Automation in egg handling gaining ground in Indonesia

Success story also drives this trend. An egg producer’s success story of adopting automation in egg handling for sure will trigger other egg producers’ curiosity to know more and try, according to Mr Wong.

Although majority of layer farms in Indonesia are conventional and manual in egg handling, Mr Wong sees this fact as a big opportunity. “The country’s population continues to increase, so does the egg consumption. Hence, the room for Nabel to grow in this market is big, but it will take time,” he said.

Each area in Indonesia is different

According to Mr Wong, Indonesia is a diverse market when it comes to automation in egg handling. Due to the country’s archipelagic nature, each area has a different market condition and various ways of selling their eggs.

Meanwhile, “egg markets in Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines are relatively uniform. If some producers adopt egg grading systems, the others most likely will do the same,” he said.

“Indonesia is different. Some areas use plastic or paper trays in selling their eggs while other areas still use wooden boxes with a capacity of 10-15 kg per box. As the consequence, we cannot push certain systems to the egg producers to adopt because they have different farm capacity and market needs.”

For Nabel, this market uniqueness is an interesting opportunity since the company has egg washing, grading and packing systems in various models and capacities to meet each requirement from egg producers in the country.

Nabel can adapt to each request from egg producers and to each market need. For egg producers that supply to quick service restaurants that require eggs with high hygiene standards, for example, the company can add a UV system to its machines.

Moreover, having Unigro Artha Persada as its local distributor helps Nabel understands the market characteristics and opportunities better.

Showcasing new table-type grader

Being showcased at the exhibition, Nabel’s NWG1000 attracted attention of many visitors. Developed with the company’s original technology, the new table-type grader grades eggs by magnetism.

NWG1000 sorts out eggs by their weight. Eggs are transferred from the conveyor rollers to carriers via transfer receivers. The magnet inside the carrier gets attracted to the other fixed magnet mounted on the grader frame. The carrier conveys the egg and when the weight of the egg exceeds the magnetic attraction, the carrier get inclined to release the egg on table. As the eggs are released in order of their weight, the heavier egg is released at an earlier point.

“This model is selling well in Indonesia because it’s suitable for small scale,” Mr Wong revealed.

“This model allows egg producers to learn how to grade eggs and gradually develop their market for graded eggs. Once the market is big, the next step is to upgrade to fully automation for egg grading and the farm’s egg conveying system.”

When upgrading to fully automation, Mr Wong reminded that this step is not only about fund allocation, automated machines and space should be provided for it, and stable power supply, but also readiness of people involved to learn and adapt with the technology.

On this step, Nabel will assist people involved for the transition, making sure the technology offers them better productivity, efficiency and hygiene.