Site Planning
Installation & Commissioning
Automatic & Eco-friendly
Client Name： T***F
Country： Kingdom of Thailand
Region： Chiang Mai – the premium fruit and vegetable producing area in northern Thailand, a core base for high-quality alpine vegetables and tropical fruits
Core Products： Fresh-cut pineapple, ready-to-eat lettuce, organic broccoli, frozen mango dices, fresh-cut cabbage shreds
Equipment Configuration： Hadof customized multi-layer bubble + spray combined fruit & vegetable washing line (compatible with ultrasonic cleaning module and ozone sterilization system)
Commissioning Time： Q3 2023
As one of the largest fresh fruit and vegetable exporters in ASEAN, Thailand's high-quality agricultural products from Chiang Mai are well-known worldwide. For the past decade, T***F Group has supplied manually sorted fresh-cut fruits and vegetables to the Japanese and Korean markets. However, with the surge in orders, the traditional manual washing model has become the biggest bottleneck for enterprise development:
Low manual efficiency and unstable quality: Hundreds of workers cleaned pineapples and lettuce with brushes, which was slow and caused inconsistent force, leading to damaged peels and incomplete pesticide residue removal. Japanese customers repeatedly reported "occasional sediment residue".
Serious water waste: Traditional washing tanks required water changes every two hours, resulting in huge water consumption, and production was often forced to reduce due to water restrictions during the dry season in Chiang Mai.
Microbial risks: After manual washing of leafy vegetables such as lettuce, coliform bacteria occasionally exceeded the standard, failing to meet the testing standards of European importers.
Increasing labor shortage: Young Thai people are unwilling to engage in monotonous and humid cleaning work, and even doubling wages could not recruit enough workers during peak seasons.
The customer's demands were clear: the equipment must handle hard fruits such as pineapples and mangoes, as well as delicate leafy vegetables such as lettuce and cabbage, while significantly saving water and meeting international food safety standards.
After comparing washing equipment from Japan and Germany, the customer finally chose our company. Our advantage lies in providing customized process adaptation for the diversity of tropical fruits and vegetables, rather than a single machine.
Solution: Four customized designs for tropical fruits and vegetables
1. "Bubble + Spray + Ultrasonic" Three-in-One Flexible Washing
For pineapples/mangoes: Strong bubble tumbling + high-pressure spray is adopted to remove surface soil and pesticide residues through bubble burst impact, while avoiding mechanical damage.
For lettuce/cabbage: Switch to ultrasonic cleaning module, which uses cavitation effect to remove insect eggs and impurities deep into leaf folds. The integrity of cleaned leaves reaches 99%, completely eliminating damage caused by manual brushing.
2. Four-stage circulating water filtration system, saving 70% water
To solve the water shortage problem in Thailand's dry season, we designed a four-stage filtration system: washing water is recycled after precipitation → microfiltration → activated carbon → ultraviolet sterilization. Water consumption per ton of fruits and vegetables is reduced from 8 tons to 2.5 tons, saving T***F more than 4 million THB in water fees annually.
3. Integrated ozone + ice water cooling sterilization
To address microbial exceeding standards, an ozone generator is integrated at the end of washing with a sterilization rate of 99.9%. Meanwhile, an ice water circulation system controls the washing water temperature at 4-8℃, inhibiting bacterial reproduction while maintaining the crispness of fruits and vegetables, which is especially suitable for export cold chain transportation.
4. Multi-variety quick product change design
The production line adopts a modular quick-disassembly structure. Changing production from pineapples to lettuce only takes 10 minutes to replace the filter screen and adjust the spray angle. Daily processing capacity is increased from 3 tons of a single variety to 8 tons of mixed varieties.
Client Testimonial: A "Clean Revolution" from Chiang Mai to the World
One year after commissioning, T***F Group has achieved a comprehensive upgrade.
Capacity and Market Breakthrough
Daily processing capacity: increased from 5 tons per day of manual line (limited by labor) to 12 tons per day of continuous operation of automatic line, and on-time delivery rate rose from 75% to 99%.
Export certification: Fully enclosed stainless steel environment + ozone sterilization system enable products to pass Japan JAS Organic Certification and EU BRCGS Certification. In 2024, exports of fresh-cut fruits and vegetables to Japan increased by 200%, and entered the Australian market for the first time.
Remarkable Economic Benefits
Product premium: Cleaned fruits and vegetables have bright color and no pesticide residues, with a price 35% higher than traditional manual washed products, becoming a leading brand of high-end fresh-cut fruits and vegetables in Chiang Mai.
Return on investment: The group's production director calculated: "The manual line used to require 120 people, but now the whole line only needs 8 people. Labor costs are saved by more than 18 million THB a year, and coupled with water-saving benefits, the equipment investment is recovered in less than 18 months."
Sustainable Development
Environmental contribution: The four-stage water circulation system reduces sewage discharge by 45,000 tons annually, winning the Green Industry Award from the Thai Ministry of Industry and enjoying tax incentives.
"Hadof's equipment has made us understand that real industrial washing is not just cleaning fruits and vegetables, but safely delivering 'Thai flavor' to the world table with international standards while retaining the natural aroma of tropical fruits and the freshness of leafy vegetables. Now, we can promise 'wash-free and ready-to-eat' for every pineapple and every piece of lettuce."
—— T***F, Group Operations Director
