Berry market leader automates labeling

Kepler, Atlas, Olympos, Venture and Azra - these are the illustrious names of the five blueberry varieties grown by Qualitas Berry. Gizem Büyükkeskin, manager of the Qualitas Berry processing plant in Aksu/Antalya, says that the berries from the province of Antalya are particularly delicious - so it's no wonder that they are also becoming increasingly popular internationally.

Qualitas Berry

Qualitas Berry, the national market leader in blueberry production, is based in the Turkish province of Antalya. The company was formed in 2019 from the merger of four leading Turkish blueberry producers. Today, Qualitas cultivates a total area of around 50 hectares, spread across five plantations. The central processing plant in Aksu/Antalya is being systematically automated. The latest step in this process is the automation of checkweighing and labeling with the help of an innovative Bizerba solution.

End-of-line as a bottleneck

A growing customer base from the Netherlands to the Far East, new bulk buyers such as Lidl—Qualitas Berry urgently needed to increase its production capacity. From cultivation to the finished packaged product, the entire process had to be optimized for high volumes. However, two end-of-line processes were a weak point: Checkweighing and manual labeling of packages were time-consuming. Manager Büyükkeskin and his colleagues are looking for a solution provider to help automate these processes as well. Qualitas Berry evaluated several weighing and labeling solution providers. The decision was finally made in favor of Bizerba. The decisive factors were a number of successfully implemented projects in the region, the high level of quality and Bizerba's local presence.

On-site cooperation with local provider

The close proximity enables Bizerba to work closely with Qualitas Berry's local conveyor belt technology supplier. Together, the project managers develop an individualized, seamlessly line-integrated weighing and labeling solution.

New checkweigher model fits perfectly

Bizerba is supplying and implementing a CWDmaxx 3000 checkweigher and a GLM-Emaxx 50 price and goods labeling system. Bizerba Türkiye sales manager Sinan Kutnay: "Our new CWD basic model had just been launched on the market and we immediately saw that it would be a perfect fit here." 

Transparency through open software

The open Bizerba industrial software BRAIN2 is also part of the solution. It is an important component for seamless integration into the existing infrastructure. It also enables centralized master data maintenance and creates transparency for all production data from Bizerba and 3rd party devices. Bizerba trains the Qualitas Berry team in the use of the new systems so that their potential can be fully exploited after a short time.

Entire line automated

Today, the production line at the Qualitas Berry processing plant is automated from A to Z: from washing the fruit, visual inspection, portioning and packing to checkweighing, sorting out incorrectly weighted packs and finally labeling. Only the repacking of the trays into cartons and onto pallets is still done by hand.

Halil Oymak, Share Holder at Qualitas Berry, states:

“We can now produce much faster and easily meet increasing demand.”

Sinan Kutnay, Sales Manager at Bizerba Türkiye, says:

“The collaboration with the local conveyor technology partner was very productive. Our result integrates seamlessly into the existing infrastructure.”

Smooth project progress

Production Manager Gizem Büyükkeskin is highly satisfied with the result:

"The project went perfectly. We had very good contact with Sales Manager Sinan Kutnay, Project Manager Ahmet Konuk and Service Expert Yasin Yaşar. We are extremely satisfied with their work."

Büyükkeskin also appreciates the Bizerba remote support, especially in the early days, which helps to rectify faults quickly and without making an appointment.

Ideally prepared for increased sales

Büyükkeskin says:

"Since commissioning in March 2024, we have been able to produce much faster. In the future, we will also be able to meet a stronger increase in demand without any problems."

She is convinced that the quality of blueberries from Antalya will become increasingly established internationally - and is certain that the investment will pay for itself quickly. 

More information