WHERE CUTTING HAS THE EDGE

PIP Innovations is a Dutch technology company delivering new technologies and intelligent robotic cutting systems to potato, vegetable and fruit processing. “We are delivering the highest capacity, most accurate and reliable results in the food processing industry,” said Managing Director Jeroen Pannekoek. Colin Chinery reports.

For over half a century, Dutch chilled potato processing specialists PEKA

Kroef has been rolling out highly innovative solutions to fast-changing market demands. Five years ago – in a bad growing season with yields and quality down and waste levels rising – Bart Kroef, at the time, CEO of the family-owned business, saw that the potato-slicing process needed to be optimised and its efficiency improved.

“The market didn't have a machine that could cut the black spots off potato slices,” said Mr Kroef. “So, we thought, why not design one ourselves? ”

The result was D-BLADE; Delta robots that remove defects while streamlining the entire cutting process to deliver a rapid variety of potato products. It was an in-house response that led to the creation, across the street in the south-east Netherlands village of Odiliapeel, of PIP Innovations. PEKA now saves a massive 30 million kilos of potatoes every year, while achieving the same net output, thanks to the new machines from PIP Innovations.

Global acclaim

PIP is now bringing new technologies not only to the potato sector, but also to the vegetable and fruit processing industries – and with such success and acclaim that it is now winning attention from big names across the world.

“It was never Bart’s intention to start a company, just to develop machines for his factory,” said Managing Director Jeroen Pannekoek

Robotics systems are well-established in the industry, notably on the packaging side, where labour costs have been cut and efficiency increased. Now PIP Innovations is revolutionising the potato, carrot and strawberry processing lines with the latest Delta robot cutting technology, its patented multi-purpose blade designs maximising quality, efficiency, and yield.

Conventional strawberry processing machines, for example, require the fruit to be manually positioned and are limited in the types of strawberries they can process. Labour costs remain high – in an industry where labour is hard to secure and retain –and losses run between 20 to 30%. With D-BLADE, labour costs are cut, while the patented calyx cutting system, designed for all sizes and shapes of strawberries, achieves maximum yields.

“Mechanically, D-BLADE is a very simple machine with a single conveyor belt, electronic components, cameras and two or six robots, depending on the required processing capacity,” said Mr Pannekoek. “It also has a user-friendly, intuitive control panel.” The Delta-robots are the result of a joint development with Codian Robotics, and electronic components are provided by van Doren Engineers.

Designed initially for the potato industry, D-BLADE’s advanced technology can handle steam, cold peeled and unpeeled potatoes of every shape and size, identifying the centre of each potato and making precise cuts.

Advanced technology

With advanced vision technology and precise movements, the machine identifies and removes any imperfections or blemishes from potatoes before they are sliced or chopped.

“D-BLADE is equipped with multiple cutting blades allowing for precise and customisable cuts,” said Mr Pannekoek. “This versatility in cutting options allows the client to produce a wide range of potato products with ease, maximising the operating time of the production line.

“As a result, we are delivering the highest capacity and most accurate and reliable results in the food processing industry. A customer only has to see the machine work once and they're sold. D-BLADE can be converted very quickly and has a short payback period.

“Depending on the customer, the slicer pays for itself within two years for potatoes, and for strawberries, even in a single season.”

Market-best cutting solution

Easy adaptability means D-BLADE can be used for other products such as carrots. In this application, a camera locates the foliage and then cuts it off with extreme accuracy, minimising product loss. The machine can size, portion, remove discolouration and even create baby carrots with a specially designed knife. According to Mr Pannekoek: “It’s the best cutting solution on the market.”

A core feature of robotics is the remote monitoring of machine performance. “With cameras mounted inside the machine,” he continued, “we can see with our own eyes what is happening. And that’s a big step up

when compared to a mechanical solution.”

With the world population predicted to top nine billion by 2050, agricultural production – especially field agriculture – must show a corresponding 70% improvement, according to estimates.

And with over a billion consumers worldwide, and crop production exceeding 300 million metric tonnes, the potato is the third most important food crop after rice and wheat. Against this backdrop, maximising potato yield by waste avoidance is key.

“By the time a potato has been rejected it’s already been peeled, warmed up, cut and looked at several times using optical sorters,” said Mr Pannekoek. “And at the end of the process, they are rejected and given to pigs or cows. What a waste.”

Now the company is turning to another massive and highly waste-prone segment of the potato industry - French fries. This food accounts for a remarkable 35% of the potato crop. And according to National Geographic, the average American eats nearly 30 pounds of French fries every year. Belgians consume more than Americans, but the British prefer chips. French fries even have their own national day – July 13.

But the production yield of the fry has been estimated to be as low as 30 to 45%, indicating a large amount of solid waste generation in the processing line.

Enter S-BLADE

This is now set to change dramatically with PIP’s latest innovation, S-BLADE, which deploys vision technology.

“S-BLADE removes defects from fries and was developed with only one thing in mind; to outperform the existing solution,” said Mr Pannekoek. “After three years of development, our first S-BLADE is running in a French fry factory in the Netherlands allowing us to further finetune performance in a mass production environment.”

Meantime, the company’s innovative agility means that in the highly flexible, niche-orientated D-BLADE, PIP Innovations has put a unique product on the market; one with expanding solution possibilities.

“We have many more ideas, so we can already promise that we will come up with even more surprising applications and machines in the future,” said Mr Pannekoek. “Can PIP software and tooling adaptability come up with a solution for the typical enquirer? Yes, I would say, nine times out of ten.”

With buyers and potential partners emerging in mainland Europe, the USA and now Australia, PIP Innovations’ global footprint is increasing. But despite this, Mr Pannekoek discounts the setting up of a PIP global sales force: “A sales team has the tendency of drowning out the organisation by selling too many machines, or machines that don't actually completely live up to their promise.

“So, we're not doing that,” he concluded. “We want to keep that one-on-one relationship with our customers. Is that going to be feasible in two years? I hope so.

“We are building a fan base, one that talks through its own network. As a result, more and more people are coming to us through referrals. This special relationship with our customers is key. We make sure that a customer will have a smooth-running operation: and we deliver what we promise.” n