September/October 2024 - 14

PROCESSING
Machine
EVOLUTION
AI paves the path for production line, sorting advances
BY MELINDA WALDROP
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
T
he technology Eric Pflueger witnessed firsthand
in December has been more than a decade in
the making. Pflueger, sales manager, agriculture
market sector for Premier Tech Systems and Automation,
attended The Almond Conference in 2023. There, he saw
innovation he began championing years ago at work.
Premier Tech's PRAIRIE SCP-2100 robotic nut sorting
machine drew quite a crowd, Pflueger said. The artificial
intelligence- assisted machine, which can process up
to 5,000 pounds per hour, removes defects from nuts
including almonds and pecans, and sorts the product into
multiple streams.
" Whenever we ran the piece of equipment, our booth
couldn't have been more busy, " Pflueger said. " It's fun to
watch. The robots move. That's relatively new to people
in this industry. They've seen big robots putting boxes on
the pallet, but we've never seen them really do this. Most
robots are told to do something: 'Move the box over there,'
and it puts it down over there. Somebody programs that
in, and the robot makes that same movement back and
forth, all the time.
" These are often operating live, meaning it gets an image
and it's told where to go to get it. "
The machine also represents AI advances that Pflueger
sees as the tip of a technology iceberg.
" The reason is the data we collect, " he said. " You don't
know what questions to ask just yet because it is new. We
get so much data, we don't really know how the customer
wants to use all of that yet. "
The robotic nut sorting machine is just one example of
new tech aimed at making start-of-line processes and overall
production line functions faster, less expensive and safer.
Almond application
Pflueger got in on the ground floor of introducing AI to nut
sorting at Premier Tech.
14 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2024
The PRAIRIE SCP-2100's ability to separate product
into three streams saves customers a nickel a
pound and reduces the need to re-process. Photos
courtesy of Premier Tech Systems and Automation.

September/October 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of September/October 2024

Table of Contents
Editor's Letter
Irrigation and Water Management: Maintaining grove water
AgTech: FIRA Preview
Grower Profile: Rooted in tradition
Processing: Machine evolution
Special Advertising Section
Almond Board of California: Organic, climate-smart, regenerative
American Pecan Council: Breaking out
Advertiser Index and Resources
September/October 2024 - 1
September/October 2024 - 2
September/October 2024 - Table of Contents
September/October 2024 - Editor's Letter
September/October 2024 - 5
September/October 2024 - Irrigation and Water Management: Maintaining grove water
September/October 2024 - 7
September/October 2024 - AgTech: FIRA Preview
September/October 2024 - 9
September/October 2024 - Grower Profile: Rooted in tradition
September/October 2024 - 11
September/October 2024 - 12
September/October 2024 - 13
September/October 2024 - Processing: Machine evolution
September/October 2024 - 15
September/October 2024 - 16
September/October 2024 - 17
September/October 2024 - Special Advertising Section
September/October 2024 - 19
September/October 2024 - 20
September/October 2024 - 21
September/October 2024 - 22
September/October 2024 - Almond Board of California: Organic, climate-smart, regenerative
September/October 2024 - 24
September/October 2024 - 25
September/October 2024 - American Pecan Council: Breaking out
September/October 2024 - 27
September/October 2024 - 28
September/October 2024 - 29
September/October 2024 - Advertiser Index and Resources
September/October 2024 - 31
September/October 2024 - 32
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