APPLE PACKING METHODS IN NEl-J YORK STATE 



The Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the New York State Hor- 

 ticultural Society contained an article by Max E. Brunk, Cornell University, 

 titled, "Apple Packing Methods in New York State". This article contained 

 many interesting comments about the various oper'ations performed in the apple 

 packing operation. The following excerpts are taken from this article: 



"Packing - First, I'd like to talk about stance ... .the position of the 

 packer with respect to the packing belt. Standing at a 45--degree angle as 

 compared with facing the belt requires 14 per cent less time for the average 

 worker to complete his work cycle. Facing the box (standing at a 90-degree 

 angle to the belt) requires 13 per cent less time than facing the belt. Thus, 

 there is only a slight advantage in standing at a 45-degree rather than a 

 90-degree angle. Most packers in the State do it the hard way. They face the belt, 



Is there any difference when the flov^ of apples on the belt is toward 

 or away from the packer? Movement of apples tov;ard the packer requires 20 

 per cent less time per cycle. Moving apples away from the packer increases 

 reach, distance traveled, and fumbling. About one-fourth of the packers in 



the State face the \^ong direction with a tremendous loss in efficiency. 

 The space and equipment saved by having two people working a common stand is 

 very costly in terms of output. 



"Few operators in the State other than the largest use central sorting. 

 Controlled tests of separating and of combining the sorting and packing func- 

 tion proves out by far in favor of separating the operations. Superficial 

 inspection alone by packers added 14 percent to their packing time. If the 

 packing operation is of any appreciable size it will pay to separate sorting 

 and packing. 



The combining of sorting and packing leads to some other highly in- 

 efficient movements, the most common being that which we call a transfer grasp. 

 One or two apples are picked up in one hand and transferred to the other for 

 release with inspection performed in the process. This motion looks a little 

 ridiculous when you see it in slow motion film, yet it is extensively used by 

 packers. Most packers are not aware of the way they pick up apples and still 

 fewer growers are aware of its impact on output. Here are a few comparisons. 

 Picking up two apples simultaneously in each hand requires 39 per cent less 

 time to pack a unit than picking up one apple in each hand. Frequently work- 

 ers pick up random numbers of apples. It takes more time to pick up random 

 numbers than two at every grasp. There is a definite advantage in establish- 

 ing a routine procedure. VJith random grasping, a worker must pick up more 

 than one apple in a hand 30 per cent of the time to merely equal the output 

 of consistent simultaneous grasps of one apple. Transfer grasps, picking up 

 apples with one hand and transferring to the other, essentially doubles the 

 time for jumble packing. 



This may impress you as being overly concerned with minor detail but I 

 assure you that these minute motions mean many dollars of cost to every grower. 



