Fam Stumabo has made the SureTec 240P much more versatile with its new universal contoured infeed.

The reworked system can take white and sweet potatoes up to 200 mm in diameter, helping to deliver longer fries, higher throughput and fewer jams. And since it’s simpler to set up, there’s less need for highly trained specialist operators.

The company has introduced an upgraded infeed chute for the SureTec 240P that will replace the standard chute currently in use. This new chute works with both white and sweet potatoes, guiding each piece into the drum in the ideal position. That lets processors get more output and longer fries with fewer blockages, especially when running sweet potatoes.

Added versatility for white and sweet potatoes

The revamped design lifts the maximum input diameter from 110 mm to 200 mm, while still handling the same long 240 mm product length.

The SureTec 240P can now work with a broader mix of potatoes, even large sweet potatoes that frequently measure more than 110 mm in diameter. Its drum measures 240 mm across, so lengthy potatoes can be sliced whole without trimming. By steering each potato into the ideal cutting spot, the shaped infeed keeps output high and steady. Built for neat and accurate slicing, the SureTec 240P also reduces broken pieces and frayed edges. With skilled operators in short supply, recent work with Fam Stumabo customers shows potato processors now place more value on easy setup and reliable, uniform results.

“Skilled technical personnel are becoming harder to find and retain, so processors need equipment that is less dependent on specialist operator knowledge. Finding and keeping trained technicians is getting harder, so processors are looking for machinery that doesn’t need a lot of expert skill to run. The SureTec 240P gets rid of a lot of the usual setup hassles. Operators can now get the setup right every single time with far less effort. Potato processors have reacted so positively because they instantly see this problem and know our solution fills a genuine gap in the market,” says Leighton Banner, branch manager for Fam Stumabo UK & Ireland.

The SureCut Unit (SCU) was designed to solve that problem. You can put the cutting parts together beforehand and set the cut size off the machine. Additional SCUs can be made ready beforehand so they’re on hand when needed. This allows staff to fit the entire assembly fast, needing far fewer machine tweaks and cutting the chance of mistakes during setup. That makes product changeovers easier and keeps lost production time to a minimum.

Flexible for many potato uses

The SureTec 240P takes white and sweet potatoes that are unpeeled, abrasion-peeled or steam-peeled and turns them into straight, crinkle and extra deep-crinkle fries, plus cubes and slices. To handle that wide variety of jobs, the machine keeps the reliable features that were already proven on the earlier model.

Different impeller choices ensure that products of varying sizes are positioned correctly before they get cut. Its slipper clutch and slip sensing setup also guard the cutting parts against harm from foreign objects, which means less stoppage time. Fam Stumabo will showcase its updated SureTec 240P at Interpom, Hall 1, Booth 199.