What to know before you bring a robot onto the packing floor
Written for whoever has to take the case to the owner. Every figure carries its source, and when a calculation is ours, the assumptions are in plain view.
Machines
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How many avocados per minute a robot packs: published figures in pieces, boxes and t/h
Spec sheets published as of November 2026 run from 75 to 120 pieces per minute per machine, and reach 240 in a system with three conveyors. In a 25 lb box at size 48, 120 pieces per minute are 2.5 boxes.
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What is a fruit case packer, which types exist and when each one is enough
A fruit case packer is the machine that puts fruit in the box at the end of the line, piece by piece with a robot, in bulk or by weight. Which one suits you depends on whether your customer pays for a pack pattern or for kilos.
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Fruit crate tipper vs crate dumper: volcador, volteador and where vaciador fits
Volcador, volteador and vaciador name the same machine, the one English calls a crate tipper or crate dumper, depending on who writes the spec sheet. Three differences move your decision: what it empties, whether it works dry or in water, and how the load reaches it.
Packing process
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Avocado sizes: pieces per box and grams per piece
An avocado size tells you how much the piece weighs or how many fit in the box. Mexico uses three systems: the letters of NMX-FF-016, the count per 25-pound box for the United States, and the Codex codes, designed for Europe's 4 kg box.
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How avocados are packed for export: from the field crate to the sealed truck
The fruit reaches the packing floor in plastic field crates, a sample is cut per truck, and then it is dumped, sized, labeled fruit by fruit, placed by size and shipped in a sealed refrigerated truck. The heavy lifting sits at the two ends of the line: dumping and stacking.
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How many fruit boxes per pallet: export spec sheets and calculation
A 1.00 x 1.20 m pallet takes about 216 boxes of 4 kg, 90 to 96 of 10 kg and 80 of 11.34 kg. That is 860 to 960 kg of fruit, and it all depends on your box dimensions and on the height your shipment allows.
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How many kilos a fruit bin holds, a field crate and a gondola
A 919-liter plastic bin takes up to 590 kg and holds 473 to 568 kg of apples, by our calculation. A field crate runs between 20 and 35 kg, depending on crop and model. For the gondola we found no public figure: you have to weigh it.
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Automating tomato and pepper packing: gondola, formats and format changeovers
You automate it in parts: first the infeed if you receive in plastic crates, then the outfeed that ties up the most people. Before you ask for a quote, bring your list of formats and how many times you change over per shift, because that time defines whether the robot works or waits.
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Mango packing process: from the 25 kg crate to the 10-pound tray
Mangoes arrive in plastic crates of up to 25 kg, get washed, get separated by weight, go into the tank at 46.1 °C for 65 to 110 minutes, get cooled, get graded and leave in a single-layer tray. Whether a robot pays back depends on how many days and shifts your packing floor runs.
Cost and payback
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Cost to automate a fruit packing house: what moves the price and what to ask for
It depends on which end of the line you automate and on how much has to be integrated. None of the companies reviewed in November 2026 publishes the price of an installed cell, Agro Robotics included, so the figure comes from a quote with your fruit and your crate.
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Immediate deduction for fruit packing house machinery: 86%, 83%, 67% or 62% depending on your activity
The Plan México decree lets you deduct in the first year 86% in 2026 and 83% from 2027 to 2030 if your activity with the most revenue is agricultural, or 67% and 62% if it is food manufacturing. It requires a certificate from a committee and it brings the deduction forward: the rest stays out until you sell or retire the machine.
Rules and labor
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Automating a fruit packing house without layoffs: take away the heavy lifting and reassign people to sorting and inspection
Start with the heavy lifting jobs and reassign those people to sorting and inspection, with training and without touching their wages. If the machine did bring a staff reduction, article 439 of the LFT, Mexico's Federal Labor Law, requires an agreement or authorization from the labor court: go over that with your lawyer before you buy.
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Labor certificate for avocado exports: what it is, the phases and what you submit
It is a document from the STPS, Mexico's labor ministry, certifying that the value chain meets its labor and social security obligations. Since October 1, 2026, the avocado exporter applies for it in VELAGRO and declares it on the customs declaration (pedimento).
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40-hour workweek in fruit packing houses: schedule, overtime and what it costs to stay at 48
Mexico's legal workweek drops to 46 hours in 2027 and reaches 40 in 2030, with no pay cuts (DOF, May 1, 2026). Still running 48 hours with overtime costs 7.5% more in 2027 and 34% more in 2030, at constant wages.
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NOM-036 in fruit packing houses: how much each person can lift per shift
NOM-036-1-STPS-2018, Mexico's manual handling standard, caps each lift at 25 kg for men aged 18 to 45 and 20 kg for women of that age, with 10,000 kg accumulated per workday at less than 10 m. It hits dumping and stacking; placing fruit in the box almost never falls under it.
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Avocado bruising during packing: why it turns black inside
Because the impact damages the flesh without marking the skin, and it shows only once the avocado ripens. In 2012 INIFAP measured the hardest impacts at dumping, and slowing the belt did not reduce them because the drop height stays the same.
Season and buying
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When to install machinery in a fruit packing house: a calendar by crop
In the lightest months of your crop, with the decision made months earlier. Which months those are comes from your crop's harvest curve and from your own scale.
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How many boxes per minute a packing line needs: formula and table by box weight
You get it with one division: metric tons per hour times 16.67, divided by the kilos in the box. The infeed and the outfeed give different figures, and each one decides a different machine.
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Labor shortage in fruit packing houses: your options before a robot
Before a robot there are four ways out: another shift, overtime within its cap, packing tables and mechanical equipment. The robot comes in when the season is long, there are two shifts and the bottleneck is loading or placing fruit; with a short season at one shift, payback stretches out.
Read enough already?
With your fruit, your box and your shifts we will tell you what fits and what is left to measure.