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First Vision Unit of new DVA product line commissioned by Vilosa

First Vision Unit of new DVA product line commissioned by Vilosa

This week, the first vision unit from DVA's new product line was successfully commissioned at potted plant grower Vilosa (part of Platform Unique Growers Company). With this new vision solution, Vilosa automates the quality assessment of kalanchoe plants using smart cameras with optional AI capabilities, enabling faster, more consistent, and more efficient operations within its logistics process.

The delivery marks an important milestone for DVA. Since joining forces with Gearbox, the company has focused heavily on further growth, product development, and scalability. Over the past few months, DVA has expanded its team to eight employees, introduced a new corporate identity, and developed an entirely new range of vision units. The first vision unit from this new series has recently been delivered to Vilosa (part of Platform Unique Growers Company) and is used to assess various types and colors of kalanchoe plants. With this, DVA takes the next step in further automating the potted plant industry.

Working more efficiently with a vision unit

The vision unit has been developed for growers who want to automate their quality control and logistics processes more intelligently. Using vision technology and optional AI, plants can be assessed on various characteristics, including quality, maturity, height, and volume.

Marcel de Visser, owner of DVA, explains: "The vision unit has been developed for growers who want to work faster and more consistently without relying on manual assessments. By intelligently combining our vision technology with our control software, we can automate processes while maintaining the flexibility required for different crops and product specifications."

The vision unit performs fully automated plant assessments and can optionally connect this information directly to the DVA Control Software. This enables sorting processes, logistical decisions, and product flows to be managed in real time.

A key feature of the software is that the control system integrates seamlessly with existing systems and can easily be adapted to the grower's operational processes and logistics setup. This ensures that the solution remains scalable and practical to implement within existing production lines.

Bart Hofstede, Operations Manager at Vilosa, is confident about the collaboration: "We have only recently started using the solution, and our initial experiences have been very positive. We are confident that this will lead to a successful implementation. With the new vision unit, we are able to further optimize our sorting and delivery processes. This allows us to save time and sorting capacity within our operations while enabling us to serve our customers faster and more efficiently, without compromising the high quality standards they have come to expect from us."

Collaboration Between DVA and Gearbox

The collaboration between DVA and Gearbox forms the foundation for the development of the new product line. By combining expertise in potted plants, software, AI, and vision technology, new solutions can be developed and delivered more quickly.

Marcel de Visser comments: "Our collaboration with the Gearbox team provides us with additional development and production capacity. This allows us to respond more quickly to market demands and bring innovative solutions to growers faster."

Supporting Growers Through Continuous Innovation

DVA is currently continuing development on multiple systems within the new product line. The first series focuses on compact vision solutions for crops such as kalanchoes and other smaller potted plants. The second series is currently being produced for larger potted plants, including orchids and anthuriums. These systems have been developed for larger plant sizes and utilize our new 'Instant 3D Technology'. In addition, DVA is already working on future product lines focused on broader vision solutions and logistics control software to further automate processes within the potted plant and phenotyping sectors.

Marcel concludes: "We have plenty of ideas for the future. We see significant opportunities to further integrate vision technology, software, and intelligent logistics control. Our goal is to help growers produce more intelligently, more efficiently, and in a future-proof manner."

Read the article (DVA)