How a McAllen cold storage operator added avocado ripening without losing space

At the largest US port of entry for produce, a cold storage operator in McAllen, TX pre-conditions avocados for a major national retailer. It needed a new avocado ripening room, but its building had no room left to add one. The answer was to put the ripening capacity outside: two ZGROUP units, purchased and connected directly to the docks, with no space lost inside.

The challenge

Pre-conditioning means bringing avocados to a controlled stage of ripeness before they move on to the retailer. For a cold storage operator, taking on that work means adding rooms where temperature and ripening conditions are tightly controlled.

Inside the existing building, every square foot was already in use for cold storage, docks and handling. Carving ripening rooms out of that space would have meant taking capacity away from the operation that already filled it.

The operator needed ripening capacity that worked with its existing docks and flow of pallets, without shrinking the building it already had.

The solution

ZGROUP supplied two ripening room units, which the operator bought. Instead of going inside the building, the units sit outside and connect to the docks. Fruit moves from the dock into the ripening rooms the same way it moves into any other cold room.

The units are plug and play: once they are connected, the team loads fruit and starts ripening. There are no civil works and no permanent construction. And because the units are modular, they can be moved and reinstalled at another site if the operation changes.

For a facility that is already full, this is the key point: the new capacity is added next to the building, not carved out of it.

The results

• 2 units dedicated to avocado pre-conditioning
• Dock-connected, so no room was lost inside the building
• Plug and play: connect the units and ripen

The operator now runs its avocado pre-conditioning program from the dock, while the space inside the building keeps doing what it did before.

When does a dock-connected avocado ripening room make sense?

A modular avocado ripening room is a strong fit when ripening has to be added to an existing facility and the building itself has no spare room. The most common situations:

• Your building is full. Units placed outside and connected to a dock add ripening capacity without taking cold storage space away.
• You want to avoid construction. ZGROUP units need no civil works and only minimal site prep. They are delivered in under 60 days and installed in 2 to 5 days.
• Your volume may change. Modular units can be moved and reinstalled at another site, so the investment follows the business.
• You need a new service fast. A plug-and-play unit lets you take on a ripening program without redesigning your facility.

Control matters as much as capacity. A ripening room has to hold a stable temperature and the right conditions for the fruit. ZGROUP equipment runs on Thermo King refrigeration, humidity control from 50% to 95% RH is available, and ZTRACK provides remote monitoring of temperature and alarms.

Rent or buy? Both options are available. Buying, as this operator did, suits a long-term program. Renting suits a new or trial program where you want to keep your options open. ZGROUP equipment comes with a 5-year warranty.

Is it right for your operation?

If you need to add avocado ripening capacity and your building has no room left, a dock-connected unit may be the most direct way to get there. See how our Ripening room works, or talk to our team about your site, your docks and your volume.