Tropical Fruit Processing lines
The hustle and bustle of tropical business
September 2017. Think about New York, imagine a big river flowing through a tropical metropolis, add chatter between sellers and buyers, old friends catching up, new friends made.
And a very good coffee, everywhere.
It’s busy for sure, but the hustle and bustle brings a life to this city that never sleeps.
I am in Ho Chi Min City, bustling with millions of people and scooters, in a seamless flow, to discuss one of the biggest project of Tropical Fruit Processing lines in Vietnam.
The taxi is driving through the rush hour traffic, to a meeting with a potential new customer.
December 2018. Again, think about the Dutch countryside, but with a tropical atmosphere.
It is a water world where people, cattle, rivers, canals, roads, streams, paddies, buildings live together on the criss-cross landscape of the very same big river.
We are in the Mekong Delta, the “Rice Bowl’ of Vietnam.
Behind the sandwich-panel doors of the factory, you can sneak a peek the Processing & Packaging halls.
There are machines running, and the hustle and bustle is created by fruit and vegetables being washed, squeezed and bottled.
You don’t see many workers around, as these tropical fruit processing lines are fully automatic.
If you open the door, you can smell all the good flavors of mango and passion fruit, with a note of pineapple.
So, what happened in the last 14 months?
Processing lines for Lavifood
Lavifood is one of the most dynamic companies in the vegetable and tropical fruit processing in Vietnam, exporting high quality products to the global market.
The management is young and energetic. And they always brewed for us some very good coffee, at their office in Ho Chi Minh.
CFT Group is the world leader in fruit processing and packaging, with installations and turn-key factories delivered in all the five continents, with a continuous search for quality and innovation. We are head-quartered in Italy, with branches all over the world, and in Vietnam, of course.
Also, the management is young, energetic and committed. And we can make really good espresso coffee.
Together, after heaps and heaps of coffees, we have achieved the completion of a turn-key new factory, built on 20.000 sqm area where a complete vegetable and tropical fruit processing line is at the center of Lavifood operations.
Exotic fruits processing: mangoes, pineapples and others
Imagine truckloads of fresh pineapples, dragonfruits, passion fruits, mangoes – all delivered to the reception and quality assessment zone.
The average throughput ranges from 5 to 10 tons of fresh fruit processed per hour. If you prefer bigger figures, this means 240 tons per day, every single day.
A handful of operators assist and coordinate the operations, as the line is fully automatic. You will not see many people around.
Once the raw material with all their colours enter the line, humans act as supervisors: all the different varieties of fruit are washed, selected, washed again, mangoes are destoned, pineapples are squeezed and each type is properly treated and transformed, by means of a state-of-the-art multipurpose tropical fruit processing line.
The juice, nectar and concentrate produced in the line are packed in aseptic drums and bag-in-box, to preserve all the fantastic qualities gifted by Mother Nature to the fruit of Vietnam: colour, flavor, aroma, texture.
Tropical fruit juice canning and bottling lines
There is more to come, as Asia Pacific is the largest global region for juice consumption and Vietnam just sit in the centre of this part of the world. Many consumers choose juice as it is perceived to be a healthier choice. “Naturally healthy” is a rising niche and “Naturally healthy juice products” are available in Vietnam.
Making the best possible use of the complete range of juices and concentrate processed in the juice line, Lavifood commissioned to CFT Group two additional complete canning and bottling lines, designed to be part of one of the biggest plant for fruit processing in Vietnam.
The PET bottling line and the juice canning line, suitable for juices and smoothies, have been designed according to the same guidelines of the processing operation: to preserve the outstanding quality of the fresh fruit of Vietnam, bringing to the consumers the best of taste, flavors and texture in their drink.
Again, over cups and cups of teas and coffees, with some beer as summer heat had started to kick in, we achieved together another success: these two lines are fully automatic, and it is very hard to spot for some operators on the ground, as the cans and bottles are washed, filled, closed, labelled and packed into carton, ready to be transferred to the warehouse, running at twelve thousand cans an hour.
In a stark contrast with the Processing Hall, the Packaging hall is almost quiet, as you can just listen to the cans travelling on the conveyors or the bottles being labelled and palletized. The good flavours and that kind of fruit scents cannot be sensed here, as they all trapped for good – in the bottles, in the cans – to make customers happy.