The ability to have up-to-the second, easy-to-analyze data at your fingertips is without a doubt invaluable for managers working in any sector of the food industry, but when it comes to a large-scale produce packing house with potentially hundreds of employees this kind of information can be invaluable. This is exactly the aim of JBT’s innovative Internet of Things (IoT) system iOPS; a joined-up network that provides performance overviews in an instant.
JBT’s Fresh Produce Technologies (FPT) division has spent much of 2021 to date testing the iOPS program across its produce industry solutions worldwide, offering potentially enormous performance benefits to customers new and old alike.
“We’ve been incorporating JBT’s company-wide iOPS program into our equipment this year so we can get real-time feedback and optimization to the customer,” explains JBT’s Global Product Line Director for Fresh Produce Technologies, John Siddle.
“iOPS allows the customer to look at a dashboard and know things that previously were either unknown or you would have to go through a bunch of paper records, so it can be viewed by a packing house manager sitting at a control screen. This is a pretty exciting operation for us as well, and we expect to roll it out in the near future.”
Accurate applications
However, JBT’s innovations for the produce industry do not stop there. One of the most noteworthy recent developments has been the introduction of JBT’s PRoDOSE System for more accurate post-harvest treatments. An automatic chemical mixing system, PRoDOSE can dispense repeatable, consistent quantities of aqueous postharvest treatments in nearly any line application.
“PRoDOSE is a post-harvest product application and dosing accuracy system, which we are rolling out in a bunch of different markets,” says Siddle. “This is allowing us to deliver really accurate product usage to the customer and optimize their treatments without having to have people on site all the time, and it just works.”
The system, which can be used with concentrated chemicals to maintain mix ratios in tanks or fluid lines, accurately mixes up to three different treatment chemicals directly into process supply lines, eliminating the need for large mix tanks and hand mixing. Making use of electric servo motors for enhanced accuracy and piston control, the PRoDOSE is easy to use, clean, and maintain without the need for special tools.