Raisin producer meets international quality standards with TOMRA 5C

Tuğrul Tarım, one of the largest raisin exporters in Turkey, continues its operations in Manisa region where the major part of Turkey’s dried grape production is developed. This is one of the most important grape production centers worldwide. The company was born in the 1960s to trade in cotton and dried grape production before producing raisins in 1994. It has been utilizing TOMRA sorting technologies since 1996. Being committed to improving product quality and production capacity, Tuğrul Tarım recently acquired the new TOMRA 5C optical sorting machine.

Today, their 42.000 square-meter premises in Manisa Salihli, in the country's Aegean Region, process 35.000 - 40.000 tons of raisins annually. All the volume is destined for export. Some 80% is sold as bulk products to European food producers (muesli, pastry, etc.). The other 20% is commercialized for private-label retail chains as packaged products. In addition to shipping mainly to the United Kingdom, Italy, and Germany, they also supply New Zealand and Australia.

For several years, Tuğrul Tarım has been using 5 TOMRA Helius free-fall optical sorterting machines and 2 TOMRA Ixus Bulk x-ray sorting machines. Recent technological advances provide newer and more sophisticated options which perform with greater accuracy, improve yields, and increase throughput - which means they also enhance cost-effectiveness. This is why Tuğrul Tarım decided to invest in a TOMRA 5C.

In fact, the TOMRA 5C addresses the biggest challenges faced by the Dried Fruit and Nuts industry: labor, food safety, quality, and production capacity. By detecting accurately and ejecting foreign materials and quality defects, this machine enables the processing of the highest pack-to-grade product quality in high quantities while minimizing labor. 

Emre Tuğrul, General Manager of Tuğrul Tarım, stated that with such large volumes of raisins that Turkey handles, automation is key. With the traditional methods of the past, they were processing up to 3 tons per hour. Now, with their TOMRA machines, they process 13 tons per hour and 100 tons per day. With TOMRA, their annual capacity reached 45.000 tons. The manager added that in the tests carried out with TOMRA 5C, they observed that the machine delivered high performance sorting foreign materials (plastic, stones), which are a common problem with grapes. Moreover, by using this machine, no product gets wasted, says Tuğrul. The sorting accuracy enables them to discard low-quality outputs, but can sell them for alternative uses such as molasses, alcohol, and vinegar. 

Emre Tuğrul commented that TOMRA has been their solution partner for 25 years. They are satisfied with technologies and the after-sales service. “We only use TOMRA machines in our facility”, he stated. 

 

TOMRA 5C provides the quality required for exports 

Ahmet Koçyiğit, Sales Manager for TOMRA Food Turkey, recommends TOMRA 5C to Dried Fruit and grape producers, because 85-90% of Turkey's seedless raisins are exported, and standards of foreign material removal are very high. The TOMRA 5C's high-resolution lasers can detect the most hard-to-find defects: broken peel, unripe grapes, rot, and grapevine - and grade products to minimize waste. This machine helps producers boost capacity, is easy to clean, and reduces line downtime.

 

 

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