Sorting 



Picking out of utility and cull grade apples from field-run fruit is 

 done in the sorting operation. Sorters stand at the sorting table and watch 

 the fruit as it rotates and moves past them. Defective apples are placed on 

 the utility belt or in the cull chute. These workers are trained to spot 

 defects and to distinguish grades, and their reactions become almost automatic, 



Sorters work at fixed work stations, so they cannot leave to perform 

 other work while apples are passing before them. Their ability to sort 

 apples properly varies with the number of sorters, the dumping rate, and the 

 percent of culls and utilities in the orchard-run fruit. How well these 

 workers- sort the apples can be measured by (1) the percent of culls and 

 utilities left in the run-off fruit, and (2) the percent of picked-out fruit 

 that was really Uo S. Extra-Fancy or U. S. Fancy grade. The run-off fruit 

 was cell packed and stamped a combination U. S. Extra-Fancy and U. S. Fancy 

 grade. At a given dumping rate and with a fixed sorting crew, a change in 

 the quality of fruit being dumped will change the number of errors made in 

 sorting. These relationships were studied, and will be discussed later. 



Sorting crews of both four and six workers were tested. At $1.25 per 

 hour for 8 hours, four sorters cost $40 per day, and six sorters $60 per day. 

 At a dumping rate of 900 boxes per day these costs were 4.4 cents per box 

 with four sorters and 6.7 cents per box with six. 



Packing Combination Uo S. Extra Fancy and U. S. Fancy 



Grade Apples 



To pack a cell-type carton, the packer removed an empty carton from the 

 overhead wheel conveyor and placed it down on a packing stand. The worker 

 placed a cardboard pad from a nearby supply in the carton, and opened a cell- 

 former from another pile and placed it in the carton so that it rested on the 

 cardboard pad. With this done, the packer removed apples from the return- 

 flow belt with both hands (usually two apples per hand) and placed them in 

 cells. Apples were packed without inspection but any obvious off -grade fruit 

 was removed. When the cells in one layer were filled, the packer inserted 

 another cardboard pad and cell-former, and continued packing. When the last 

 layer was filled the carton was lifted from the packing stand and set down 

 on the take -away conveyor. 



Labor required to cell-pack one carton of size 120 apples this way was 

 2 o 75 man-minutes : 



Man -minutes 



Position carton on stand ....... 0.13 



Place 4 cardboard pads and cell formers. .... .59 



Place apples in cells ...... 1.94 



Remove full carton ...... . .09 



Total .... 2.75 



At $1.25 per hour, the labor cost to pack one carton totaled 5.7 cents. 

 If 60 percent of the fruit dumped was cell-packed into 555 cartons, the daily 



- 12 - 



