Grupo Interóleo successfully develops the Visiolive project

Good results and general satisfaction with the Visiolive project. Grupo Interóleo, which is participating in the programme (financed by the Spanish Ministry of Industry with the support of the European Union through the Recovery Plan) together with Citoliva and ISR, has successfully implemented the Integrated Vision System in the Olive Mill Yard for the Inspection of Batches of Olives Online, developed by ISR. It has taken advantage of the recently concluded harvesting campaign to implement it and carry out the corresponding monitoring in the three participating cooperatives: Nuestra Señora de la Misericordia (Torreperogil), Oleícola Baeza and San Isidro (Sabiote). The aim was to classify the olives entering the mill accurately and objectively in order to minimise water consumption in the washing process by detecting which batches required it.

Mariela Valdivia, in charge of the Visiolive programme and head of the Grupo Interóleo's Partner Advice Department, is satisfied with the results obtained. "We have been able to see how energy consumption has been minimised during olive milling in the three participating cooperatives compared to last year's harvest. We have also reduced machine stoppages as well as breakdowns due to incorrect sorting and excessive soiling of the incoming olives. These are very promising results, especially in a difficult season such as the one we have just finished, given that there were fewer olives than originally expected and they have been harvested in the field until the end of February", he explains.

Grupo Interóleo has also been able to see how the quality of the olive oil produced in the three cooperatives participating in the programme has increased. "The extra virgin and virgin oils produced in La Misericordia de Torreperogil, Oleícola Baeza and San Isidro de Sabiote have had a higher quality thanks to the fact that the olives received have been classified in a precise and specific way thanks to this computer programme which has allowed the automatic and non-invasive inspection of the batches. In this way we managed to have a direct impact on the competitiveness of the cooperatives, which allows us to generate results that can be implemented throughout the olive sector", Mariela Valdivia explains.

The head of Visiolive at Grupo Interóleo also explains that the software has been integrated into the conveyor belts in the yards of the three olive oil mills participating in the project with the aim of acquiring digital images and allowing the results to be graphically represented. "In this way, Visiolive has enabled the mills to classify the olives received during the campaign, resulting in processes that have minimised energy consumption, optimised water consumption, improved equipment performance and obtained the highest possible quality and quantity of olive oil," concludes Mariela Valdivia.