This will be a milestone for the wool processing industry internationally. Pac's new wool-handling facility in Christchurch. The facility is rated the most advanced of its type in the world. Its automated measurement and grading systems are expected to enhance the premium position New Zealand merino wool enjoys internationally. GNS project leader Murray Bartle is working with an American supplier of Dexa luggage scanners to convert the information provided for the customs and security industries into information useful for the fine wool industry.
Similar applications are likely to follow for the meat and coal industries.
The scanner will give wool yield as a percentage of total fleece weight. It will also pick up contaminants more efficiently than the human eye. Two years of research by GNS using a standard airport scanner showed that Dexa technology can provide rapid and complete information on the composition and contamination of bulky products, including wool and frozen meat carcasses. Existing quality control methods in the wool, meat, and coal industries involve relatively slow analysis of small samples. The speed, accuracy, and efficiency offered by modified luggage scanners will be a boon to many bulk industries where grading and quality control are important.