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Walnut Quality Success with
New Digital Sorters
Poindexter Nut Company is one of
the five largest walnut processors
in the world and growing rapidly.
Their success is based, in part, on
their unwavering commitment to
continuously improve product quality
and increase production efficiencies. To
further these goals, they turned to Key
Technology and selected a cascading
line of three digital sorters for their new
facility in Fowler, California USA. The
line features two Cayman® BioPrint®
hyperspectral sorters and an Optyx®
camera/laser sorter with three-way
sorting.
“Lasers and cameras and hyperspectral
imaging are different tools. Each
one has its strengths,” said Mike
Poindexter, CEO of Poindexter Nut
Company. “Cayman BioPrint removes
shells better than any sorter I’ve seen,
and the good-to-bad ratio is fantastic.
Optyx removes shells too, but its
unique strength is color and shape
sorting and its three-way capability.
Cayman is a chute-fed sorter that
features Key’s powerful BioPrint
hyperspectral sorting solution instead
of traditional cameras or lasers.
Coupled with intelligent software
and algorithms, BioPrint recognizes
the unique biological characteristics
of objects to detect and remove shells
effortlessly, achieving up to 99.5
percent sorting efficiency with very low
false reject rates. Because it can easily
handle high defect loads, including
spikes of more than 50 percent, it can be
used right after the cracker to separate
kernels from shells.
“Our number one goal on the sorting
line is to get shells out. We adjust the
first Cayman with a fairly aggressive
setting to remove most shells and the
second Cayman with a moderately
aggressive setting to remove most
of the rest. This approach, using two
Cayman sorters that are both set to
remove less than the maximum amount
of shells, minimizes false rejects while
delivering very clean product to the
next sorter in the line, which improves
its effectiveness.”
Compared to Cayman BioPrint, which
is a specialized sorter that targets shell
removal with enormous success, Optyx
is a versatile, multipurpose sorter
Poindexter selected an Optyx with color
cameras and lasers on a three-way sorting
platform. The lasers recognize each
object’s structural properties to remove
shells and membrane as well as foreign
material (FM) such as plastic, glass, stones
and sticks, even when the material is the
same color as good product. The color
cameras recognize millions of color
differences to help separate dark-colored
nuts from light-colored nuts.
“We chose Optyx for the last step of
this sorting line for its two-sided, top
The approach with two sorters minimizes false rejects while delivering very clean product
Photos: Key Technology
Rejects from the first Cayman BioPrint
With these sorters, we’ve increased
production capacity, improved product
quality and decreased costs.”
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food Marketing & Technology • August 2014
Processing
and bottom inspection, and three-way
sorting capability. One stream is used
to reject membranes and any remaining
shells. Another stream collects color
rejects that are free of shells and don’t
need to be reworked. Good product is
directed to the third stream.”
“This cascading line of sorters is
something we’ve been working on for
several years. What we have achieved
is a highly effective sort system. With
Cayman, our shell removal rates are
vastly improved. Without it, we’d
either need a fourth inline sorter or
we’d have to run product through
the line multiple times, increasing the
handling and the product damage and
costs that go with it.”
“This cascading line of three sorters is
much gentler than running three passes
on one sorter. What hurts walnuts isn’t
flying through the air, it’s accelerating
and decelerating. Dropping into a bin
or out of bin is what damages walnuts.”
Poindexter’s new Fowler Plant started
up in November 2013 to accommodate
their need for greater production
capacity, driven mostly by rapidly
rising demand from consumers in
China and the Middle East. Poindexter
had been operating their Selma,
California facility 20 hours per day,
354 days per year and they couldn’t
shut down to expand, so they built the
new Fowler Plant.
