Key Technology in 2014 supplied four new Optyx® digital sorters to Tayto, the largest British-owned manufacturer of potato crisps. While most potato crisp manufacturers use camera-only sorters, Tayto rose above the industry standard and selected combination camera/laser sorters to better identify and remove the widest variety of defects and foreign material (FM). The cameras recognize colour, size, and shape to find defects such as green spots, bruises, and overcooked black spots. With the help of intelligent software and algorithms that Key developed specifically for this application, the sorters’ lasers detect common batch-fried defects such as doubles and clumps of crisps stuck together and oil-soaked and blistered crisps in addition to FM. 

Another unusual aspect of sorting on the batch-fry lines at Tayto is the use of Key’s split-sorter configuration, which takes the 1200mm wide scan area of the Optyx 6000 series sorter and splits it into two 600mm wide lanes. This enables Tayto to sort two different products simultaneously on each sorter, with software that allows it to define different defects and different reject thresholds on each sort lane. US-based Key Technology has its European head office in Beusichem, the Netherlands. www.key.net/products/optyx

 

 

Optyx digital sorter on one of Tayto’s potato crisp lines