With more and more egg grading centers and packing stations switching to the plastic trays, sheets and pallets from the Eggs Cargo concept the automatic unloading from pallets is a logical next step because it offers a massive saving of labor. An inevitable part of this automation is the automatic batch change from one farm to another and Ovotrack is introducing a very efficient tool for this on the VIV: the Ovotrack Eggs Cargo Identifier or Ovotrack ECI.
The Eggs Cargo Identifier is the latest member of the Ovotrack family and another innovative example of how the Ovotrack solution can save labour costs and cut out errors by automation instead of manual work.
The Eggs Cargo Identifier will take care of the automatic change from one batch of eggs to another. And that is important for traceability, for gathering correct grading results for a batch of eggs and for automatic changing the settings of inkjet systems.
Traceability: to keep track of where a batch of eggs from a particular farm has been sent to the separation from one batch to another is very important. In the past this was a manual process for the machine operator that was loading eggs on to the loader of a grading or processing machine. But that operator is no longer available because to the automatic depalletizing systems.
Gathering egg grading results: Very often farmer payments are based on the grading results from the grading machine. For that reason correct grading results from each graded batch are absolutely vital. That again asks for a strict diversion of each batch of eggs that is put on the loader of a grading machine from another.
Change setting of inkjet systems: According to European regulations all eggs should be print with the farm-code of the originating farm. If eggs are not printed on farm, this printing has to be done on the grading machine. It is therefore very important to have an accurate batch change.
How does it work? Quite simple. An Ovotrack ECI is a plastic tag with a unique barcode that should be clicked on the top corner of a pallet. You will do that either on the first pallet of a new batch or on every pallet. You will than enter information about the next batch into the computer of the grading machine. On the loader of the grading machine a fixed scanner is mounted. Once the ECI passes this scanner the batch shift procedure on the grading machine will be activated. Of course you don’t want to lose the ECI in the washing machine so that’s why the ECI is shaped so that it will activate the wet tray or dirty tray detection system that every grading machine has. The tray with an ECI will be separated and an operator can click the ECI from the tray so that it can be reused.
Further integration. Of course it is possible to further integrate the Ovotrack ECI solution with other Ovotrack modules to even get more benefits. In combination with Ovotrack Loader the farm information could be transmitted to the grading machine automatically after scanning a fixed barcode or a barcode that is already on the pallet. And integration with Ovotrack Receive and Ovotrack Grading Results will offer even more advantages and benefits. Visit our booth on the VIV to get a better understanding of the benefits.
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