Case Study

PARAMOUNT CITRUSHoneywell Intelligrated’s End-of-line Solution Combines the Speed of Automation With the Flexibility to Accommodate Multiple Packaging Types for Paramount Citrus

When Projected Growth Surpassed Manual Palletizing Capabilities, Paramount Citrus Turned to Honeywell Intelligrated for a Solution That Combined the Speed of Automation With the Flexibility to Accommodate Multiple Packaging Types

Please note: “Honeywell Intelligrated” within this case study refers to

Intelligrated, which Honeywell acquired in 2016.

Paramount Citrus is part of the Roll Global LLC family of companies. Roll

Global LLC is a $3 billion international company focused on healthy brands

for healthy lifestyles. Its products include fresh fruit and tree nuts; floral

delivery; and premium beverages such as artesian water, California wines

and pure pomegranate juices and teas. Over the last decade, the company

has transformed the healthy pomegranate and POM Wonderful into a

worldwide phenomenon, FIJI Water into the country’s No. 1 imported

bottled water, and Wonderful Pistachios into one of America’s top-selling

snack nuts. Its diverse holdings make it the world’s largest grower of

tree crops, America’s largest citrus grower, and the world’s largest flower

delivery service. Paramount Citrus is America’s largest integrated grower,

packer and shipper of fresh citrus — mandarins, navel oranges, Valencia

oranges, lemons, limes, Texas red grapefruit and other citrus varieties.

More than 26 million fresh cartons of citrus are processed at its facilities in

California’s San Joaquin Valley, Texas’s Rio Grande Valley and Mexico and

then shipped around the world. The company is best known for its sweet,

seedless, easy-peel California mandarins — marketed under the Wonderful

Halos® brand. Paramount Citrus is the country’s largest grower of

mandarins, which are processed in the world’s largest citrus packinghouse

at its company’s headquarters in Delano, Calif.

Paramount Citrus opened its new 640,000-square-foot plant in 2012.

Honeywell Intelligrated’s End-of-line Solution Combines the Speed of Automation With the Flexibility to Accommodate Multiple Packaging Types for Paramount Citrus

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With a well-established market on the west coast, Paramount Citrus

launched its mandarins nationwide in 2011. To support the eastern

expansion, Paramount Citrus planted an additional 6,500 acres of

mandarins, bringing its total acreage up to 14,000. A majority of these

orchards are currently being harvested, and its acres in development are

expected to be mature and ready to pick by 2015.

Handling Challenges Drive Automated SolutionWith the additional acreage, the groves yield up to 15 million pounds

of fruit per week during citrus season, creating a logistics challenge for

the legacy manual processing facility. The material handling answer for

Paramount Citrus was to design and build a new solution adjacent to the

groves and its existing facility in Delano.

Paramount Citrus designed the facility from the ground up by evaluating

best practices in manual and automated processes against productivity

goals.

Vendor SelectionParamount Citrus required a system that could deliver the speed of

automation with the flexibility to handle multiple packaging types

originally designed for manual palletizing. Paramount Citrus needed a

vendor with the product offering, engineering knowledge and experience

to offer a complete end-of-line palletizing solution. After a lengthy

bidding process that included more than a year of design and planning,

Paramount Citrus chose Honeywell Intelligrated as its preferred supplier

and integration partner.

Alvey® 910 palletizers stack nest cases according to packaging type.

“In order to process the volume of fruit coming in the facility at our target throughput rate, we needed a fully automated process throughout the facility, which meant an automated end-of-line palletizing system was a major requirement,” said Jason Blake, vice president, California packing operations, Paramount Citrus.

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“We looked at the overall design of the equipment, speed, efficiency,

productivity, safety and reliability,” said Pete McKenzie, director of

design and startup for the Paramount Citrus Halos facility. “Honeywell

Intelligrated’s Alvey 910 system scored the highest on all of those, and

that’s what drove them to the top of our list.”

Design Collaboration: Flexible Handling, Efficiency and SpeedParamount Citrus presented a unique set of design challenges for its

end-of-line operation. The equipment needed to gently and securely

handle multiple packaging types, and the overall system had to handle

40–50 cases per minute. It was also necessary for the solution to be

scalable to accommodate increases in production.

The legacy process of column stack nesting corrugate tabbed cases was

designed for manual palletizing, but needed to be adapted for automation.

Through design collaboration with third-party corrugate suppliers

and Paramount Citrus purchasing and engineering teams, Honeywell

Intelligrated custom engineered the Alvey 910 palletizers with package-

handling modifications to ensure the cases could be positioned and

securely nested at speeds that met target throughput rates.

Implementation and Testing: System Performance Exceeds ExpectationsHoneywell Intelligrated completed the end-of-line installation ahead

of schedule and was ready for acceptance testing. Paramount Citrus

required Honeywell Intelligrated to complete 30 days of testing to

evaluate throughput rate, reliability, uptime, quality of pallet formation and

safety. The customized Alvey 910 lines met or exceeded all performance

benchmarks and testing requirements for all five units.

