Maintaining top quality while gently packing delicate produce at ever faster speeds is giving New Zealand-based BBC Technologies an edge in the highly competitive fresh produce sector.

The company’s latest innovation, the CURO-16 Filling System, has been attracting keen interest at influential events in the United States and around the world this year, ranging from the Southeast Regional Fruit & Vegetable Conference in Savannah, GA, where it was launched to Fruit Logistica in Berlin and the Global Berry Congress in Rotterdam.The CURO-16 was originally intended as a blueberry-filling machine, but has since expanded into other categories since its introduction in the United States in January. (Photo courtesy of BBC)

The first global production run of the CURO-16 has sold out and BBC Technologies is increasing capacity to keep up with demand. Originally designed to pack blueberries, the company is now responding to demand for the equipment to also pack other small fruit such as tomatoes and cherries, and will soon have a new version available with extended capability.

BBC Technologies is one of the world’s leading supplier of blueberry sorting and packing machinery, and the advantages delivered by the new CURO-16 are informed by the company’s expertise with growing and exporting blueberries.

BBC Technologies has a strong focus on research and development but also runs its own sorting and packing lines. In addition, BBC Technologies’ sister company, Blueberry Country, has New Zealand’s largest blueberry orchard, where it grows 40 different varieties that are packed at its own processing facility and then exported to offshore markets.

Chip Manuel, BBC Technologies’ sales manager for the southeastern United States, said the company’s first-hand experience of the challenges its customers in the fresh produce sector face is key to it being able to offer innovations such as the CURO-16.

“Our equipment is designed to be adapted to suit a range of fresh produce and meet the individual requirements of our customers,” Manuel said.

The CURO-16 is capable of consistently packing up to 240 clamshells per minute without compromising on quality — significantly more than competitor products which claim packing rates of up to 180 per minute.

“Clients have been consistently asking for a faster filling system that retains all the advantages of our existing equipment while taking speed to the next level — and the CURO-16 is our response to that,” said Manuel.

BBC Technologies’ sales engineer, Troy Cleaver, said the machine has been designed to have the same flexibility of the company’s existing 10-head fill-by-weight technology, while offering more efficiency when it comes to switching between different sized packing options.

“We looked at all aspects of our equipment and have incorporated every recent technology advance in the CURO-16, thereby ensuring precision control at each stage of the filling process,” Cleaver explained.

The reception for CURO-16 in both the United States and Europe has been glowing, with customers enthusiastic about its ability to achieve increased throughput with no increase in environmental footprint.

That enthusiasm is translating into strong sales of the CURO-16 with the company having supplied the new equipment to customers all over the world.

“This reflects the unique offering from BBC Technologies — innovation from our consistent and longstanding investment in R&D that gives customers an edge in an increasingly competitive marketplace,” said Manuel.

BBC Technologies offers a suite of high-tech solutions for packing and processing berries, including a range of fruit sorting machines that are renowned for their gentle handling while being able to remove over 80 percent of soft or damaged fruit. On the back of that market-leading position, it has expanded its suite of equipment to also sort and pack cherries, small tomatoes, cranberries and other delicate products, such as olives and mushrooms.

The company is well established in both the United States and Europe and is enjoying expanded sales in Asia, where it intends to open an office in China within the next 12 months.

In the United States, BBC Technologies’ partnerships with local companies have led to impressive increases in both performance and sales.

Sweet Berry Farms in North Carolina, for example, has a long-term agreement with BBC Technologies to use a suite of the company’s Colour Sorter MK2 and a DURA-TOUCH COMPACT Soft Sorters, which are designed to remove soft fruit with the highest levels of accuracy. The increased accuracy in sorting for defects is helping the company achieve better returns for its premium Rainer cherries.

In Europe, BBC Technologies has an office in Horst, in the province of Limburg in the Netherlands, and its staff are meeting demand from customers in the rapidly growing cherry sector, who are looking for solutions that can give them an edge in the marketplace.

BBC Technologies has a number of partnerships and alliances with companies around the world to support its approach of supplying end-to-end systems.