Fruit Sizing App

Spectre for Cherries US Fruit Sizing Pilot Begins

By June 15, 2022 No Comments
Reading Time: 5 minutes

This US cherry harvest, six leading US cherry producers will be the first in the Northern Hemisphere to get their hands on Spectre for Cherries.

 

Spectre for Cherries is Hectre’s latest computer vision AI innovation, which provides cherry sizing data to growers, packhouses and sales teams, as soon as the fruit is picked, and with no expensive equipment required.

Hectre - Spectre for Cherries fruit sizing bin and graph

What does Spectre for Cherries mean for cherry growers and packers?

Over the past 12 months Hectre’s dual hemisphere R&D team have been working on delivering Spectre for Cherries and now the pilot is underway. This pilot will deliver the participating companies with valuable data so that they can:

  • Assess the pick early to ensure the correct size profile is being picked and, if necessary, adjust the pick (inform picking crews of what needs to change).
  • Provide early size data straight off the orchard to the packhouse to enable streamlined packing.
  • Give sales agents confidence to sell at the earliest possible opportunity because they really know what they’ve got to sell.
  • Ensure orders can be fulfilled, reducing buyer re-negotiations and delivery timelines.
  • Inform logistics so that orders and the associated freight costs can be better managed.
  • And so much more!

The pilot will also provide high volumes of images for the Spectre for Cherries model, helping the model to grow even stronger and even more accurate.

Some customers are keen to use Spectre for Cherries for small buckets of fruit, whilst others are seeking to use it on large cherry bins.

Hectre’s Spectre For Cherries will be able to accommodate both options. 

Background
With more than 20 million pieces of fruit sized by Hectre’s early fruit sizing technology including apples, oranges, lemons and mandarins, cherry producers were keen to get in on the Spectre action for their premium crop.

Phil Alison and the innovative team at Cherri Global were the first company to highlight to us the significant challenges the cherry industry faced regarding a lack of early size data. Basically, whatever challenges the apple industry was facing, turbocharge those problems due to extremely short pick, pack and ship timelines, and that’s how it was for the cherry industry.

Click to watch the interview with Phil Alison of Cherri Global (7 minute watch)

Pilot Participants
The US produces approximately 378,300 tons of sweet cherries (2021 productions stats – statista.com) so it’s a great location for the Spectre for Cherries pilot to take place.

The six pilot companies involved are based in Washington and California, hot spots for cherry production  and include innovation leaders Washington Fruit & Produce, Sage Fruit and Borton Fruit.

California is already underway, and one of the first Spectre for Cherries groups captured saw 15 bins of cherries photographed, uploaded to Spectre, and estimated within seconds!

MASSIVE INCREASES IN SAMPLE SIZES

15
BINS OF CHERRIES SIZED BY SPECTRE
855
CHERRIES PER BIN
13,000
INDIVIDUAL CHERRIES DETECTED AND SIZED
4
SECONDS

A humongous sample size of almost 13,000 cherries was detected and sized by Spectre for Cherries – an average of more than 850 cherries sampled per bin. Now that’s what tech folk refer to as a ‘significant’ sample size!

That raw size data, which is also available to Spectre customers via CSV download, is gold. Clever, fit for purpose technology, delivered with user simplicity at the forefront.

Once the pilot is complete, Spectre for Cherries will be launched, delivering valuable insights straight into the hands of cherry growers and packers across the globe.

 

How could you improve your business with Spectre for Cherries?

If you would like to be added to the Spectre for Cherries interested parties list, please enter your details below.