UNITEC Blueberry Vision: the last frontier in selecting blueberry quality

UNITEC, specialized in designing and manufacturing innovative technological solutions for sorting, grading, packing and selecting the quality of fresh fruits and vegetables, for 97 years has been committed to improve fresh fruits and vegetables sorting quality in over 65 countries around the world where it operates. Over the years, UNITEC R&D Team has developed advanced technologies and vision systems to ensure accuracy and reliability in selecting the quality of different types of fresh fruits and vegetables, including blueberries.

In order to ensure a precise and efficient quality selection of this delicate product, UNITEC has designed a range of specific technologies: Blueberry Vision 2 and Blueberry Vision 3, vision systems dedicated to blueberries that allow to scan 100% of the surface of each fruit.

UNITEC Blueberry Vision 3 high-resolution cameras, Blueberry Vision 2 latest generation upgrade, help selecting blueberries according to multiple parameters independent from each other - internal quality (soft fruit), external quality, shape defects, as well as optical size and color - with extreme accuracy and according to multiple combinations, thus creating many quality classes, which can satisfy the different taste of the consumer and the different product destination and distribution needs.

UNITEC technologies are developed and produced 100% inside the Company and this represents a very important plus for the packing houses that choose to rely on UNITEC. This is confirmed by Daniel Jackson, owner of the Californian company Family Tree Farms specialized in growing, sorting, packing and exporting blueberries all over the world.

“One of the qualities of working with UNITEC compared to the competitors is they manufacture and engineer everything themselves and that’s really important because when you are doing a project of this magnitude, you want everything to be seamless as it’s manufactured. If there is a problem or an issue you work directly with UNITEC, who has streamlined it, and we work through it, we find a solution”

The Packing Houses that have chosen to adopt UNITEC sorting lines equipped with a technology from the Blueberry Vision range found many benefits, as Krzysztof Dębski, Production Manager of Polana Spolka

“The first advantage is undoubtedly the increase of the line working efficiency. Another advantage is being able to reduce the personnel on the line, which allows us to achieve great savings on the packing process”

Increased line efficiency and a strong reduction in labor costs thanks to the high level of automation that characterizes UNITEC lines equipped with Blueberry Vision 2 and Blueberry Vision 3 systems. On one hand, a reduction of the personnel needed to carry out quality selection, guaranteeing operators to work within safety distances. On the other hand, a guarantee of safety for the final consumer since the product comes into contact with operators as little as possible during the different sorting stages.

Moreover, efficiency and cost reduction are combined with a precise and reliable quality selection of blueberries that allows a reduction to a minimum of complaints due to differences between the product agreed with the distributor and the one actually delivered.

The third advantage – continues Krzysztof Dębski, Polana Spolka Production Manager – consists in minimizing the risk of complaints, which is currently below 1% for the fruit selected and packed with UNITEC line.

Thanks to the reliable quality selection of Blueberry Vision, the final consumer is confident to always find a product of consistent quality compared to the product previously purchased. And this is how UNITEC technology works as a real mark of quality and reliability which is able to create full satisfaction and loyalty of the final consumer in the long run. 

For more information about UNITEC, see their website