2025 has started! Let’s look back on the past year together. Our Data Analyst Maarten Derks examined how many products have been sorted by our customers with SortiPack®. Over 100 million cucumbers and beef tomatoes were sorted and packed using vision and AI. We are all set to weigh, sort, pack another stack of produce in this new year.
Cheers!

With hard work and good cooperation, this fantastic result has been achieved and many cucumbers have already been weighed, sorted and packed! Watch the video [Picture from video by Crux Agribotics]

For example, the beef tomato is picked up directly from the harvest crate, which prevents damage. Since no hands are involved, hygiene is increased and shelf life is extended. Watch the video

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Harvest crates or bulk containers are automatically tipped. Singled cucumbers are offered to the SortiPack® system. The SortiPack® system for cucumbers is able to classify and sort cucumbers based on weight. The system packs the cucumbers directly in customer packages (boxes / bins / trays / punnets) with robots. SortiPack® can pack multiple cucumber sizes at the same time. Completed customer packages are transported to the palletizing area and emptied harvest bins are stacked and automatically placed on the harvest carts to be re-used. Watch the video

In de Koekoekspolder bij IJsselmuiden staat de eerste robot sorteer- en inpaklijn in de komkommerteelt ter wereld. Gebroeders Vahl nam vorig jaar deze innovatieve robotlijn in gebruik om de snelheid en kwaliteit van het sorteerproces te verbeteren en de inzet van personeel te optimaliseren. Lees verder

Martin Stolze has leveraged change in its advantage time over time. A recent change which the company has addressed, is the preplanned departure of its managing director, Wido Kruijswijk. After 17 years, Wido has decided to stop in this role and to hand over his responsibility to a next generation of leaders. Read more

Harvest crates or bulk containers are automatically tipped. Singled cucumbers are offered to the SortiPack® system. The SortiPack® system for cucumbers is able to classify and sort cucumbers based on weight. The system packs the cucumbers directly in customer packages (boxes / bins / trays / punnets) with robots. SortiPack® can pack multiple cucumber sizes at the same time. Completed customer packages are transported to the palletizing area and emptied harvest bins are stacked and automatically placed on the harvest carts to be re-used. Watch the video

Een bewegende machine is zóveel interessanter dan een foto of een filmpje van een machine, dat realiseert Michel van Reenen, manager sales bij Crux Agribotics, zich heel goed. “Deze demo machine wordt eenvoudig geplaatst en toegepast op verschillende beurzen. Verder gebruiken we hem voor onderzoek en verdere ontwikkeling”. Lees verder [Bron: gfactueel.nl]

SortiPack® for pointed peppers makes use of integrated weighing belts to accurately determine the weight of each pepper. After weighing, peppers will be scanned to gather information such as; curvature, length, orientation, etc. A combination of weight and other aspects (flexible) will classify the peppers accordingly. Product will then be packed into the desired package(s) such as; onto trays, in flowpacks/ bags, and in boxes/ crates. The packaging of multiple packages simultaneously is alsopossible. Watch the video

Fueled by the ambition to automate the complete process from crop harvest to packed product, Avedon and Kind Technologies will focus on the expansion and development of the product and #technology portfolio. The company will further build its international sales and service organization and scale up the production processes and facilities. Read more

Since early 2021, family business Jan Reijm & Zn in Zevenhuizen has been growing high-wire cucumbers year-round on an area of 11 hectares, of which half is lighted. This results in a production of 1.1 million cucumbers in the top weeks. During the realization of the conversion at this location, from a tomato crop to a cucumber crop, it soon became clear that, in addition to an efficient harvest processing, also a high sorting and pelleting capacity was needed. Especially the amount of cucumbers to be processed was a challenge. Jan approached KOAT to find a solution. Read more and watch the video

After developing and selling SortiPack®️ for (beef) tomatoes, pointed peppers and chicory, Crux now also offers a complete end-to-end automation solution for handling Cucumbers. All grading, sorting and packing is done by computer vision and AI guided Robotics. Different sorting classes and packaging types can be handled simultaneously, including different stacking patterns. The AI algorithms optimize the uniformity of grading including giveaway weight and enable full track-and-traceability. The Management Suite SW collects and processes all data which is available to the grower in real-time and offline for yield optimization and quality assurance purpose. Watch the video

Martin Stolze Group is expanding its product and service portfolio in the field of internal transport systems by acquiring the assets of the Wevab division, including intellectual property, from Codema Systems, which went bankrupt in May. Read more

Sorteren en verpakken was jarenlang een bewerkelijke en tijdrovende klus bij vleestomatenbedrijf A&G Van den Bosch in Bleiswijk. In de zomer van 2020 nam een robotsysteem deze werkzaamheden over. Dit levert Petra en Bart van den Bosch veel op: ze besparen op arbeid en kunnen hun klanten beter en sneller bedienen. “Hierdoor kunnen we meer afnemers aan ons binden, wat zorgt voor een beter rendement.” Lees verder [Bron: onderglas.nl]

Kind Technologies’ daughter companies Crux Agribotics and KOAT will further join forces to develop high-end Robotics for end-to-end harvesting, sorting and packing of fruits and vegetables. Read more

Family grower A&G van den Bosch worked closely with Crux Agribotics last year to deploy the complete robotic system, SortiPack®, for beef tomatoes. In this line, advanced Robotics, Computer Vision, Data & AI are combined to improve the grading, sorting and packing process. The SortiPack® Robotic system, with 7 robots, handling up to 20.000 beef tomatoes and 14 sorting classes simultaneously per hour

In the attached video, Bart van den Bosch shares his experience with SortiPack® and Crux Agribotics. Read more

We are commissioning a large tomato handling system with a robot for palletizing and a large buffer at a customer of KOAT BV in Germany. This is where we see the added value of our respective brands within Kind Technologies. Martin Stolze supplied all the packing lines for this project. Proud to be able to realize this together as a group!

Theo Sanders has stepped down as a Hortivation board member. He is succeeded by Richard Vialle, founder and CCO of Kind Technologies. Besides being one of the co-founders of Hortivation, Sanders had been a board member since 2015 and was also president of the foundation from 2015 to 2019. On 1 January, he left his role as managing director of Alcomij after 18 years of service. Read more