A novel automated system for the grape processing sector to reduce waste by 50% and provide economic benefits for users of up to £19 million per annum

在分拣和包装过程中，葡萄串会被发现有各种缺陷;特别是葡萄孢菌（坏死性真菌）、裂缝、皱缩/受损的水果、霉菌和蛆，这会导致水果加速腐烂并缩短保质期- 47%的葡萄串在当前的“生命末期”受到腐烂和霉菌的影响。这导致英国批发商/零售商和家庭每年损失3900万英镑，每年浪费约12，900吨葡萄（AM Fresh & WRAP数据）。典型地，在包装过程中水果沿沿着传送带行进时，工人被雇用来手动地寻找并去除这些缺陷。然而，由于旅行禁令和对安全工作环境的需求，新冠肺炎的影响导致可用工人数量大幅减少。这种情况不太可能改善，不仅是由于对新冠肺炎疫情进一步蔓延的担忧挥之不去，而且还有英国退欧。由于欧洲工人占劳动力的很大比例，整个食品生产部门可能会受到影响。我们的解决方案是开发一个用于葡萄加工的自动化原型系统，该系统将在包装过程中识别有缺陷的水果和修剪-减少工人数量减少的影响，提高生产力和盈利能力。据设想，该解决方案的一些好处将是：\* 减少供应链浪费 ** -系统用户可以从增加的收入中受益，因为该技术可以延长保质期并减少葡萄损失。将保质期从5天延长到7天（通过去除有缺陷/损坏/患病的水果）将减少包装和销售之间的浪费50%。这将导致每年累计收入增加高达1900万英镑。* 质量保证 **-葡萄篮中腐烂的水果、蜘蛛和网等的存在会引起消费者的高度情绪化，并可能导致农产品行业在销售和公共关系方面付出相当大的成本。因此，通过采用这种创新的自动化方法提供质量保证可以改善公共关系和消费者信心;这可能会导致销售额上升。** 工人人数减少的影响减少 **-由于旅行禁令，新冠肺炎对新鲜农产品行业的影响很大，因为约90%的工人来自欧洲国家。随着英国脱欧的临近，这种情况不太可能改善。通过自动化质量控制流程，我们的技术减少了新型冠状病毒对行业的影响，以及英国脱欧对未来的预期影响。

During the sorting & packing process, grape bunches can be found to possess a variety of defects; particularly botrytis (necrotrophic fungus), splits, shrivelled/damaged fruit, moulds and maggots, which can lead to accelerated rotting of fruit and decreased shelf life - 47% of grape punnets are affected by rots and moulds at current 'end of life'. This results in economic losses of £39million per annum and waste of ~12,900tonnes per annum of grape for UK wholesalers/retailers and households (AM Fresh & WRAP data). Typically workers are employed to manually look for and remove these defects, whilst the fruit is travelling along conveyors during the packing process. However the effects of Covid-19 has led to much lower numbers of workers available due to travel bans and the need for safe working environments. This situation is unlikely to improve, due to not only the lingering concerns with further Covid-19 waves, but also Brexit. As European workers make up a large proportion of the workforce, the entire food production sector is likely to suffer. Our solution is to develop an automated prototype system for grape processing that will identify defective fruit and trim during the packing process -- reducing the impacts of lower worker numbers and improving productivity and profitability. It is envisaged that some of the benefits of the solution will be: \***Reduced supply chain waste** - System users could benefit from enhanced revenues as the technology could extend shelf life and reduce grape losses. Extending shelf life from 5 to 7 days (through removing defective/damaged/diseased fruit) would reduce waste by 50% between packing and sale. This would leading to cumulative revenue increases of up to £19million per annum. \***Quality assurance** -- The presence of rotten fruit, spiders and webs etc in grape punnets is highly emotive to consumers and can results in considerable cost in terms of sales and public relations on the produce industry. Providing quality assurance by adopting this innovative automated approach could therefore improve public relations and consumer confidence; which may lead to sales uplifts. **Reduced impact of lower worker numbers** -- The impacts of Covid in the fresh produce sector have been substantial, due to travel bans, as ~90% of workers are from European nations. With Brexit looming, this situation is unlikely to improve. By automating the quality control process, our technology reduce the impacts on the sector imposed by Covid, and anticipated future impacts resulting from Brexit.