Testing – Case Study by MARCO Ltd – Jupiter Group

MARCO Ltd (United Kingdom) – In the past two years, MARCO and Jupiter have forged a formidable working partnership that has pushed current industry thinking by embarking on four major projects sited across three continents.

MARCO’s relationship with the Jupiter Group originally started with the installation of a sophisticated packing solution in 2018 for their table grape operations in Chile and shortly after that the group’s partnership farm in India. The Indian facility broke totally new ground by successfully heat-sealing and date coding all punnet production at source. Following this, an identical solution was delivered to Greece and once again Jupiter led the way with a key differential.

Now one of the leading suppliers in the UK fresh produce industry, the Jupiter Group was founded in Shropshire in 2003. Whilst being UK-based, the Jupiter Group has rapidly expanded into a truly international, farm-to-fork company. The group’s workforce and operations now include a global network of farms, packhouses, and agronomy specialists across 10+ fresh produce categories. This allows Jupiter to guarantee high quality produce, year-round for its clients. Originally known for being specialist producers of different varieties of table grapes, Jupiter’s product range (like the company) has expanded rapidly to include a range of high-quality citrus, pineapple, melon, avocado and more.

Recognising the importance that Jupiter places on quality, MARCO’s engineers were tasked with designing a packing process which maximised productivity whilst also maintaining the quality and consistency of the packed product. This hardware and software package includes MARCO’s fit-for-purpose CheckMaster workstations as well as additional hardware such as end-of-line Checkweighers and high speed auto changeover labellers. Furthermore, the Jupiter Group expressed the importance of maintaining real-time contact with their workforce, and thus opted to install MARCO’s ‘Production Data Display’ Module alongside each installation. Large, ruggedized Efficiency screens now ensures that Jupiter’s management can display crucial technical compliance information, food safety messages, and worker/team/factory productivity data.

“MARCO solutions have had a fantastically positive impact on our business efficiency. It is a pleasure to have the MARCO team and expertise with us on Jupiter’s ever evolving journey.” – Jupiter Group CEO & joint MD, Mark Tweddle.

“MARCO are immensely proud to have forged a great working relationship with another family-run, UK business with an ever-expanding international outlook.” – MARCO Group CEO, Murray Hilborne.

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Jupiter Group joint MD, Yvonne Tweddle and MARCO SVP of Sales & Marketing, Mariette Hilborne at Fruit Attraction 2019.

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Jupiter Group CEO & J. MD Mark Tweddle with MARCO SVP, Mariette Hilborne at Fruit Attraction 2019.