KEITH Martens' newest bit of gear in his packing shed could revolutionise the way melons and pumpkins are handled in Australia.
This melon picking season is the first the Bundaberg grower has used the automatic bin stacker and weigher.
The melon-handling process traditionally consists of weighing the 300kg loaded cardboard bins, adding or removing melons to correct the weight, then stacking the bins three high with a forklift.
The stacker has taken these procedures and put them into a single production line.
Now, melons are picked directly into the bins in paddock, trucked back to the shed where a forklift moves them from the truck straight to the conveyor system.
Ten bins can sit on the conveyor line while workers correct the weight according to a light and audible signal system which indicates when the desired target is reached.
A lid is placed on before the machine automatically stacks the bins into towers of three. The efficiency gains have been better than expected.
"It cuts our handling down from four times to one," Mr Martens said.
"We thought, if it saved us $2 to $5 a tonne to do it, and it gave us a better lifestyle, we'd be happy to do it.
"But it's been a lot more efficient than that."
The machine was specially designed and made by the Bundaberg-based, Adds Up Engineering.
Mr Martens farms about 485 hectares of watermelons with his sons, Paul and Andrew, under the brand, Marto Farms.
Apart from their Bundaberg operation, Marto Farms also grows and packs in Lakeland, North Queensland.
The "Stacker", as it known, was taken up to Lakeland for the season up there, which finished prior to the Bundaberg picking.
Mr Martens said it was constantly running at the Lakeland shed putting through about 28t of melons per hour, eventually processing more than 5000t for the season.
Compared with the widely used single-scale weighing method, which puts through about 10-15t/hr, the Martens are streets ahead.
"When you are doing say, 100t a day, five to six days a week, you don't want to be stuck here until midnight every night," Mr Martens said.
"You just can't do it because everybody wants to kill one another."
Queensland Country Life visited the shed last week on its biggest processing day of the year when an estimated 160t-170t of melons and 30t of pumpkins passed through the machine.
While the cost of having the machine built was not disclosed, Mr Martens said it was money well spent.
"They always say for this type of stuff, the only day it's dear is the day you have to pay for it," he said.
And paying for it has been helped by healthy melon prices of late, prompted by warmer weather in the southern states. "We'll be able to get a beer for Christmas if it keeps like this," Mr Martens said.
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