We sort more potatoes in the more expensive size than with a convectional shock- and shake sorting technique. It increases the yield.

Less costs

The cameras detect clods and a big part of the deformed potatoes, which makes scanning go faster. Because of this we save a lot of costs in the scanning room.

Easy to operate

Picking sorting sizes and directed them to the right exits is very simple. We also have all kinds of templates, to repeat batches.

More insight

The Optica collects automatically all kinds of data, which gives us more insight in the expected yield. We can easily look at the data from our smartphone, tablet or pc.

Product friendly

The shorter track with minimal fall and separations by size with airpressure prevent damages to our potatoes.

Want to see the Schouten Optica CS in action?

    Do you want to know if this machine suits your situation?

    Contact:

    Bram Jansen

    Call +31 (0)229 50 21 50
    Or send an email to:
    sales@schoutensorting.com

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