Potato Optical Sorting Grading Line featuring TOMRA 3A
NEW OPTICAL SORTING LINE MAJOR STEP FORWARD FOR NORWEGIAN POTATO GROWER
Tong Engineering recently delivered a modern potato handling and grading line for Norwegian potato producer Bjertnaes & Hoel in Norway. The installation provides a significant upgrade to the company’s potato packing and processing operation, improving capacity, reducing labour requirements, and increasing overall product quality.
Integrating advanced potato handling technologies
The new automated potato grading and sorting line integrates several advanced handling and sorting technologies designed to optimise efficiency while maintaining gentle crop handling.
The installed system includes:
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Automated 150 box tipper for efficient bulk intake
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Coil cleaner for effective soil and debris removal
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TOMRA 3A optical sorter for high-precision defect detection
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EasyGrade screen grading modules for accurate size grading
Working together, this high-capacity optical potato sorting line upgrade creates a fully integrated solution capable of handling high volumes of crop while ensuring consistent product standards.
A Scalable Potato Processing Solution
The upgraded potato grading and sorting line demonstrates how modern post-harvest equipment can help growers and packers improve efficiency while maintaining gentle crop handling.
By combining robust handling equipment from Tong Engineering with advanced optical sorting technology, Bjertnaes & Hoel now benefit from a future-proof potato processing solution designed for reliability, scalability, and consistent product quality.
Increased Capacity and Reduced Labour Costs
Automation across the handling, cleaning, grading, and optical sorting stages has enabled Bjertnaes & Hoel to significantly increase throughput while simplifying line operation.
According to Lars at Bjertnaes & Hoel:
“The new line has been a major step forward for our business. It’s increased our capacity, dramatically reduced labour costs, and delivered a much higher and more consistent product quality”
With automated intake, cleaning, grading, and optical defect removal, the system reduces the need for manual sorting while maintaining high performance during peak harvest periods.
Watch the line in action at Bjertnaes and Hoel here ———>
FAQs
Optical sorting technology plays a crucial role in minimising food waste throughout the production process by enabling early defect detection and precise quality control.
Implementation of optical sorting systems has shown households can reduce their general waste by up to 65% after replacing old recycling methods
Advanced optical sorters with enhanced multispectral capabilities are forecast to enable industries to achieve a 30% reduction in waste
The return on investment for optical sorting equipment varies by application, but industry data demonstrates substantial financial benefits.
A single-stream MRF can achieve an overall payback period of 2.5 years after installing optical sorting equipment.
Generally, a payback period of one to three years is considered acceptable and a good investment for industrial equipment.
Modern optical sorter manufacturers can calculate the payback period precisely with clients based on their specific capacity and operational needs.
Our stores and service team are committed to offering our customers vital support when its needed most. Always on hand, with an out of hours emergency call-out service, our team of engineers offer the vital spares, service and onsite support you need to ensure downtime is kept to a minimum. We understand the need of growers and packers needing to maintain continuous throughput. This is a service we are happy to provide.