Spring fresh salad for Sainsburys
Published: 12 June, 2007
We all know that in order to maintain a healthy diet, we need to eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables a day. One of these portions is often provided by salad, and increasingly we are buying it in pre-packed bags from our local supermarket. What you may not know is that most bagged salads have been washed in water that contains twenty times more chlorine than your local swimming pool.
Now Sainsburys with the help of Vitacress Salads and Apollo Connect have decided to address this issue. At least half of all Sainsburys own brand bagged salads are now washed in clean spring fed water.
Vitacress Salads, Europe's leading salad grower and packer and a major supplier to Sainsburys are in the enviable position of being located on the upper reaches of the River Test near Andover. This provides them with a guaranteed supply of crystal clear spring water. In order to capitalise on this Vitacress asked Apollo Connect to supply a web enabled PLC for each of its seven packing lines to monitor and control the different water tank level requirements at each line.
Apollo Connect"s engineering director, Paul Mailes, decided to use their tried and tested TBOX platform to provide this functionality. Using an ultrasonic sensor to measure the flow rate throughout the process, a PID was developed for the TBOX to control the VSD’s to accommodate flow requirements.
The TBOX ensures that Tim Breslain, Vitacress production manager, can now monitor and control his packing lines through his IT infrastructure from any PC in his plant without the need for costly licences whilst ensuring that Sainsbury’s receive only the freshest - and cleanest – salad possible.
For more information please visit: www.apolloconnect.co.uk
