Science system shakeup ‘to maximise investment value’
Reaction to the Government’s major overhaul of the country’s seven crown research organisations has so far been largely positive.
Rockit is a miniature apple and a hybrid of the popular Gala and Splendour breeds.
The apples came as a result of a 20-year breeding programme by Plant & Food Research and Rockit's founder Phil Alison. What's especially unique is that the apples, from a marketing sense, are packed in various sizes of plastic tubes and are designed for the healthy snack market.
The Rockit company founded by Alison was sold to equity investors. Since then, the company has expanded at a pace seldom seen in this country.
Currently 100 million of the tiny apples are produced but in five years' time the company forecasts that this will rise to 500 million.
The company itself owns orchards, but also contracts local growers to supply it apples. As well, it has licensed growers in Belgium, Germany, France, Spain and UK.
Rockit chief executive Mark O'Donnell says the overseas growers are licensed to grow the apples and Rockit takes a commission from them. He says this is similar to the way Zespri operates.
To cope with that planned rapid growth programmes, Rockit Global - as it is now known - three years ago built a new 21,000 square metre, state of the art packhouse in Hastings.
Given the rapid expansion of the company, O'Donnell says they needed to invest in technology. The answer to Rockit's needs was a local company, MHM Automation which, he says, is a global leader in its field.
"Having robotic technology that is all locally manufactured and supported is important to us because we wanted to make sure we had the backup support," O'Donnell told Hort News. "We also wanted a technology company who shared the passion for this little apple and finding ways to present it to customers in its unique tube."
MHM have a local manufacturing group in Hastings, which O'Donnell says is ideal.
Rockit's packhouse is massive and one senses it was built with a view to future expansion.
O'Donnell says the technology required by the company is different to normal apple packhouses in that the focus is on the diameter of the apple; so size matters - because they have to fit into the tubes.
When the apples arrive at the packhouse they are washed and graded in an area called the 'wet room'. It's here that the technology measures the size of each apple and diverts it into lanes on a conveyor system.
"In other sheds, such a machine would measure weight and a whole lot of other things, but we are just interested in the diameter of the fruit to fit into the tubes," O'Donnell explains.
The size of the fruit ranges from 53 to 72mm in diameter.
"It's really incredibly technology and is designed specifically for our needs, which are unique."
Rockit's Rocket Scientist
Scott Griffin is Rockit Global's operations manager.
Unbelievably, he has a master's degree in aerospace vehicle design, along with a degree in mechanical engineering. Griffin is, in fact, a fully qualified rocket scientist who works for Rockit. His role at the company is to oversee the whole technical side of the business at the packhouse.
Before joining Rockit, Griffin spent 15 years with the RNZAF as an engineer where he travelled the world - travelling everywhere from Afghanistan to Antarctica. After leaving the air force, he worked for Fletcher Building before moving to Hawke's Bay.
"The move to the Bay was to get out of the rat race in Auckland and to stop spending three hours a day caught up in traffic," he told Hort News. "I came down for the lifestyle and not this role. But when I was down in the region there was a conversation over a cubs scout campfire with another parent and I ended up at Rockit."
Griffin says his role has a horticultural element because you are dealing with apples. However, for him it's the excitement of the operation of the new $60 million plant and leading its development. He says it's about the spectacular growth of the company, the technology and the people.
For visitors to the Rockit packhouse, seeing the robots packing the apples is mind blowing and Griffin says it always draws gasps of amazement.
"They are called auto packers and what they are doing is packing the apples into the plastic tubes. There is a sensor, which measures the height of the individual apple off the conveyor cup. Then it selects the five best apples to mix and match the different heights of apples to fill the tube to a pre-determined height," he explains.
"That means we get a consistence of tube fill before we send them in cartons. There are different diameter-sized tubes they will go from a 53mm tube to a 72 mm tube," Griffin told Hort News. "The bulk of our size sits in the 63mm range, which has five apples in a tube.
"We also do four, three and two pack tubes. The latter is ideal for school lunches," he says.
