Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/1323175
WWW.POTATOGROWER.COM 37 Allround. But with so many travel restrictions in place between Europe and the U.S., that wasn't possible in 2020. Thanks to some valuable foresight, they were prepared. Rietveld installers have made weekslong trips to supplier factories in Europe to get fully trained and certified as installers and service techs on each piece of equipment they expect to sell in the U.S. On top of that, Rietveld requires a recorded factory test of every piece of equipment before it is shipped, ensuring everything is in order before it arrives at an install site. "We don't have to spend half a day trying to figure out where every part goes," says John. "It's kind of like a big Erector Set. As far as time goes, putting the machines in the line is not a big deal." Combine all that preparedness with modern video communication technology and a giant RV, and not even widespread COVID angst could stop Rietveld from installing washing and packaging lines all over the place. Get a load of just some of the stops along the Great Rietveld Voyage of 2020: • From home in northern Illinois to consult on an addition to a cleaning line for specialty potatoes in Arizona • From Arizona to California for maintenance calls on multiple customers' onion lines • Back to Arizona to install an optical sorter • On to southwestern Kansas to install a full potato washing and sorting line at a fresh-pack facility • Home to Illinois for a couple weeks to regroup and do some housekeeping • On the road again to Washington to install a Meconaf dust extraction system This is just a sampling of the miles Assembly of a Meconaf Cyclone skin extractor on site at a U.S. processing facility The Rietveld crew installs the suction lines for the Cyclones from Meconaf.