Rivermaid invests in True-AI technology from Ellips

As a cherry packer, you want the best of all worlds: superior product consistency, maximum production capacity, and the most efficient operations possible. As a leader in the cherry industry, Rivermaid Trading Company constantly innovates to meet customer demands and deliver the highest returns to growers while reducing operational costs.

By investing in a 24-lane Elifab cherry calibrator and the latest Ellips True-AI calibration technology, Rivermaid has secured a promising future for its growers, its customers, and its own business.

Growth strategy with a powerful brand promise and collaborations

For Rivermaid, this AI-driven cherry calibrator represents much more than just new equipment: it is a key component of its cherry industry growth strategy, enhancing its packing capabilities and flexibility.

The increase in efficiency and capacity allows for expanded production while maintaining a commitment to high-quality products. This approach aligns perfectly with Rivermaid's brand promise and strengthens relationships with growers, retailers, and consumers. Rivermaid's success is a testament to the power of collaboration in the fruit industry.

In recent years, Rivermaid has faced the following challenges:

• California cherries, known for their complex colorations and varying levels of ripeness, have long posed a challenge for packers striving to maintain consistency and high productivity.
• The cherry market has very strict quality requirements that must be met. Cutting-edge technology is needed to accurately detect the quality, size, firmness, brix, and color of cherries, with attention to the smallest details.
• The need to serve a variety of customers and markets. These customers require different quality standards, necessitating extreme flexibility in adjusting classification to meet their various needs.
• Maintaining a high production volume is crucial for staying in the industry. Increasing production capacity while reducing costs is our top priority for growth. We aim to process cherries as quickly as possible to lower costs, save time, and maintain attractive margins.
• Despite varying cultivation and climatic conditions that can affect quality, you must be able to provide your customers with consistent quality. Ellips' classification technology allows us to consistently deliver the high-quality cherries that our customers expect.

• Every challenge has its solution.

About Rivermaid

Growers. Packers. Shippers. Leaders. Rivermaid Trading Company is known as a leading supplier of high-quality cherries and the largest pear producer in California. Rivermaid is a family-owned farm with expertise in agriculture, operations, consumer marketing, logistics, and more.

Rivermaid shares the passion for doing whatever it takes to bring the best-tasting pears and cherries to your tables worldwide. Today, as always, every Rivermaid fruit is carefully grown, handpicked, packaged to the highest quality standards, and produced in a socially and environmentally responsible manner.

Focusing on world-leading classification technology and highly skilled operators

Lodi, California, is an ideal place for cherry cultivation due to its excellent combination of soil, water, and climate. This environment allows cherries to ripen with a deep red color and high sugar levels. Rivermaid is committed to investing in world-leading classification technology to deliver consistently high-quality packaging.

Additionally, it relies on highly skilled operators to manage operations. These operators are trained to detect even the most difficult defects, such as black rot, fresh splits, and splits in the stem area. They also determine brix, firmness, and color, ensuring that consumers receive the best packaging.

A leading producer of cherries and pears with large volumes

Rivermaid represents about 14% of the cherry sector in California. The packers operate from three different locations in the heart of their growing areas, with a total area of 400,000 square meters.

The facilities include 5 pear packing lines and 3 cherry packing lines, air cooling tunnels, and 150,000 square meters of refrigerated storage with ethylene monitoring to ensure optimal storage conditions. Rivermaid uses modified atmosphere (MA) technology to create an unmatched long-term storage environment.

Main goals and challenges

The main goals to address include labor issues, consistent quality, and increased operational capacity. Below are the key points associated with each goal:

1. Implement significant automation measures to reduce reliance on labor.
“Reducing labor is a crucial goal. Nowadays, finding labor worldwide is very challenging. We no longer want to rely on this. Labor becomes more difficult every year. Our business requires a significant amount of labor, resulting in substantial costs."

“Rivermaid employs about 65-70 full-time employees daily. During cherry and pear season, this number rises to approximately 650-700 employees. Labor shortages make things increasingly difficult and force us to automate further.”

2. Ensure consistent quality under the most challenging conditions

“California cherries are very difficult to sort and classify due to a heterogeneous manifestation of colors, defects, and sizes. Most regions of the world are not familiar with the characteristics of California cherries. California cherries are also affected by climate changes, causing the fruit to ripen at different times on the same tree."

“Due to labor difficulties, we usually need to complete harvesting in a single pass. These complex color patterns and varying levels of ripeness have long posed a challenge for packers aiming to maintain consistency and high productivity.”

3. Scale our business by increasing production volume

“Maintaining a high production volume is crucial for staying competitive in the industry. Achieving consistent volumes is our primary growth priority. We need reliable machines and equipment that allow us to scale. We currently hold a significant market share in California and will continue to expand if we can meet our growers’ needs.”

“Since we partially rely on growers for our supplies, it is essential to build strong relationships with them. Aware of the importance of quality, we have invested time and resources to find the best available calibration and packing machine.”

“We sought a powerful machine that combined high productivity with accurate quality classification. This strategic decision will pay off by allowing us to handle larger volumes efficiently. Last but not least, it provides the highest returns to the growers we work with.”

Choosing the right partner and technology

Rivermaid’s relationship with Ellips began in 2012 during a trip to Chile, where the team first encountered Ellips' optical sorting and classification technology. Since their first installation in 2014, Rivermaid has been at the forefront of adopting Ellips' innovative developments. In total, Rivermaid uses 106 lanes with Ellips technology. This is the fourth line with Ellips technology, but the first to incorporate Elifab hardware.

Synergy between Ellips and Elifab

“Elifab built all the hardware for the machine, from the discharge bins to the sorting and packing tables. Essentially, the Elifab system handles all the mechanical aspects of fruit sorting. Ellips complements this by providing all the software and technology, which integrate seamlessly to ensure smooth operation.

“The integration of Elifab hardware with Ellips' sorting and grading technology has created a synergy that maximizes productivity while maintaining high quality standards. Elifab’s advanced singulation system ensures optimal positioning of each cherry for imaging, resulting in more accurate classification and sorting on the new 24-lane Elifab machine.”

Full confidence in this significant investment

“I’ve known Fabricio from Elifab since 2012. During the project design phase, he sent his team here, including representatives, three times. Additionally, my team and I visited their installations around the world, especially in the Southern Hemisphere, not only to view the machines but also to speak with owners and operators.”

What were the main reasons that led you to choose Ellips|Elifab?

1. Dependable artificial intelligence. In a sense, it manages itself.

“The quality of batches varies, but customer demand remains consistently high. California cherries present unique challenges, with variable ripening and complex color patterns. Previously, selecting quality and color required long hours of manual sorting.”

“However, thanks to the latest AI technology, we have significantly reduced the labor needed to operate the machines. This advancement has also greatly improved the consistency and quality of our outgoing product.”

2. The power of AI in detecting the most difficult defects

“Every cherry is unique, as is every defect. Internal and external defects appear in various forms. With so many ways defects can manifest, only Ellips True-AI can accurately model all these combinations. It precisely detects even the most difficult defects, such as black rot, fresh cracks, and cracks in the stem area. Additionally, it provides exceptional reliability in identifying stems, nearby stems, and stem attachment points.”

3. Increase pace with even greater processing speed

“Speed is everything, but never at the expense of our delicate cherries. The Elifab calibrator offers maximum productivity, gentle handling, and ensures perfect singulation. This ensures that each cherry is optimally positioned for imaging, resulting in more accurate classification. Another advantage of AI is the speed of the classification process. AI technology significantly enhances our production line by increasing productivity.”

Read the full article: Ellips
Images: Ellips

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