Onion Packing Line makes savings using Herbert Automation Solutions
25th March 2006

Onion Packing Specialists Stourgarden installed automation on their packing lines six years ago and have not looked back since.  Stourgarden is a dedicated supplier of pre-packed onions to Tesco, and proprietors Bill & John Rix operate this business alongside their farming concerns based in Great Horksley, Essex.  Herbert’s first project with Stourgarden involved the design and installation of two new pre-pack lines which included, tippers, top / tailer machines and inspection conveyors. Automated tray handling for these two lines was an integral part of this project and an empty tray de-nester and associated conveyors increased throughput and enabled unlined or lined trays (via an OKI tray liner) to be delivered to the weigh heads, quality checked and then dispatched to an automatic layer palletiser.

In 2005 Herberts added another link in the automation chain with a second tray delivery system which conveys unlined trays to two new polybagging lines. Foresight by the Herbert Engineering design team ensured that the original tray de-nester had ample capacity to cope with the demands from these two extra lines. The trays from the polybag lines are filled manually and the design of the interface between machine and man was critically ergonomic for maximum efficiency and long-term operator comfort. The benefits of the automation system are evident with reduced manual handling and labour. In addition the space-spacing system has allowed empty and full trays to be stored separately away from the operators.  Bill Rix, Proprietor comments “Six years ago we made a serious decision to invest in a considerable upgrade of our packing facilities to accommodate future growth and engineer more efficiencies into our system. Our adoption of the automation at this point has proved a good investment over the last five years and is evident in the fact that we continue to develop and enhance the equipment”.

Later this year, Herberts will be installing a state-of-the-art onion intake grading system to accommodate Stourgardens growth. The system is capable of grading 25 tonnes per hour and is equipped with automated interchanging grading modules that allow a large range of different size bands to be accommodated with minimal downtime.

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