AU: RFID streamlines automated tomato harvesting
What’s New in Food Manufacturing: RFID allows real-time identification of where the tomatoes come from. Due to paperless identification, no truck driver has to leave the truck at the weighbridge anymore, so driver safety is enhanced. The trucks are spending less time at the weighbridge and traffic jams in front of the weighbridge and the tomato drop hill have become a thing of the past.
As the truck time at the weighbridge has been reduced from 12 minutes to two minutes, the truck driver can manage one extra trip per 12-hour shift. With a fleet of 12 trucks and one truck loading an average of 42 tonnes of tomatoes, this means a productivity gain of 504 tonnes [per shift].