With the need to process different varieties, family-run firm K.W.Naylor & Son decided to invest in flexible handling machinery, to separate, grade and clean their full range of crops.
Based near Spalding in Lincolnshire, K.W. Naylor & Son processes a wide range of flowering bulbs and maincrop potatoes, which are sold and distributed to supermarkets throughout the UK.
“In a demanding marketplace and with changing weather patterns, handling crops gently and efficiently is very important,” said Matthew Naylor from K.W. Naylor & Son.
“As we process varying shapes of root crops, we need flexible machinery which can be adjusted quickly and simply.
“We chose the Caretaker mobile vegetable grader from Tong for a number of reasons. We liked the build quality, the bespoke design service and the service back up from Tong. The Blue Inverter Technology has dramatically reduced our energy use and the touch screen technology allows us to make minor and major adjustments for differing crop types in a matter of seconds. The fact that we were dealing with a family-owned and run business in our home county was a great bonus.
“In the wet harvest of 2012, we were especially pleased with the performance of Tong’s EasyClean separator, it cleaned wet soil from the potatoes with surprising ease. As part of Nene Potatoes, we sample tuber damage daily during the harvest. Even allowing for the different conditions, we had substantially less bruising this year.”
Charlie Rich, Tong’s Export Sales Manager, commented: “From initial site visits to delivery and after sales service, we worked closely with Matthew to meet his specific requirements and individual handling needs.
“As well as customising Matthew’s machine to ensure the gentlest of crop handling, it has been fitted with Tong’s Blue Inverter Technology. In recent tests, a fully loaded machine specified with Blue Inverter Technology uses only 18 amps of electricity in dry conditions, which is an energy saving of up to 50% when compared to similar machines with standard mechanical drive.”