Flikweert Vision offers an upgrade for the QualityGrader, for greater precision in the optical sorting of seed potatoes

Three years ago, Dutch specialist machinery manufacturer Flikweert Vision launched the QualityGrader. This new machine, which was the result of meticulous technological development, marked the beginning of a real revolution in optical sorting.

As a result, the Dutch seed potato sector chose Flikweert Vision's optical sorting machines at lightning speed. Whilst seed potato sorting was automated, Flikweert Vision continued its development pace to allow this technology to be used also to sort onions. This too became a success, and as a result, a large proportion of onion processors in the Netherlands are now also using the QualityGrader.

Striving for the best possible result is embedded in the DNA of the company, which is based in the southwest of the Netherlands. To this is added a dynamic team with an eye on the future, plus the unrivalled passion of the company’s three owners, and everything is in place to create a progressive company which is constantly raising the bar of technology and quality.

The latest example is an upgrade to the QualityGrader, with more cameras and enhanced computer power, which has greatly increased both accuracy and capacity.

Martijn Flikweert, co-owner of Flikweert Vision:

"Our ambition with the QualityGrader is to eliminate 100% of the manual sorting work for potatoes and onions, and with this upgrade, we are one step closer to making this ambition a reality.  The camera upgrade, with double the number of cameras, is integral to this. These extra cameras mean that all products are monitored by at least two cameras."

"This means that defects are always clearly visible, which is not always the case when the product is only recorded from one position. Additionally, the potatoes or onions are assessed not Rive but at least ten times. Doubling the number of cameras thus provides a significant improvement in quality assessment."

To process the increased data volume, additional computing power is required. As a separate module a computing power upgrade is offered for this purpose which provides the QualityGrader with six times more computing power. This more than doubles the machine’s capacity, and makes the QualityGrader ready for the future.

These upgrades create opportunities for further software development. According to Martijn Flikweert, the next step toward fully autonomous quality grading lies in this direction.

Martijn Flikweert:

"We have recently significantly expanded our R&D team, and therefore expect to continue making useful advances. Our ambition is no secret: we want to fully automate the quality grading of potatoes and onions worldwide, and we will not stop until this goal is achieved."

The upgrades have been extensively tested, and several customers are already using improved machines, including seed potato producer Klaver Koeling of Kraggenburg in the Noordoostpolder area of the Netherlands. The company’s Jan Mussche is pleased with his experience of the updated QualityGraders.

Martijn Flikweert:

"Due to the clearly noticeable improvement in accuracy, we are convinced that this is a major leap forward in sorting potatoes without human labor. We would never want to go back to conventional grading. This is the future!"