Every year, more growers are changing to the use of plastic MacroBins and abandoning wooden field crates, for reasons including life-cycle costs, sanitation, and durability. Another benefit of the changeover is the ability to precool much faster in the new MacroBins than possible with the wooden design.
“For best-in-class precooling,” said Jim Still, president of Global Cooling Inc, manufacturer of the Jet Precooler, “you need the ‘Three Ps’. A great Precooler, of course, is first, and then you also need the proper Packaging, which is a close second—and finally you need to control the Process.”
“The reason the precooler comes first,” he said, “is that even with ‘non-cooperative’ packaging, we can at least precool thoroughly, even if it goes slowly. During the box or carton redesign process, many packers find they quickly can agree on a better box design, but before they can begin with it, they first have to use up three or four boxcar loads of the old corrugated.”
This can take a year or so, according to Still, and if you waited until the boxes were perfect to start precooling faster and better, “you’re tripping over dollars to pick up pennies. Our Jet Precoolers cost only about $500 a month on a lease plan, while new boxes are up in the five- and six-figure range,” said Still.
