U.K.-based engineering and industrial software company AVEVA has partnered with Norway-based sorting solutions company TOMRA to integrate new technology in packhouses.

AVEVA's SCADA technology will be embedded in sensor-based sorting and packhouse solutions for the fresh produce industry, which TOMRA and its New Zealand-based subsidiary, Compac, say will unlock greater operator performance, visibility, and efficiency.

The deal, which was announced on Friday at PMA Fresh Summit in Orlando, Florida, also marks AVEVA's first foray into the fresh produce industry. Its technology is currently used by industries including oil and gas, mining and construction.

In a release, TOMRA said today's global marketplace puts tremendous pressure on those operating within the end-to-end food value chain, and believes that technology investments in automation, control, and data-driven decision support can help overcome these challenges.

“An AVEVA and TOMRA partnership combines the most advanced automation technology and best practices to deliver a step change in next-generation packhouse operations. AVEVA brings vast experience of industrial automation across multiple verticals,” said Mike Riley, head of TOMRA Food Grading.

“AVEVA’s world-class industrial solution portfolio has the technology, scale and performance to meet the growing digital requirements of today’s food and beverage industry,” said Rashesh Mody, Senior Vice President, AVEVA.

"Partnering with TOMRA provides a future proof solution to take advantage of the Industrial IoT to collect all the data necessary to improve performance and efficiency."

Sam Parnagian, vice president of operations at Fowler Packing, one of the largest packers of citrus in the U.S., said that Compac has decades of global packhouse operational experience which is now being applied to the AVEVA platform.

“Continued success for our company will be influenced by effective use of the latest technology to improve automation, control, and decision-making," he said.

"It’s a key focus area for us and we’ve seen significant performance and efficiency improvements from recent automation projects. We welcome the partnership between AVEVA and Compac to advance automation in the packhouse."

The first Compac product resulting from this partnership is Smartline™, which is built on Wonderware by AVEVA. Smartline features an operational dashboard for visualisation of line performance and an intuitive user interface designed to facilitate line control for packhouses of all sizes.