London, United Kingdom
23 April 2014
Enhanced SORTEX A and SORTEX B optical sorters empower processors to deliver clean and safe food
Responding to the increasingly complex defect challenges faced by food processors, the Bühler Group, a global leader in optical sorting solutions, has fortified its optical sorting portfolio for dry commodities - nuts, seeds, pulses, grain, coffee and plastics. This comprehensive portfolio - the SORTEX A and SORTEX B ranges - feature Bühler innovations in feed, vision and ejection systems, underpinned by over 65 years of SORTEX technical excellence and heritage. It will offer processors even greater levels of yield, performance and product superiority, in their efforts to safeguard food safety standards.
Although processors may target their output to a range of customer specifications, all must remove particular food safety hazards from their input, and all demand consistency in their end-product. This requires consistent and accurate sorting, along with the fastest processing speeds and low cost of ownership. Bühler has subsequently developed a sophisticated and flexible optical sorting product portfolio, with a wide range of customisable product options allowing processors to meet their exact sorting requirements.
The SORTEX A and SORTEX B portfolio is driven by technical excellence, responding to feedback from Bühler's customers, who require hygienic and reliable solutions to help them deliver products that meet local and international food safety and quality standards.
Bühler Global Product Manager Faisal Baig affirms: "The innovations included in this portfolio mean Bühler can now resolve more of the most demanding sorting and food safety challenges facing the food industry, and provide efficient, impressively accurate, high yield sorting options to a wider range of customers whilst delivering clean and safe food."
SORTEX A range - for the strictest levels in optical sorting
The SORTEX A has been proven to excel in the most difficult of dry commodity food sorting applications, where the strictest levels of food quality and safety are non-negotiable. Variants of this range include the standard SORTEX A, DualVision™, ColorVision™ and MultiVision™. They are available in a range of modules to allow processors to tailor their sorting investments to their specific capacity requirements.
Each of these variants is capable of detecting and removing the subtlest of defects - in colour, shape or size - that other conventional sorters cannot. In seed processing, for example, US-based Red River Commodities Inc. – whose commitment to food quality and safety is second to none, endorsed by the American Institute of Baking for ‘Outstanding Excellence’ - has raised the output quality of its sunflower seeds to a near-perfect 99.99% purity, while simultaneously increasing yield by 50%, following the installation of a SORTEX A ColorVision™ InGaAs machine.
Fitted with an enhanced inspection system that can detect defects not possible with RGB technologies alone, Red River found Bühler’s InGaAs and PROfile (shape) technology to be the most effective solution for removing challenging foreign materials, such as sticks, stems, stones, glass and importantly, sclerotia – a compact mass of fungal growth.
SORTEX B range – for optimised mainstream sorting
This range is designed to maximise yield and productivity in mainstream sorting applications which do not require the highly-advanced technology offered by the SORTEX A range. The SORTEX B is the first choice for conventional day to day bulk sorting, offering the assurance of Bühler's trusted technology. It provides high reject accuracy and process efficiency ensuring a high yield of consistent quality end-product. The SORTEX B variants include the standard SORTEX B, DualVision™ and ColorVision™ and is available in various module sizes, offering processors a choice of powerful solutions for their specific capcity requirements.
Charith Gunawardena, Head of optical sorting at Bühler, comments, "The SORTEX A and SORTEX B ranges are further evidence of Bühler’s continuing dedication to innovation and to developing products that help processors to overcome their food safety and quality challenges, such as subtle defect detection and mycotoxin reduction.
Coupled with the recent development of our all-new flagship SORTEX S UltraVision™ for rice sorting, this latest portfolio development demonstrates Bühler’s commitment to developing enhanced advanced and conventional sorters offering food processors the best possible sorting solutions, whatever the difficulty of the application."
Buhler Sortex Managing Director, Hamid Kefayati concludes, “The introduction to the global market of our enhanced SORTEX A and SORTEX B advanced optical sorting portfolio for dry commodities, strengthens Bühler’s position as the leading technology partner of choice for food and non-food processors who are seeking to reduce the most challenging defects from their products, whilst maximising yield and capacity.
“This portfolio demonstrates the critical role that SORTEX optical sorters play in delivering maximum profitability in difficult sorting applications, ensuring the highest levels of food safety and helping customers meet the most stringent of food standards.”
Buhler Sortex is a worldwide brand recognised for intelligent innovation and technical excellence in optical sorting, with a sorter install base of over 25,000 machines worldwide and a global presence in over 140 countries, underpinned by The Bühler Group with over 150 years in process technology.
For further information, please listen to the latest Bühler Optical Sorting podcast “Empowering the Optical Sorting industry – the enhanced SORTEX A and SORTEX B portfolio” at www.buhlergroup.com/sortex_a
Bühler is a global leader in the field of process engineering, in particular production technologies and services for making foods and advanced materials. Bühler operates in over 140 countries and has a global payroll of over 10,000. In fiscal 2013, the company generated sales revenue of CHF 2,322 million.
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