TOMRA Sorting Food has unveiled new graphical user interface (UI) TOMRA ACT to help food processors get the most from their sorting systems by optimising work flows and reducing waste to deliver improved profitability.
The UI is driven by a recently developed core software system and further enhances the clarity and confidence experienced by users and operators of the company’s sensor-based sorting and peeling technology.
The UI has been developed to offer a new intuitive way for customers to interact with their food sorters and simplify the operating process. TOMRA ACT achieves this with easy-to-understand graphics and touch screen tools, giving food processors greater control and better feedback to improve food quality and deliver enhanced safety.
TOMRA ACT is available on all the leading manufacturer’s new food sorting machines, featuring an intuitive main screen, allowing operators to see critical sorting information and real-time process data at a glance. Clear information enables improved monitoring, and fast adjustments are possible at any time, so the operator is always in control and is ideally placed to simply and easily optimise the sort.
TOMRA ACT is at the core of TOMRA’s latest generation of food sorters, the TOMRA 5A and TOMRA 5B. In certain select prior models, the UI can be installed as an upgrade. This means that an operator can use all TOMRA ACT based machines once trained on one.
TOMRA Sorting Food’s head of innovation John McGloughlin said: "The development of TOMRA ACT involved many in-depth discussions with customers to ensure we provided them with an interface that improves the performance of their sorters and therefore their businesses.
"A key insight from the discussions was that small adjustment errors can have major consequences in terms of yield and cost. To overcome this we had to make TOMRA ACT simple, intuitive and straightforward.
"Food sorting machines contain very complex sensors and we wanted to protect the operator from this, without taking away their ability to setup and optimise the sorter on their own. The aim was to create a system that keeps even a complicated sorting task as simple as possible. I think we have met, and possibly exceeded, that objective.
"Historically, the sorter’s UI focused on the sorter’s technology, and it was confusing and difficult to use. TOMRA ACT is focused on the customer, allowing them to easily control quality and direction that product flows in their sorting process, with simple, intuitive, touch gestures and actions on the screen.
"TOMRA ACT is continually used and tested on working client sites in Europe and the US, providing iterative design learning that feeds back into the development process. Our focus is to make the user experience of sorting with a TOMRA system as easy, productive and rewarding as possible. TOMRA ACT is a powerful user tool that is evolving with use and technology."
