Over the past few years, the QualityGrader has become a widely used solution for the optical quality control of potatoes and onions. Hundreds of machines are now in operation every day at growers, packers and processors worldwide. With every installation, our knowledge grows. Not only about optical sorting, but also about our customers’ day-to-day operations. How machines are used, how processes change and where opportunities lie for further improvement. That practical experience formed the basis for the next step: the further development of the QualityGrader.

Built on hundreds of machines of practical experience

The QualityGrader has proven itself in practice. Its further development therefore did not stem from a shortcoming, but from the ambition to build on what works well. By bringing together the experiences of customers, service engineers, dealers and our own team, various functionalities of the machine have been further refined. The machine has been made more accessible for maintenance and cleaning. In addition, various technical components have been further optimised and the machine has been further standardised, ensuring it is built more consistently and the quality of every machine is even better guaranteed. The result is a machine that builds on a proven concept, whilst at the same time better meeting the demands of today and tomorrow.

More possibilities within a single platform

A key development is the expansion of the capabilities of the QualityGrader. Whilst the first generation was designed for a single specific application, the new generation offers greater flexibility for a variety of sorting scenarios. For example, the machine is now available in both 1-metre and 1.5-metre versions. This allows product flows of up to 30 tonnes per hour to be processed efficiently.

In addition, the machine can be fitted with a dual ejection unit. This allows multiple product streams to be handled within a single machine. This offers greater flexibility on the production line and opens up new sorting applications. With these extensions, the QualityGrader keeps pace with the growing demand for capacity, flexibility and automation.

Ready for further growth

It's not just the machines themselves that have evolved. The way machines are supported is also playing an increasingly important role. With a growing number of installations worldwide, the need for fast and effective support is increasing. Therefore, serviceability and remote support have been explicitly considered in the development of the new generation. The updated machine enables better remote diagnostics, allowing questions and faults to be analysed and resolved more quickly. This also helps customers to minimise downtime and ensures our service organisation can grow alongside the number of installations worldwide.

The next step in optical sorting

Developments in the potato and onion sector are moving fast. Labour is becoming scarcer, quality standards are rising, and processes are becoming increasingly automated. We see that optical sorting is playing an increasingly important role in this. Not only as a replacement for manual quality control, but as a tool to organise processes in a smarter, more consistent and more efficient way. For this reason, the QualityGrader has been further developed into a scalable AI sorting platform. A platform that is ready for new applications, future expansions and further software development.

Developed for practice

The new QualityGrader is the result of everything we have learnt over the past few years. From hundreds of machines in the field, thousands of operating hours and daily conversations with customers. Not a completely new direction, but a logical next step. Developed for real-world use. Ready for the future.