The UK’s leading designer and installer of automated packing lines will use this year’s Midlands Machinery Show to launch a new scalable packing line for on-farm packing.

Designed to overcome labour shortages, PACE Mechanical Handling will introduce visitors to stand 1 in the John Crocker Hall 3 to its new Stella Evolution system.

The Stella Evolution starts at £89,500 and features an Electra weigher capable of handling ten tonnes per hour; an In-bag Weigher designed to fill 10 to 25kg potato sacks; an auto sack placer and presenter, and a complete bag control system feeding a heavy-duty SMITSEN DS9C sewing head.

As well as exceptional build quality and reliability, the Stellar Evolution line features one of PACE’s latest innovations: a single bag clamp that automatically adjusts to the size of the bag being presented, removing the need for a second bag clamp and eliminating the change over time found on other systems.

“Over the last eighteen months, we have seen a rise in enquiries from smaller growers and on-farm packers struggling to operate efficiently given the labour situation,” says Nick Cesare, PACE’s managing director. “We developed a new line for Olly Palmer, a potato packer in Suffolk, and he was so impressed with the performance, efficiency and price point that we’ve decided to offer it as a complete solution. The beauty of the Stella Evolution system is that it is scaleable, so we can increase or reduce its capacity and features to suit each grower’s needs, hence its name, which is the process by which a star changes over the course of time.”

O Palmer Ltd supplies Babylon chipping potatoes in 25kg sacks for use by fish and chip shops across the country.

“The new line, which we started using in August, is the third time we’ve worked with PACE,” says Olly. “Over the years, we have been really impressed with the speed, reliability and efficiency of PACE’s lines and have only upgraded the line when the technology has moved on significantly. The latest line is the best yet. It is really well made, accurate and more than capable of running at 15 tonnes per hour. We don’t have a large team here, so having the PACE Stella Evolution makes a real difference. My uncle, Steven Sizer, is also involved in potato packing and is using our old PACE line, which still has lots of life left in it!”

In addition to being scaleable and customisable, the Stella Evolution system comes with a five-year warranty on parts and free online service management for the duration of ownership.