CFT GROUP AND VOG PRODUCTS
One of the CFT Group’s historical clients is based in the town of Laives, in the province of Bolzano: VOG Products.
VOG Products is an innovative, cutting-edge company in the fruit processing sector and works in collaboration with all the fruit cooperatives in Trentino-Alto Adige. In practice, this means that one out of five apples produced in the region is processed by VOG Products, along with other types of fruit.
VOG Products and CFT Group have known each other for over 20 years. The first apple purée production plant that they had installed in fact dates back to 2000 and was a true success: the two companies discovered that they shared the same passion and attention to quality and productivity.
In 2018 we were again called upon by VOG Products, for a project to expand and update their fruit purée plants. We were happy to take up the challenge once more: although we had already worked together in the past, this time the whole CFT Group team was motivated and determined to reconfirm their skills.
CFT’S SOLUTION FOR VOG Products
First of all, the new state-of-the-art fruit purée plant was designed using the latest CFT Group technology for the processing of fruit either with or without stones.
The absolute protagonist in this case is the Zenith Chrono enzyme inactivation system with cold extraction, short processing time and anaerobic environment, customized for VOG Products with the insertion of an automatic pneumatic soda wash.
The enzyme inactivation is immediate in the Zenith Chrono, guaranteeing an optimal consistency and an output product of really fantastic quality, minimizing the consumption of ascorbic acid and conserving colour, flavour and other organoleptic properties.
In addition, to take full advantage of the potential offered by a group such as CFT, both lines have been equipped with a Raynbow optical sorter produced by Raytec (a company that is part of the CFT Group), that uses a high speed and double vision technology, able to examine 100% of the surface of the product in a very short time.
COMPOSITION OF THE PLANTS
The proposed solution was enthusiastically approved by VOG Products and installed in a few months.
The two automated fruit purée lines are composed of:
- Reception and washing system
- Brush machine
- Raynbow optical sorter (Raytec)
- Possibility of manual sorting
- Zenith Chrono cold extraction and enzyme inactivation system
The product resulting from this line is stored in a cellar and kept at 5° until subsequent processing.
A new aseptic filling line consisting of an Olimpic 12 t/h plate sterilizer and a Macropak AF/2 filler, installed together with a tubular sterilizer and an existing CFT filler, was also supplied in a modernized area of the factory.
In this current configuration the line was completed with an articulated system of pallet transport, complete with shuttles designed and built by CFT Robotics with the aim of automating and managing the feeding of empty drums and the transport of the full drums up to the final phase in complete safety, passing through a station for the automatic labelling of every single drum and a strapping station. Today the line looks like this:
- Olimpic plate sterilizer
- Existing Olimpic tubular sterilizer
- Macropak AF/2 aseptic filler
- Existing Macropak TM2000/2 aseptic filler
- Conveyor system complete with CFT Robotics shuttles for the automated transportation of the drums
- Labelling machine
- Strapping machine
THE ADDED VALUE OF CFT GROUP
We believe that this project is very interesting for at least two reasons: it confirms the quality of the CFT Group technologies and innovations, also demonstrating our ability to offer customized solutions, artfully tailored to the customers’ needs. In some cases, as it was for one of VOG Products’ fruit purée lines, it becomes necessary to be able to design “hybrid” systems, where new technology is perfectly integrated with that which is already installed, improving it. Thanks to the experience, variety and quality of the solutions, CFT Group is without a doubt an ideal partner for this type of projects.
William Dattaro – CFT Sales Area Manager
Manuel Gonizzi – CFT Project Engineer
Andrea Malvisi – CFT Project Engineer