“Excitement is at fever pitch here at Mosplaas after the recently installed ViTrax carton management system (CMS) which integrates with AppSource’s check weighing solution.” So said Francois Reyneke, senior packhouse manager at Karsten Group’s Mosplaas Sitrus packhouse. He raved about both the top-notch functionality and the added peace of mind.

Mosplaas settled on FarSoft’s carton management system with all the bells and whistles: carton kickers, check weighers, integrated scanners and online printers.

“Scales placed between the packing tables and palletising area weigh each carton in motion,” explained AppSource MD André Swart. “Cartons that fall within the acceptable range are passed and those that fail are pushed off the line. All passed cartons are labelled in real-time. Also, each carton is serialised, thus allowing Mosplaas to see carton information such as actual weight, time of day produced, as well as the packer and pack-point. And, what’s more, dashboards placed in the facility provide real-time feedback on shift progress.

“Simply put, the Appsource solution provides a layer between ViTrax and the deployed equipment (printers, scanners, tablets), thereby simplifying the acquisition of production information and generating box end-labels.”

Elaborating, FarSoft director Gerhard Nel said, “With citrus packing there’s variable weight distribution, but the ViTrax CMS allows packhouse managers to manage weights and subsequently adjust weights manually on cartons kicked out.”

Francois added that solving the citrus weight issue had given them much satisfaction. “Not to mention the myriad of tools we can now use with ease. Human error has been eliminated, plus pre-printed label wastage. The system certainly has improved real-time worker and packhouse productivity figures, as well as quality control.”