RJ Herbert

Our Spring Farm Newsletter highlights what we have been up to in the farming side of the business since the beginning of the year. We have had great feedback about the way our cleaners performed in last harvest’s dreadful conditions, we are introducing the new pyramid grading screen which is causing a buzz in the industry and we are launching our re-designed, more efficient and better value box-filler. Click on for more detail.

Oculus: an eye for the future

Herbert’s brand new Oculus is the next generation in optical sorting for potatoes and, since it first saw the light of day at last year’s Interpom, it has been generating considerable interest amongst growers, packers and processors alike.

The first two machines were sold direct from the stand at Interpom: the first to existing Herbert customer, potato growers Matinollin Peruna who are based in Tyrnävä, Finland and the second to Pauwels through Herbert’s French distributor Filpack Groupe. This is the first Herbert machine for Pauwels, who are long-standing Filpack customers. They were impressed by Oculus’s gentle handling and ability to sort smaller varieties using smaller delivery rollers.

Meanwhile interest remains exceptionally high. At Herbert’s UK headquarters in Wisbech, demonstrations over the past three months showing Oculus in action have attracted customers from all over Europe. The demos have shown that Oculus technology offers more efficient and more accurate sorting, better detection of greens through the use of infrared cameras, easier maintenance and more effective hygiene control.

Herbert’s Adrian Head said: “This new technology will enable growers and processors to achieve a better and more consistent quality of product, identify rejects more effectively and minimise production downtime. The customers we have seen are currently using a range of equipment from ourselves and other manufacturers and we are very pleased indeed at the positive feedback we have been receiving.”

If you would like to see Oculus in action and would like to come to a demonstration, please contact sales@rjherbert.co.uk or on +44 (0)1945 430666.

Don’t just take our word for it…

After a number of moderately dry winters over the past few years, potato growers were not ready for the grim weather conditions that swept Great Britain last year.

The wet conditions caused immense problems for growers trying to separate heavy, sodden soil from the crop, and a lot of machinery currently on the market struggled to perform.

Steven Skipper, agricultural division sales engineer at Herbert Engineering, says: “Many growers found it absolutely horrendous. With potatoes commanding a much higher price this winter, growers need to protect the crop and maximise income and do not want to be harvesting, storing and drying large amounts of soil, let alone sending it to their customers, just because cleaners cannot efficiently separate the soil from the crops. The extra time that harvesting takes with heavy and wet soil plays a part too, as growers are paying the same hourly rate whether they can process one tonne an hour or ten tonnes an hour, so slow processing means higher costs.”

However, Herbert’s Variclean and Coil Cleaner Plus cleaners, designed for the removal of stone, clod and haulm have performed exceptionally well, despite heavy soil conditions throughout the country, because they are designed to clean more thoroughly when conditions dictate.

Steven Skipper explains: “One customer has just replaced an existing cleaner with a Herbert Variclean. He tells us that, had he not done so, he would have lost much of his crop and ended up storing high volumes of soil, because his old machine could not handle the conditions.”

The Variclean offers a choice of spiral roller flight heights, an automated “stuck item” clearing system on clod rollers, individual roller drives formaximum flexibility and control, and an angle adjustable module for a variable cleaning effect.

The highly robust Coil Cleaner Plus moves the crop continuously, separating loose soil, clods and small potatoes from the main crop. It uses a split drive system, which enables every other coil roller to be driven at a different speed, giving a more flexible cleaning action, holding the crop at different intervals to ensure effective cleaning. Experience this season has shown that they work exceptionally well.

Introducing the Pyramid Grading Screen

Herbert has launched the brand new Pyramid Grading Screen, a ground breaking new technology designed specifically for elongated potato varieties.

The revolutionary, patent protected grading screens are designed to improve the grading accuracy of longer tubers by up to 20% and, as a result, has a significant impact on maximising profits and returns per acre, particularly with higher value salad potato varieties with a predominantly elongated tuber shape.

Screens will fit most manufactures machinery with minimum modification.

Potato washline for Poland

Herbert have completed the supply and installation of a potato, celeriac and red beet washline for fresh and frozen vegetable specialists who are based in Rzeczyca in Poland. The installation is phase two of a turnkey project, being built in stages, with Herbert designing and installing several key elements. The first phase was an intake grading line and was installed last year.

The new line includes fully automated box tipping, de-stoning, washing, polishing and electronic sorting equipment and a high capacity holding bin system that stores 150 tonnes. The challenge the Herbert team faced was to integrate the new Herbert system with a infeed box handling system, outfeed weighing, packing and stacking systems.

The line includes electronic sorting and achieves a high throughput of 25 tonnes per hour, a target many competitor systems could not match.

At the Lamma Show, Agrimech Services launched its semi-automatic stitching system Ouroboros. Ouroboros provides a reliable stitching system which requires minimal operator assistance.

The system has been designed using the latest design technology ensuring durability and strength. Component parts have been standardised and are of high quality to ensure reliability. Inverter controls, embedded pneumatics and embedded program chips allows for easy programming and control. All these ideals have resulted in a high quality reliable product for any environment.

The positive thread tension and hot knife system allows a thread cut every time, together with the top tracks of the machine having constant contact with the bag throughout the closing process ensuring the bag stays upright throughout.

Ouroboros has undergone extensive production trials; in one 12 hour production run our system saved 2 hours production time and one operator. This is due to its reliability and time saved re-threading the stitcher and removing twisted and unstitched bags from the track.

Success at Lamma

Herbert braved the cold weather and once again made an appearance at the LAMMA show on 16th and 17th January. Despite the freezing conditions,
visitor numbers remained on a par with last year even though the indoor displays were rather more popular for obvious reasons.

Herbert’s Pip Case said: “One of our biggest hits of the show had to be our Pyramid Grading Screen, which was launched to the public for the first time. It generated a lot of interest and the feedback we received was very positive.”

“A lot of people stopped by to check out the Agrimech Ouroborous stitcher, also just launched. The Ouroborous provides a very reliable
stitching system that requires minimal operator intervention. It also features standardised Components and easy control/programming
with inverter controls, as well as embedded pneumatics and programme chips.”

Even though many people tried to stay inside in the warm, the visitors the Herbert stand attracted, and the number of contacts made, were very
encouraging indeed.

Pip Case concludes: “Since the show, we have had even more enquiries about the machinery we had on the stand, with good enquiries coming in for
the Pyramid Grading Screen, Ouroborous and the Variclean.”

LAMMA is moving to Peterborough next year to make the show even bigger and Herbert will there again to meet customers old and new.