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The importance of technology for sorting efficiency: global apples packer and distributer H.H. Dobbins case study
H.H. Dobbins has been a trusted fruit handler, manager and marketer in the US since 1905. Shipping apples all over the world, delivering consistent quality produce is important in maintaining their brand reputation. Company takes care to manage their fruit in a way that will optimize their investment, while maximizing returns to their growers.
CEO Ward Dobbins explains how using the advanced sorting technology of Spectrim is revolutionizing their business, by helping them grow and remain efficient.
Technology has enabled company to make better use of the labor they have at hand, which is particularly important due to the limited labor available in the area. Since implementing their Spectrim sorting technology, the labor per unit cost has gone down and the units per man hour have gone up by approximately 15% with efficiency up 16%.
“Because of the benefit of the Spectrim technology, we’re able to better utilize our labor force... We’ve been able to hire more people and still maintain the higher units per man hour. So, we’ve been able to grow the company without adding cost to our growers – we couldn’t do that without the Spectrim technology.”
Ward Dobbins describes using Spectrim as being like “day and night” when compared to how they sorted by hand before. They were previously using 6-10 people sorting on the line, whereas now they are only using 2 people and one person operating Spectrim. In his words “it’s like coming into the 21st
Since installing Spectrim in the middle of 2017, they have seen that their pack-outs are up 3% from last year and their rejection rate went from 1% to 0.5%. The increased consistently and decrease in rejections is a win for customers, growers and the company.
Spectrim has exceeded company’s rate of return in terms of investment, right from day one. Investing in Spectrim and Inspectra technology has enabled H.H. Dobbins to create a more efficient packhouse, allowing them to sort more in less time which benefits customers and growers. H.H. Dobbins continues to grow, and is confident Compac is the partner that will help them continue to deliver world-class produce and stay competitive.
Technology is also enabling H.H. Dobbins to access more markets and pack more produce, H.H. Dobbins has the ability to spread the growers’ pack-out to the best markets possible, ensuring more produce makes it into the highest pack.
For contact:
Mike Riley – CEO, Compac
+64 21 751 539, mike.riley@compacsort.com
Perry Sansom – VP Marketing, Compac
+64 21 404 040, perry.sansom@compacsort.com
