Equipment for harvesting, sorting, and packing small fruits

A&B Packing was born from the needs of a blueberry grower to process his products according to his specific requirements; requests to his machinery manufacturer for adaptations resulted in the acquisition of the manufacturing company. An initial partner is the origin of the A in the company's name, and the B corresponds to Bob, the blueberry grower and current sole owner.

Bob Williamson is a born inventor, and his continuous pursuit of improvements has led to A&B's current offering.

The company's origins lie in the weighing and packing of small fruits; From this, they have developed equipment capable of handling the entire selection and grading process for small fruits, as well as equipment for packaging other small items such as candy, etc.

The A&B Packing plant in Lawrence, MI

During the visit, we were assisted by Trevor Bouma, Global Sales Manager (in the main image), a contact kindly provided by Piotr Milewski, Managing Director of Milbor, responsible for A&B Packing in Europe.

Currently, 30% of sales are for equipment other than fresh produce.

For fresh produce, they offer machinery for blueberries, cherry tomatoes, cocktail tomatoes, cherries, almonds, peppers, mushrooms, and more.

A&B was founded in 1998 as a local company with seasonal manufacturing. It currently employs more than 130 people, working two shifts, seven days a week. It has two manufacturing facilities in the United States and a presence through distributors in different parts of the world. Milbor, located in Poland, is responsible for all of Europe and Morocco. They serve Latin America from Chile. They also have an office in Australia and are currently in negotiations to expand their presence in South Africa.

A&B Packaging equipment

A&B manufactures packaging equipment (its origins), cleaning and grading equipment, and, most recently, harvesters.

Packing

A&B Packing's range of equipment includes weighing and filling, bag fillers, volumetric fillers, bulk box fillers, automatic bagging machines, labeling conveyors, labeling equipment, and complementary equipment such as metal detectors, basket and box detectors, etc.

G2 Evolutions is the weighing and filling equipment range, currently in version 3. These are associative weighers with a distinctive horizontal design (shown in the main image), which prevents impacts to the product. Their precision is proven, and user experience shows that they pay for themselves in just two seasons.

Its modular structure allows for increased capacity based on needs.

In addition to the standard range of equipment, specific adaptations may be required by individual clients.

Cleaning and grading

The cleaning and grading equipment is designed to handle products as gently as possible. A&B Packing manufactures complete lines with feeding systems, blow cleaners, inspection conveyors, destemmers, graders, brush washers, and drying systems. The company's focus is on custom-made equipment, adapting the final design to each client's needs.

Interior of the A&B Packing manufacturing and assembly plant

"House Brands"

The packaging, cleaning, and sizing equipment all have several aspects in common:

• Stainless steel construction to maximize hygiene and food safety, and every detail is carefully considered in the design to facilitate cleaning.
• Proprietary conveyor belt design that allows working at angles of up to 30° in the feeding system without the product sliding down, unlike the usual 18° angle.
• The modular conveyors, incorporating curved sections, adapt to any plant need.
• The goal in any development is to save time and labor in the processes. The lack of personnel, especially trained personnel, is an increasingly pressing limitation.

For A&B Packing, the way to solve its need for specialized personnel, engineers, etc. is to count on offices in different areas of the United States, many of them close to universities, which is not the case at its headquarters in Lawrence, MI.

Another "house´s trademark" is not leaving customers without technical support, even if the equipment they have has been discontinued and wherever the customer is located in the world.

Harvesters

A&B's most recent development is the Fulcrum line of harvesters for outdoor blueberries. They are a response to the lack of harvesters.

The company developed two models: one that harvests horizontally and another that harvests horizontally or vertically.

Horizontal Fulcrum

The horizontal harvester is designed to perform the most gentle harvesting possible. The tunnel opening is ample, 160 cm (more than 1.5 meters) wide, to minimize fruit loss before entering the tunnel. The equipment divides the bush in two, and the ripe fruit is gently extracted using horizontal rotating heads.

Vertical Fulcrum

The vertical harvester's main feature is its versatility. It can switch from a horizontal picking position to a traditional vertical position. The 160 cm (63 inch) wide tunnel entrance allows for longer picking fingers, which also allows the rotating heads to be spaced further apart and harvest larger bushes more efficiently.

For the areas where the fruit is deposited, metal or rigid plastics have been avoided in the construction. The Fulcrum is equipped with a sloped, padded "Anti-Bruise" picking bed along with padded "Anti-Bruise" collecting plates.

At the time of the visit, last May, there were about 10 pieces of equipment being tested in the field, and four can be seen at the factory in Lawrence, MI.

The Future

The current headquarters is the second in A&B's history; they moved there not long ago, and at the time, it seemed as though the entire space would never be occupied. This has now happened, and they are now considering expanding.

Currently, and especially to make room for the harvester lineup, they are considering separating this line of business and providing it with its own staff and facilities.

Starting from the right: Pere Papasseit (SPE3), Claudio Namesny (Growpack), Trevor Bouma (A&B Packing), and Alicia Namesny (Postharvest)