Duravant’s Food Sorting and Handling Solutions group, which includes operating companies Key Technology, Multiscan, PPM and WECO, will present their world-class equipment and integration services at Pack Expo booth S-2852. With advanced optical sorters, specialized conveyors and turnkey line solutions, Duravant helps food processors and growers maximize food safety, optimize product quality, increase yield, reduce labor and improve operating efficiencies.

“The value of automated technology continues to grow as food processors and packers face an increasingly tight labor market. New innovations that make systems easier to use further help by reducing training requirements so high turnover is less costly. At the same time, AI-driven software is improving system performance and reliability, and the IIoT is enabling customers to leverage big data to optimize line efficiency while delivering quality product at the highest possible yield. From every angle, we’re focused on providing systems that solve our customer’s problems,” said Jack Lee, Duravant group president - food sorting and handling solutions. “In addition to offering more products, expanding our group’s breadth enables us to provide a wider range of integration services and line modules.”

Key Technology will showcase their COMPASS family of optical sorters at Pack Expo. Featuring next-generation inspection technology, including a new sort engine and ergonomic user interface, COMPASS is the easiest to use optical sorter on the market, achieving consistently accurate foreign material (FM) and product defect removal and simplifying system operation, sanitation and maintenance. Ideal for a wide variety of vegetables, fruits, snack foods and more, COMPASS helps processors automate and improve the quality of their products while maximizing yield and increasing profitability.

Multiscan will display their S60SP optical sorter for in-shell pistachios. This compact system sorts by color, size, shape and open/close attributes, including adhering hulls, to improve the quality of the final product while increasing production flexibility with three configurable outputs that save labor as well as floorspace. Equipped with Multiscan’s SpinSort technology, S60SP inspects by rotating the pistachios 360 degrees to detect quality problems more accurately and efficiently. Its proprietary software further increases sort performance with advanced digital processing power and data management capabilities.

WECO will present their new 360Tek optical sorter for blueberries. Separating product into three customizable streams, one stream can be programmed to remove a wide range of defects such as scars, splits and rubs, as well as extraneous vegetable matter (EVM) like stems and flowers. A second stream can be dedicated to removing jumbo berries, if needed, while the third stream sends good berries on to packaging. This small, high-capacity sorter inspects up to 8,000 pounds of berries per hour. Located at the end of WECO’s modular Sortivator fresh-pack line for blueberry cleaning and sorting, the affordable 360Tek maximizes product quality while reducing labor.

Also on the Pack Expo show floor is Key Technology’s reversible Zephyr horizontal-motion conveyor. Achieving higher capacities than other horizontal-motion conveyors, Zephyr’s unique motion profile gently slides product to convey with no segregation or stratification to protect product quality and reduce noise. The reversible Zephyr, equipped to flow in either direction, maximizes line versatility while improving sanitation and minimizing maintenance.

About Duravant
Headquartered in Downers Grove, Illinois, Duravant is a global automation solutions and engineered equipment company with manufacturing, sales and service facilities throughout North America, South America, Europe and Asia. Through their portfolio of operating companies, Duravant delivers trusted end-to-end process solutions for customers and partners through engineering and integration expertise, project management and operational excellence. With worldwide sales distribution and service networks, they provide immediate and lifetime aftermarket support to all the markets they serve in the food processing, packaging and material handling sectors. Duravant’s market-leading brands are synonymous with innovation, durability and reliability.