(Nomination for 2011 AUREA Award): Elektronik - Combine for picking raspberries and blackberries

The company Elektronik from Sopot has produced the first Serbian combine for picking raspberries and blackberries. This machine is powered by liquefied petrol gas (LPG) and requires only three workers to do the hard job that is otherwise done by tens of people. The picker with a four-wheel hydraulic drive is constructed as a self-propelled agricultural machine that picks fruits by causing vibrations in the crown of a fruit plant, thus making fruits fall off. In this way, only technologically ripe fruits fall off the plant without a damage. Fruits are collected and transported by a conveyor belt to the place where all dirt is automatically removed and fruits are put in a packaging.

The combine features a specially developed automatic leveling system, which makes the use of the machine possible even on a terrain with slopes, that is, on plantations situated in some highly inaccessible places in our country. Unlike solutions from the rest of the world, which require the distance between rows of plants to be at least 3 meters, this combine works perfectly even if that distance is only 2 meters, thus enabling 30% larger crops.

The picker is operated by minimum three workers – the driver and two people to remove packaging and control fruits. In the picking of raspberries from a 5-hectare field, the combine and three workers substitute 60 wage earners.

The innovative solution and low price create real conditions for the export of raspberry and blackberry pickers, which would result in a significant revenue for the company Elektronik and our country and lead to the employment of a big number of workers in the production of this machine. Also, raspberry growers in Serbia do not have to fear any more whether their products will have a competitive price because they won’t have to pay high wages to pickers.

A Dutch machine similar to the combine made by Elektronik costs about EUR 130,000, while the price of the domestic combine is EUR 45,000.

INNOVATION

Elektronik from Sopot is the first company in Serbia to produce a combine for picking raspberries and blackberries. The picker is constructed as a self-propelled agricultural machine that picks fruits by causing vibrations in the crown of a fruit plant, thus making fruits fall off. In this way, only technologically ripe fruits fall off the plant without a damage. Fruits are collected and transported by a conveyor belt to the place where all dirt is automatically removed and fruits are put in a packaging.

The combine features a specially developed automatic leveling system, which makes the use of the machine possible even on a terrain with slopes, that is, on plantations situated in some highly inaccessible places in our country.

Basic characteristics of the combine:

- Self-propelled machine with a four-wheel hydraulic drive

- Automatic leveling system for the work on a terrain with slopes

- Length: 4.7m; width: 2.7m; height: 2.9m; weight: 3t

- Working speed: 1.8 km/h; transport speed: 10 km/h

- Operated by 3 workers

Domestic manufacturers supply 60% of parts for the combine, while the rest is imported (Greece, Bulgaria). Among Elektronik’s collaborators are: Jeep commerc Belgrade, Prva Petoletka Trstenik, Politerm Belgrade, Sirijus M Trstenik, Premijer Novi Sad, Hidraulik IN Belgrade, MOS Sopot...

It takes 3 months and 4 to 5 workers to build one combine. This machine has no electronic parts so that the possibility of a malfunction is reduced to a minimum. In case of a need for the replacement of parts, any person with the basic technical education can replace each component because the whole system is quite simple. The life of the machine is almost unlimited because there are no short-life elements and the combine’s durability depends on the life of each of it’s individual elements: engine, tires, bearings...

How it works:

This combine is a self-propelled machine. There are vertically placed “brushes” with plastic fingers on both sides of the front part of the combine. These “brushes” freely rotate around the vertical axis and are forced to oscillate up and down, thus causing ripe fruits to fall off. Fruits are then sent to conveyor belts on both sides, while air flow removes dirt from the fruits. Clean fruits are sent to a crate, which is carried by two workers, one on each side of the crate, to the place designated for full crates.

Advantages of this combine over other known solutions:

- Small size of the machine: unlike solutions from the rest of the world, which require the distance between rows of plants to be at least 3 meters, this combine works perfectly even if that distance is only 2 meters, thus enabling 30% larger crops.

- Due to its small size, the combine requires less space to go from one row of plants to another.