The new shelling line at the Fowler
Plant continuously feeds mechanical
graders that feature screens and
oversizers that separate small walnut
pieces, which are collected in bins
and sorted off-line in batches. Walnut
halves, along with some large pieces
and lots of shells, move through the
line and are fed continuously to the
new digital sorting line at a rate of up
to 4.5 metric tons (10,000 lb) of walnuts
per hour. That capacity is more than
enough for Poindexter to process the
19,504 metric tons (43 million lb) of
walnuts they currently produce each
year.
“I want to have the best equipment,
and I’ll go to multiple suppliers to get
it. It’s the performance that matters
most. It’s great that Cayman BioPrint
and Optyx are under one roof at Key.
We receive great service from them.”
The mix of kernels and shells flowing
into the cascading sorting line includes
a huge amount of shells; more than
traditional camera or laser sorters can
effectively handle. But Cayman BioPrint
is not an ordinary sorter and it has no
problem with this high defect load.
Featuring hyperspectral imaging and
sophisticated software and algorithms,
BioPrint divides light into hundreds
of narrow bands over a continuous
range of wavelengths that cover a
vast portion of the electromagnetic
spectrum. Compared to the three
data points per pixel captured by a
W E S H A P E Y O U R S U ...we
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Key No. 82459
The cutting edge of
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food Marketing & Technology • August 2014
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Processing
means we have to decide to use the
second reject stream to sort for color or
shape or both at once. It may make sense
to make this decision on an order-byorder basis. It’s good to have options.”
Mike Poindexter “With these sorters, we’ve increased production capacity, improved product
quality and decreased costs.”
color camera or the single data point
per pixel captured by a laser sensor,
Key’s hyperspectral camera collects
hundreds of data points per pixel.
BioPrint’s powerful software converts
this enormous volume of data to create
unique biological fingerprints for each
object, enabling Cayman to sort on the
chemical composition of each object,
and accurately identify and remove
shells from kernels.
“Cayman is very simple. It does one
thing, and it does it incredibly well.
It’s easy to use. We set it and forget it.
Optyx can do more things – it’s very
powerful and more complex, but easy
to use compared to older sorters.”
“The idea that Optyx can sort by shape
is intriguing. It’s not that important
to us because our new shelling line
consistently cracks close to straight
halves and the sorting line is so gentle
that it doesn’t break those halves. I
expect we’ll always use one of Optyx’s
two reject streams to remove shells,
membranes and foreign material, which
The cascading line of three new digital sorters in action
In addition to the three digital sorters,
Poindexter’s new line features several
of Key’s conveyors. By perfectly
matching the conveyors with the
sorters, an ideal system is created,
which helps maximize product quality
as well as production efficiencies. At
the infeed to the Optyx sorter, an IsoFlo® vibratory conveyor spreads the
product into a monolayer, singulating
and stabilizing it for presentation to the
sorter’s vision system at a consistent
speed and without clumps. This IsoFlo is also a meal sifter, which helps
present cleaner product to the Optyx
to maximize that sorter’s performance.
After sorting, another Iso-Flo gently
conveys good, clean walnut halves and
pieces to collection bins that are ready
to go to the table for manual inspection.
A third Iso-Flo, which features a divided
conveyor bed, takes both reject streams
from the three-way Optyx sorter to two
nearby bins. The line also includes an IsoFlo and an Impulse® shaker that convey
the reject streams from the two Cayman
BioPrint sorters.
“The vibratory shakers from Key work
well here and are extremely reliable.
Unlike belt conveyors, they don’t get
gummed up with meal – the stainless
steel, flat-beds are very clean. Superior
sanitation is a major benefit that
contributes to food safety.”
“Our new processing line is more
efficient, which allows us to pay our
growers more, enabling us to increase
our supply. This, along with our
good prices and phenomenal quality,
position us well for growth,” concluded
Poindexter. “We have a sorting
system that raises the bar on quality
and efficiency and gives us room to
continue growing. Great new ideas
like this could give us a competitive
advantage or we could share what
we’ve learned and be part of a rising
tide. We have this new machinery to
raise the standards.”
Key No. 84319
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food Marketing & Technology • August 2014