WF Moore Benefits From 20 Years Of Innovation
Grading line technology has come a long way in the last 20 years, as William F Moore (Warplands) Ltd discovered when an increase in throughput meant they needed to upgrade.
Faced with an increase in demand for its beetroot, WF Moore decided it needed to increase its throughput rates at its on-farm grading facility near Scunthorpe.
The company, which was established in 1938, had been using a Haith grading line since Year 2000 but it wasn’t designed to cope with 50 tonnes per hour.
“We’ve enjoyed considerable growth in the last few years,” explains David Moore, director at WF Moore. “We grow 5,000 tonnes of beetroot here near Scunthorpe and take in a further 5,000 tonnes from Somerset, Yorkshire and Lancashire. It’s graded here and then sent to food processing companies, typically for sale in supermarkets and use in bagged salads. The Haith line we were using was reliable and efficient but not capable of dealing with the amount of throughput we needed to reach.”
WF Moore had a choice: stick with Haith or look at other manufacturers.
“We went out to the market and shopped around. In the end, though, we decided to stay with Haith and asked them to develop a new line for us,” says David. “Haith wasn’t the cheapest, but they offered the best value for money, and the advice they gave us was spot on. I guess it’s like buying a car; some people are happy with a Ford; we wanted a Mercedes, though! Haith wasn’t the cheapest, but because of the build quality, the years of good service we’ve had in past and Haith’s close proximity to us in terms of location meant they were the best choice for us.”
Haith took just three days to install the new modular line, which features an 1800 wide Supa-Flow Hopper, Haith Evolution cleaner and three Supa-Fill 400 Box Fillers.
“As you would expect, given 20 years have passed since the original line was installed, the new line offers several improvements compared to the original installation,” says Rob Highfield, Haith’s sales engineer who oversaw the project. “The larger Supa-Flow Hopper offers improved crop flow and quicker unloading times. The Haith Evolution is class leading and offers exceptional soil removal. The adjustable polyurethane coils after the Evolution are incredibly gentle and as are our Supa-Fill 400 Box Fillers, which don’t feature flights like competitor machines, as these could damage the skin of the beetroot.”
In just two months, the benefits of the new Haith line are clear: a 25% increase in throughput and a marked improvement in grading accuracy.
“The whole process is much more streamlined and easier to use,” says David. “It’s an incredibly accurate system and very few beetroots carry over to the next grade. We hardly ever have to re-grade, which is excellent.”
“We’re really impressed with the new multi-separation system; the old one was a set of coils! It really shows you how much investment Haith has put into improving and innovating its offering in the last two decades! The grading system is excellent as are the box fillers; both are so much more efficient and gentler than the ones they replaced.”
The WF Moore solution is typical of the way Haith operates, developing effective and efficient lines which offer customers what they need now and in the future. “This new line has delivered immediate improvements, but it’s also designed to be future-proof,” concludes Rob. “We’ve increased capacity, soil removal, grading accuracy and throughput. We’ve made the line easier to use, by including HMI controls for all functionality, and we’ve considered how WF Moore might grow in the future and made sure this new line is capable of keeping up with them for another 20 years, just like the previous Haith line did!”
To find out more about Haith and its range of vegetable handling equipment, please visit our Machinery Section, email sales@haith.co.uk or call 01302 831 911.