A major problem faced by many citrus packing factories is：how to ensure consistent citrus quality, improve the efficiency of citrus sorting and packing, and create a high-quality citrus brand. Ambrosia Citrus Estate is no exception.

Located in the magnificent mountainous province of Limpopo, South Africa, Ambrosia Citrus Estate harvests more than 21,000 tonnes of fruits each year. As an independent exporter of local fruits, Ambrosia is known as one of the top citrus producers in the region.

Ambrosia Citrus was founded in 1998 with an initial 130 hectares of Valencia oranges, followed by 75 hectares of grapefruit and 110 hectares of lemons. Since then Ambrosia Citrus has specialized in citrus.

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Technology empowerment

Tremendously improve sorting efficiency

With the increasing scale of planting and rising labor cost, citrus sorting and packing pressure has increased in Ambrosia. Therefore it is particularly important to find the right fruit and vegetable sorting companies to solve this problem.

“In 2007 we built our first packinghouse and we bought a different machine: an eight-lane sorting machine. In 2011 we planted an additional 115 hectares of lemons under netting, which prompted the need to upgrade our packing capabilities. By that time, our machine can no longer meet the packaging requirements” said Gert Bezuidenhout, general manager of Ambrosia.

In 2017, Gert Bezuidenhout learned about Reemoon and visited Reemoon's factory in China for an inspection and detailed tour of the production process of Reemoon sorting machine. During this visit, Gert Bezuidenhout was very satisfied with the quality and process of Reemoon Sorting machine.

Then Ambrosia introduced Reemoon six-lane citrus sorting machine equipped with a fully automated system for continuous production, which has 44 outlets and automatic crating equipment. With advanced external quality vision detection system, the sorting machine is able to scan and sort citrus in a very short time.

Around 70% of Ambrosia's manual labour has now been replaced by automated equipment, reducing the cost of packing per case and the cost of running the packing house, as well as improving productivity.

“Now we pack 6000-7000 boxes of lemon per shift every day, slightly more grapefruit and 10,000 boxes of Valencia oranges per day.” said Gert Bezuidenhout

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Intelligent sorting system

Make sure the consistent citrus quality

Reemoon six-line sorting machine is equipped with Fruscan vision detection system, an advanced visual assistance system, which can identify the external blemishes of the fruits when they are rotating in a high speed.

Based on preset standard and algorithmic models, Reemoon intelligent sorting equipment can automatically classify and grade citrus according to their sizes, colors, quality and so on, which avoids subjectivity and error in manual sorting and improves the accuracy and consistency of sorting.

Reemoon has helped Ambrosia to improve sorting efficiency and guarantee the consistency of citrus quality. Also,Gert Bezuidenhout highly recognized the after-sales service of Reemoon.The after-sales support provided by Reemoon is especially important during the fruit season when large quantities of citrus are sorted and packed.

“One year after introducing Reemoon sorting machine, the electric control system broken down due to our wrong operation. They called me at 7pm that night to explain the situation and Reemoon after-sales team checked the problem at the first time. Everything back to normal when the after-sales called me again at 7am the next morning. That’s when I realized the importance of after-sales support.” said Gert Bezuidenhout, general manager of Ambrosia.