Precise Layer Control:

• Customized clamps to precisely position pallet loads to accept each successive layer

• Special hoist technology to minimize drop distance for each new pallet layer

• Bi-parting apron to reduce amount of inconsistent pressure and case positioning during layer deposit cycle and nesting process

“We did 30 days of testing on the first three palletizing lines, but by the time we got to the fourth and fifth, Honeywell Intelligrated was doing such a good job that we felt confident that all lines would deliver without going through acceptance testing,” said McKenzie.

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Training Employees to Handle the HarvestHoneywell Intelligrated instituted a thorough training program to ensure

Paramount Citrus employees would be ready to handle the influx of fruit

once the mandarin season began. Senior technicians were dispatched

to educate employees through classroom and hands-on training on

equipment operation, safety, troubleshooting and maintenance, and

provided specialized training manuals to supplement face-to-face

instruction. To conclude their training, employees were required to pass

written and performance examinations to become certified equipment

operators.

The Paramount Citrus System at a GlanceFollowing harvest, the mandarins are washed, sorted and put into cold

storage. Once an order is received, mandarins are assigned to one

of five fully equipped production lines where they are inspected for

imperfections. The fruit then goes through a second wash to ensure

only the highest-quality produce is packed, while lower-grade and non-

standard product is diverted to juicing. Workers then place the preferred

bagged fruit into a variety of cartons. From here, Honeywell Intelligrated’s

end-of-line solution takes over. Cartons are loaded on to a Honeywell

Intelligrated Accuglide accumulation conveyor leading to a dedicated

Alvey 910 palletizing station.

Accuglide® accumulation conveyors route cases to Alvey 910 palletizing stations.

“Honeywell Intelligrated exceeded our training expectations,” said Gaby Beasley, production manager, Paramount Citrus. “The training and materials provided became the benchmark of what we expected from other vendors.”

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The palletizer orients the cases into patterns that will properly nest

according to packaging type. Once the cases are in position, bi-parting

apron clamps open and drop the finished layer onto the pallet. After a pallet

is fully loaded and discharged from the palletizer, corner boards and zip ties

are applied to ensure pallet load structure. Pallets travel on a Honeywell

Intelligrated multi-strand chain conveyor and through motor-operated

turntables to an automatic stretch wrapper. Wrapped loads travel over

pallet conveyor to a chain-driven live roller pickup station. Forklifts are used

to retrieve loads and deposit them in a refrigerated staging area, ready for

distribution.

Results Create Model for Future ImplementationHoneywell Intelligrated provided a comprehensive end-of-line solution

that met or exceeded all business goals and increased line productivity

by 15 percent. The installation was completed ahead of schedule, and

system operators were trained in time for the first day of the mandarin

season.

The shift from manual to automated palletizing resulted in the highest

degree of secure and stable nesting at the fastest throughput rates

the industry has seen. The facility’s rate of 40–50 cases per minute

is a level of throughput not possible through manual processes. The

automated palletizing process developed for mandarins can be adapted

to any fragile fresh fruit packaging operation and breaks the assumption

that packaging designed for manual palletizing cannot be handled by

automation.

Multi-strand chain conveyor and motor-operated turntables guide pallet loads to dedicated stretch wrappers.

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In anticipation of future growth and expansion, the facility and system

design is scalable to accommodate greater fruit volume. According to

Blake, “As the rest of our mandarin acreage matures into production, we’ll

add three more lines of Honeywell Intelligrated palletizers and conveyors.

We will also introduce pallet conveyance to our refrigerated staging areas

to alleviate excess forklift traffic.”

Working With Honeywell Intelligrated Testimonials“Honeywell Intelligrated met or exceeded every goal we had for each phase

of the project, whether it was design, installation or training,” said Blake.

“We will continue our partnership in the future and highly recommend

Honeywell Intelligrated to others as well.”

Tim Lasko (Honeywell Intelligrated), alongside Pete McKenzie, Gaby Beasley and Jason Blake (Paramount Citrus)

Paramount Citrus End-of-line Equipment Used:

• Accuglide accumulation case conveyors

• Alvey 910 conventional palletizers

• Pallet dispensers

• Multi-strand chain conveyors

• Motor-operated turntables

• Pivoting chain transfers

• Chain-driven live roller conveyors

• Stretch wrappers from ITW Muller

“We highly recommend Honeywell Intelligrated and its Alvey products to anyone looking for an end-of-line palletizing solution,” said McKenzie.

“Working with Honeywell Intelligrated proved to be a great experience that yielded a productive relationship and produced the business results we needed.”

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Honeywell Intelligrated +1 866.936.7300

info@intelligrated.com

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