- The width of 2.7 m enables the combine to be an independent participant in traffic (other solutions require an escort vehicle).

- Low price: owing to simple solutions (and even the fact that it weighs only 3 t), its price in the market is 50% lower than the prices of other solutions designed by foreign combine manufacturers.

Advantages of mechanical picking over manual picking are as follows:

In the process of raspberry production, most money is spent on wages for pickers. If we know that the combine can pick fruits from 5 to 6 hectares of land a day and, thus, substitute over 50 workers (who are very hard to find), the profit made in this way exceeds RSD 100,000.

The fruits picked mechanically are microbiologically regular because they don’t come in direct contact with a worker.

Large plantations are being formed outside settlements. In such conditions, it is simply impossible to provide all the necessary terms for the work of a big number of people over the period of 40 days, which is the duration of the raspberry picking season.

All these parameters contribute to the fact that plantations larger than 2 ha are very rare on the territory of our country. With the use of mechanical picking, manufacturers will be able to grow raspberries on tens of hectares of land.

SOCIAL UTILITY

- Serbia is among the world’s leading raspberry manufacturers and this fruit is one of the strongest brands of Serbia. Due to the geographic position and climate conditions of our country, Serbian raspberry has an exceptional quality that makes it unique in the world. That is why it is necessary for us to strengthen that position. One of the biggest problems in this sector is raspberry picking because the lack of manpower makes a more serious expansion of raspberry fields impossible. The solution lies in the mechanical picking of raspberries. The first combine for such picking has been designed by Elektronik. By introducing the mechanical picking, manufacturers will be able to grow raspberries on tens of hectares of land.

- The raspberry and blackberry picker is a clean machine because it is powered by LPG.

- The combine can significantly improve Serbia’s agricultural production and raspberry export, thus improving our position in the global market.

- Numerous companies from Serbia are engaged in the production of such combines. In that way, the industrial production in our country is activated as well.



FINANCIAL POTENTIAL

The prototype of this combine was tested in Sabac and Arilje last year. Having in mind the results of that testing and the interest expressed by raspberry growers, the company Elektronik does not doubt the success of sales in this market. The work of the combine was monitored by professors from the Faculty of Agriculture in Belgrade who invited the manufacturer from Sopot to test the machine on the world day of raspberry growers, which will this year be held in Serbia. The company hopes to register high sales in foreign markets as well. The price of the combine is EUR 45,000, while the prices of machines made by other manufacturers are at least twice higher..

In order to pick raspberries from a 5-hectare field, the combine requires 50 kg of gas, which costs RSD 4,000. Three wages of RSD 2,000 for workers should be added to that amount, which means that the total costs of raspberry picking from a 5-hectare field amount to RSD 10,000. In case of the manual picking of raspberries, minimum 60 workers are needed and the manufacturer must set aside RSD 120,000 for their wages (RSD 2,000 per person).

Elektronik is engaged in the production of agricultural machines and its portfolio includes the following patented products: cherry and plum picker, and combine for picking raspberries and blackberries. The cherry and plum pickers won gold medals at the International Agricultural Fair in Novi Sad in 2006, 2007, and 2008, while the combine for picking raspberries and blackberries won the Grand Gold Medal in 2010. The machines made by Elektronik are in use in Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Turkey, Iran, Jordan, Chile …

The first machine that the engineer and owner of Elektronik made was a fruit tree shaker. So far, about 50 such machines have been sold world wide. The machine costs EUR 13,000, while similar foreign machines cost ten times more.

The company provided the money for the construction of this combine, on which it had been working for three years, from the profit it made from previous inventions.

If Combine for picking raspberries and blackberries is your favorite for the innovative investment of the year, you can cast a vote for this nominee on the official website Aurea 2011.

Elektronik Đurinci

eKapija.com Beograd

Jeep Commerce d.o.o. Beograd

Prva Petoletka a.d. Trstenik

Politerm d.o.o. Beograd

Sirijus-M d.o.o. Trstenik

Premier AS d.o.o. Novi Sad

Hidraulic IN Inđija

Metalna Oprema Sopot MOS Sopot