In September 2005, Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella, Inc., the second largest pistachio nut processor in the United States, sought to radically improve product quality throughout their facilities by eliminating foreign materials in their products. For this massive undertaking (Setton Pistachio’s main processing facility is well over 150,000 square feet, and gathers pistachios from over 5,000 acres of pistachio orchards), Setton Pistachio decided to do away with their conventional inspection tools, and instead turned to today’s innovative X-ray detection systems.
Traditionally, Setton Pistachio relied on magnetic metal detection tools and direct hand sorting to pick out foreign bodies in their products (typically, small rocks); these techniques, however, didn’t deliver on the standards that Setton sought for their company. It was then that Setton Pistachio contacted the experts at Eagle PI (known at the time as Smiths Detection) to learn about alternative solutions.
Finding their Perfect System
After contacting Eagle PI and learning of the inspection capabilities of X-ray and their various options, Setton Pistachio chose to integrate the Eagle Bulk 370 system in their facilities, primarily for the unit’s compatibility with company production flow rates.
The incredible volume of product that Setton Pistachio processed in a single day of operation rendered all other detection and foreign body removal equipment impractical. Setton Pistachio needed a cohesive system that could both meet the incredible volumes of their operations and reliably detect and filter out contaminants and rejects.
Setton Pistachio chose to install their Eagle Bulk 370 equipment at an early stage in their product processing, as products enter their facilities from storage silos. While these systems can be seamlessly integrated at any stage in a facility’s production line, this stage proved ideal for Setton Pistachio, as it rejected foreign bodies instantaneously when products flowed into their facility, and fed rejects through a chute for sorting.
The sorting itself is completed with a gravity table de-stoning system, which separates rocks and contaminants from the actual pistachios, so good products could be reclaimed and used. This system is used as secondary equipment for sorting, and not installed on the main production line, as integrating it with the main line would mean huge sacrifices to facility efficiency. As Setton Pistachio would soon learn first-hand, innovative X-ray inspection technologies are all that food processing companies in countess industries need for their product safety and quality needs.
Results and Unforeseen Benefits
With Eagle PI’s advanced X-ray product inspection equipment installed, Setton Pistachio was able to significantly simplify their product quality standard process while also pushing their products to new quality standards that couldn’t be reached with their conventional detection systems.
The rocks, metals and foreign bodies that had previously been a problem for Setton Pistachio would often come into contact with sensitive processing equipment later on, when not properly sorted out, and routinely damage that equipment, calling for processing line shutdowns, and costly labor and maintenance spending. This detrimental effect was entirely avoided the day Setton integrated X-ray inspection in its processing operation.
This, however, isn’t the only area of savings Setton profited from after installing X-ray inspection technology in their line; along with significantly improved product inspection applications, Setton’s routine maintenance (and its high labor costs) were greatly cut back, generating additional, unforeseen savings potential.
“With the use of the X-ray machine, we were able to reduce our magnet cleaning schedule to once every 3 days instead of daily, saving considerable labor cost,” says Setton Safety and Quality Assurance Supervisor, Frank Aguilera.“[X-ray inspection] concentrates our inspection into a single point instead of multiple places around the plant that need constant checking.”
Benefits to overall quality have led to Setton Pistachio’s continued success, all due to highly efficient X-ray inspection technology in their processing line.
“The benefits of implementing X-ray inspection have gone beyond contaminant detection and actually made us more efficient by saving us time and money on labor, maintenance and repair and lost money on downtime,” quotes Setton Pistachio Plant Manager Jeff Gibbons. “I would recommend that anyone running pistachios consider X-ray inspection. It’s been that effective for us.”
For more information about how innovative X-ray inspection technologies have been used across industries to boost performance and processing efficiency, or how an X-ray inspection system could bring instant benefits to your business, contact us today.
To see Eagle Pi's technology in action, you can watch their video, Production Line Integration of Eagle's Fat Analysis Systems here.
