FOWLER, CA - Bee Sweet Citrus is using cutting-edge resources to meet growing consumer and retail citrus demands, crediting much of its production to its state-of-the-art palletization line.

“With labor being as difficult and tight as it is, it really made sense to look at automatic palletization,” said company President Jim Marderosian. “I wanted to invest in something that could help tackle rising labor costs, safety concerns, high staff turnover, and potential production increases.”

Built by Intelligrated, now a part of Honeywell, Bee Sweet said in a press release that the new system has successfully been able to help meet the needs of package, pallet, and layer pattern specifications set for numerous citrus varieties, and continues to play an integral part of its packing facility.

Bee Sweet’s diverse product range means the new palletization system has to handle six packaging configurations, from open-top nested trays and telescopic cases, to reusable plastic containers and euro cartons, Bee Sweet explained. And to meet geographic specifications and retailer preferences, certain products also require compatibility with three different types of pallets.

“Intelligrated understood our problems and helped us improve the efficiency of our overall process,” explained Marderosian. “Their team has great expertise and our collaboration is what made this project a success.”

The new cutting-edge route carved by the operation starts with three conveyor input lanes leading from the packing building to the palletizing facility before it divides cases for automated and manual palletizing. Cases then travel down a sliding sorter where they are diverted to one of 28 accumulation lanes, 14 per palletizer. The system releases each full pallet quantity when it accumulates in a conveyor lane.

Employees manually apply corner boards and pallet tags to completed pallet loads for tracking purposes. To finish off the detailed journey, the load travels down pallet conveyors to stretch wrapper for banding, a special type of wrap used for produce that allows breathability while ensuring load stability. Further transport via pallet conveyor moves finished loads into position for forklift pick-up.

The independent California citrus grower, packer, and shipper offers year-round access to oranges, lemons, mandarins, and seasonal specialty varieties. Many of these varieties and brands require different packaging, pallets and layer patterns, as they are provided to several countries outside the U.S.

AndNowUKnow will continue to report on the latest innovations to meet our ever-evolving industry.

Bee Sweet Citrus