This year’s Asia Fruit Logistica in Hong Kong truly lived up to its reputation as Asia’s leading trade show for the fresh produce industry. The event drew in a record 13,000 visitors and buyers, representing 43 different countries and regions.
With its emphasis on quality, sustainability, and cutting-edge technology, Asia Fruit Logistica has emerged as a vital forum where industry leaders converge to discuss the challenges and opportunities that define this dynamic and ever-evolving industry.
Needless to say, we were delighted to have the opportunity to present Clarifruit to this dynamic audience through a talk delivered by our CEO, Elad Mardix, along with a representative of our esteemed partner Dole Sunshine Company.
Addressing Quality Mismatch: a Critical Challenge for the Fresh Produce Supply Chain
In his talk, Elad focused on the thorny problem of quality mismatch: an all too common situation in which differing quality standards lead to dissatisfaction on both sides of a transaction. Retailers don’t get the quality they expected, and suppliers have to settle for lower prices.
This is the lose-lose scenario that drives most of the industry’s waste. As Elad explained, it’s driven by three factors:
- Different quality standards that don’t talk to each other
- Human-led, subjective quality inspection processes
- A lack of real-time data, leading to subjective, sub-optimal business decisions
In his demo, he showed how Clarifruit provides the solution to these challenges, enabling quality assurance professionals to coordinate multiple sets of standards and run automated, objective inspections. The demo focused on level 2 support, which uses computer vision to measure attributes like size, color and stem condition automatically and at scale, reducing the human workload and eliminating human error.
Clarifruit in the Field: the Example of Dole Sunshine
The conversation between Elad and Roy Ortiz, Dole Sunshine’s Regional Director of Technical Services & Quality Assurance, shed light on how major players in the industry are using Clarifruit’s AI food quality inspection to optimize their quality control processes.
Before partnering with Clarifruit, Dole faced challenges in quality control (QC) processes for fresh produce. Their manual QC procedures were subjective, time-consuming, and lacked real-time data insights. They needed a digital and AI-driven solution that could accommodate their diverse produce categories, enable scalability, and integrate with existing systems.
Dole sought a partner for:
Digitization: Improving QC processes by reducing manual effort, enhancing accuracy, and streamlining decision-making.
Automation: Shifting from manual, subjective inspections to AI-driven, objective assessments to foster innovation.
Data Usage: Creating a centralized global data repository to enhance communication and efficiency, utilizing Big Data for faster decision-making.
The results of Dole Sunshine Company’s Partnership with Clarifruit
After a successful two-month pilot program in 2021, Dole implemented Clarifruit’s QC platform in their fresh pineapple packing plants and local markets. The results speak for themselves:
2X Productivity Increase: QC teams spend less time on manual work, allowing them to contribute more value elsewhere.
Reduced Errors & rejections: Larger sample size and real-time analytics improve inspection accuracy, reducing error-prone QC reports and overall rejections at destination markets.
Centralized Data: All auto-generated reports are accessible on a single, cloud-based platform, facilitating communication among stakeholders.
Increased Objectivity: The fully automated process removes subjective human judgment and bias in the pineapple category.
Improved Training: Management and training of Dole’s QC teams are efficiently handled through Clarifruit’s cloud-based software.
Dole and Clarifruit share a common vision for more sustainable agriculture, and a more transparent supply chain for all stakeholders. This partnership represents just the beginning of their journey toward achieving these goals.
Making Fresh Produce Quality Data Available Anytime, Anywhere, and to All
Fresh produce quality control has come a long way since the bad old days of manual paperwork – and the only slightly better days of Excel spreadsheets and email threads. At Clarifruit, we’re excited to be at the forefront of the AI revolution that is reshaping the industry, getting more fresh fruits and vegetables to more tables, without the waste.
Follow us on social media for our latest news, and to find out where our team is headed next. If you’d like to learn more about the world’s first AI-powered quality control software solution, schedule a free Clarifruit demo for an in-depth tour.
