Stemilt Gets New, State-Of-The-Art Cherry Line

Stemilt Growers has constructed a new red cherry line at its largest packing facility Olds Station, in preparation for the 2011 cherry season. This multi-phase capital project — valued at $3 million — will significantly increase throughput and sorting capacity on this main cherry packing line. The new line will debut in June 2011 at the start of the Washington cherry season.

Stemilt is making significant investments to the line this year and next in order to prepare for larger volumes of cherries down the road. According to early estimates, Washington state could see an 18 million-plus box cherry crop this year as long as Mother Nature cooperates.

During construction, Stemilt will make changes to both the front and back end of its existing red cherry line. They will install 15 sorting tables at the front of the line in order to double sorting capacity. The tables are designed with rollover capabilities that automatically turn the fruit so that sorters can view both sides of the fruit. Stemilt is also upgrading its in-line hydrocooling system in order to maintain the cold chain process, and investing in a modern sizer that accurately sizes any piece of fruit, rather than just large-sized fruit.

“We are significantly changing the way we size and sort cherries on this new line. The use of modern technologies and processes joins our continued focus on maintaining the cold chain in order to deliver consistent, high-quality cherries to the marketplace,” said Roger Pepperl, Stemilt’s marketing director.

Construction continues on the back end of the Olds Station cherry line. The back of the line will also be able to handle twice the capacity as it presently can. Stemilt will add another automatic filling station for seven total, and its popular modified atmosphere package (known as Flow Wrap) will now be packed on the line directly off of a filling station. The packaging prep area is now located on an upper floor in order to enhance the flow of the overall line.

The Olds Station cherry line upgrade is one of several capital projects Stemilt has taken on recently to advance its cherry program. The company added a new Rainier line at its Miller Street facility in 2009 and has continued to make upgrades to that line recently in order to best handle the delicate Rainier variety. Stemilt’s Stockton cherry facility has added capacity and state-of-the-art cooling tunnels in recent years. Finally, the company’s Stemilt Hill packing facility is getting sorting and filling capacity upgrades this year in order to enhance the quality of cherries exported via ocean containers.

source: Stemilt press release