News Release

April 4, 2012

Satake Optical Sorters Widely Accepted by Coffee Industry

Satake secures 80% market share in Vietnam

Since first promoting optical sorters to the Vietnamese coffee industry in 2006, Satake Corporation has sold 85 units and captured 80% of the market.

Vietnam produced 1.1 million tons of coffee beans and exported 1 million tons in 2011. It is the world's second largest coffee bean exporter, after Brazil. High quality coffee beans are classified into two types, Arabica and Robusta, and Vietnam is the largest exporter of Robusta coffee beans in the world. The export value of Vietnamese coffee reached US $20 billion in 2011 and is expected to grow.

In 2006, Satake signed an agency agreement with a coffee trader in Vietnam. At that time, optical sorters were not widely used in the industry, which relied on visual inspection by workers to remove defective coffee beans and other contaminants.

Satake diligently promoted optical sorters for use in processing coffee beans for export, which would improve efficiency and quality, ultimately enhancing the value of the finished product. Two types of optical sorters were introduced to the market ? ScanMaster (Bichromatic sensors with Visible and NIR features) and AlphaScan (High resolution monochromatic CCD cameras), each of which are developed and manufactured by Satake USA Inc. The ScanMaster is best suited for the production of high-quality Arabica beans and the AlphaScan was targeted at Robusta producers.

Since the introduction of the first AlphaScan to the Vietnamese market in 2007, sales have grown steadily.Satisfied customers have reported that Satake's sorters can sort defective beans which are very similar in color to good beans, a task which other sorters are not able to perform. The benefits of optical sorting have enabled Satake's customers to expand their production capacity, leading to repeat orders for Satake's optical sorters. Today, a total of 85 optical sorters have been sold to 48 customers, securing a market share of 80%.

Satake continues to enhance its after-sales service network by inviting field engineers of its agent in Vietnam to Satake USA for training. The company plans to introduce full color optical sorters to the market in order to provide even greater improvements in quality and yield.

Optical Sorters by Satake USA

Both ScanMaster and AlphaScan are supplied by SUS.

　　

AlphaScan ( High resolution CCD monochromatic cameras ) Applications : rice, wheat, coffee bean, seeds, corn and others.

ScanMaster (Bichromatic sensors with visible and NIR features) Applications : almond, peanuts, beans, rice (cereals), seeds, coffee bean, corn and others.

　　　

Coffee bean sorting (Arabica beans)

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