The technology behind frozen potato manufacturing has one major goal: to ensure maximum efficiency while reducing costs for operators.
New technologies like AI are now integrated seamlessly into processing machines, and innovation remains a core value for the companies that shape the industry.
“At Key Technology, we’re continuously strengthening our potato sorting portfolio through new innovations and by upgrading our existing solutions,” says Carel van Buchem, director of Sales EMEA/ASIA at Key Technology. “This process is driven by close collaboration with processors to address their specific production challenges, combined with strategic monitoring of emerging technology trends that show promise for expanding our systems’ capabilities. During development, we thoroughly validate and test to ensure all concepts for new and enhanced products are optimized.”
According to him, Key’s advanced AI algorithms are setting new standards for potato sorting by improving the accuracy of the company’s optical sorters in detecting and removing product defects and foreign materials. ”This sophisticated technology helps processors achieve more exact quality standards while minimizing the inadvertent removal of good product to achieve better yields, which means they can pack more product and increase profitability.”
The impact of artificial intelligence on sorting is particularly evident in how AI techniques enhance dimensional profiling of potato products and precise identification of foreign materials. He adds, AI makes the sorter’s recipes – i.e., the parameters that govern product specifications – easier and faster for operators to manage.
“When a Key Technology sorter is integrated with our Key Discovery information analytics software, it can optimize both the sort process specifically and overall line performance. While identifying and removing defects and foreign material, it simultaneously collects and analyzes data about every object in the stream, delivering real-time insights and batch reports that can reveal important patterns and trends. By leveraging this information, potato processors can better manage product quality, increase yield, reduce downtime and minimize labor requirements,” Carel van Buchem explains.
The software’s capabilities also extend to facilitating predictive maintenance and quality control measures. By generating trending data, Key Discovery can help potato processors identify potential issues before they become problems, allowing them to take preventive action to minimize unplanned downtime and optimize line performance.
Reducing food waste
Key Technology’s sorting systems contribute to waste reduction by improving product quality and yield simultaneously, according to Carel van Buchem. “Traditionally, sorters forced users to choose between quality and yield – there was an inherent trade-off to manage because removing more defects and foreign material meant that more good product was also inadvertently ejected.
Now, innovations like our proprietary Pixel Fusion detection technology and Key Discovery software enable our VERYX sorters to overcome this challenge. Pixel Fusion combines pixel-level input from multiple sensor types to produce higher contrasts between objects, which enables VERYX to identify the most difficult-to-detect foreign material and defects without false rejects. Key Discovery monitors every object moving through the sorter, helping processors identify specific points where product loss occurs from receiving through packaging.”
Fundamentally, he points out, sorters support sustainability by reducing false rejects to minimize food waste. This means that a higher percentage of the raw product coming into the line is processed into finished product.
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