When New Zealand's Kiwifruit Industry Meets China's Smart Manufacturing: The Seeka × Reemoon Automation Upgrade

Labour shortages, efficiency gains, capacity expansion — the global fresh produce industry is accelerating toward automation.

Reemoon, a China-based smart sorting equipment company and exhibitor at ASIA FRUIT LOGISTICA, recently shared its kiwifruit automated packing collaboration with New Zealand fresh produce company Seeka, once again putting smart sorting and automation technology in the spotlight.

Seeka is one of New Zealand's major fresh produce companies, holding over 20% market share in the local kiwifruit industry and selling globally primarily through Zespri. In the 2026 season, Seeka processed 4 million trays of kiwifruit using Reemoon's automated equipment.

Facing growing packing demand alongside long-standing labour pressures, Seeka has continued to advance automation upgrades at its packhouse. The newly implemented system covers multiple stages — vision-based sorting, automatic grading, automatic boxing, labelling and traceability — achieving a high degree of automation across the packing process.

According to Seeka, since the Reemoon equipment went live:

• Single-shift capacity has increased from around 2,500 trays to 5,000 trays

• The number of staff needed for fruit picking/sorting has dropped from around 18 to just 4

• Grade-one fruit can now go through a fully “hands-free” automated sorting process

• The system also supports night-shift expansion, doubling overall capacity

More importantly, packing capacity constraints previously meant harvesting sometimes had to pause — but now, back-end packing capacity can support larger harvest volumes.

Seeka CEO Michael Franks also highlighted the importance of the collaboration between the two teams: “The machines are excellent, of course, but what really matters is the people behind them. The Reemoon team truly understands our needs and consistently provides high-quality support.”

As the global fresh produce industry continues to advance digital and smart upgrades, automation, intelligent sorting and smart packing technologies are becoming a growing focus for more and more companies.

ASIA FRUIT LOGISTICA will take place in Hong Kong from 2–4 September 2026, once again bringing together fresh produce companies, technology providers and industry decision-makers from around the world to explore future trends and innovative solutions.

Visit Reemoon at Booth 5K01 to learn more about their smart sorting and automated packing technology applications.