Autumn of 2022 brings changes to the Darling Group business and we’re excited to share these with you.
Firstly, a change in the look of the leadership team with Jacob Darling filling a newly created Chief Operating Officer role which will see him step up from Sales and Marketing Manager into the leadership of the wider businesses including Just Avocados. Jacob has been an integral part of the growth of Darling Group, and we are excited to see him with a title that reflects the work he does for the business.
The next big change is the rebuild of our Just Avocados packing facility on Woodland Road, which includes making room for a new packing line. After removing our old machine last month, we will be spending the next six weeks installing a state-of-the-art MAF RODA Pomone 2 lane sizer.
MAF Roda have installed over 300 avocado packing lines globally and are excited to be partnering with Just Avocados on this project. As part of this upgrade, Just Avocados will have the latest camera grading system (Globalscan 7). This state-of-the-art camera setup has 1 colour camera and 3 infrared cameras, each taking 10 photos per avocado. With three setups per lane, each individual piece of fruit is photographed 120 times. It also features a wash bath with pre-soaking, ensuring the avocados we are packing are free of any debris and residues. All the technology featured should allow us to achieve a major increase in quality and efficiency, and drastically cut down on double handling of fruit.
The overall project is set out in stages, with stage two involving significant earthworks around the packhouse that will make way for new loading bays and eventually include the ability to load export product directly into containers through a dedicated temperature-controlled loading dock.
Andrew Darling is pleased to share that the business is now able to offer this service to growers and is excited by the efficiency and improved quality standards it will bring our customers.
We look forward to these changes positively impacting your relationship with the Darling Group of businesses.