Montilla (Córdoba), (EFE).- From its facilities in Montilla (Córdoba), the engineering firm ITEA has been exporting for more than a decade throughout national and international territory, mainly in Portugal, the concept of “Almazara 4.0”, a management integral of the facilities with the automation of all its processes that allows the olive grower to optimize its production.
In a traditionally “manual” sector, the automatic system has evolved exponentially. To converge and achieve the criteria of “traceability and quality” that markets demand today. And not only in its processes of “innovation” and use of “new technologies”, but to guarantee that “traceability in the system”, as emphasized by the CEO of ITEA, Rafael Bascón, to EFE.
“Until now, 50 percent of the mill is carried out manually, which is a problem for olive growers.” Since they require a person almost “dedicated for that” exclusively, according to Bascón’s example. Who highlights that the ITEA system allows, after 25 years of development and vanguard, to achieve that “the entire process is automatic”.
A true traceability
This allows “all data acquisition” and its subsequent “management”. That supposes a “true traceability” to achieve the “maximum yields” in the farms. At a time when high production costs are suffocating the sector.
With highly developed technology and a continuous commitment to R+D+i, ITEA leads the industrial automation sector. And he collaborates in international research projects such as Innolivar. That seeks to obtain innovative products and services within the fields of mechanization, environment and biotechnology, industry and traceability in the olive grove.
Some market criteria that are already implemented in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). For which the Cordovan company provides “effective solutions”, so that they have a specific “application” linked to the farmer’s “field notebook”. That allows speeding up the submission of data to access aid, and that is becoming an added problem for the sector.
“Let’s say we are number two in the oil mills, but I don’t know the first one,” Bascón jokes. Who highlights that the key to offering “the best service to customers” is “to always be innovating”. Hence, technology such as the Blockchain or the metaverse are already its immediate ideology.
To celebrate 25 years since its first ideas in the Montilla workshop, ITEA celebrates this Thursday in Bailén (Jaén) the 1st GIA ITEA 4.0 Congress, a “tribute to workers and customers” who have shaped this exclusive technological system to guarantee profitability, sustainability, traceability and quality in all olive oil extraction processes, as well as its storage and packaging.
It will be together with the Picualia mill, a “sentimental” decision, since it was one of the first in Spain to be fully automated, and which is the “best reflection” of the work of ITEA, “Cordoba” solutions for an olive sector that continues to delve into sustainability and innovation to achieve maximum profitability for its products. EFE