Semi-Automatic or Fully Automatic Leafy Line

The honest answer is rarely the most automated one. This comparator weighs the six conditions that actually decide the question — running hours, labour, crop mix, audit exposure, record keeping and capital — and shows which specification your own answers point to.

Six conditions

Running hours per day

Ability to staff the line

Crop and recipe mix

Customer audit exposure

Process record keeping

Capital position

Answer the six conditions and run the comparison. The result names the specification your answers point to, the side-by-side difference on the points that matter, and the staged upgrade route if you are not ready to commit to the full line.

SEMI-AUTOMATIC 0 / 100 FULLY AUTOMATIC

Where the two specifications differ

Station or function	Semi-automatic	Fully automatic
Infeed and loading	Operators tip crates into the wash tank by hand	Elevating infeed conveyor with level control
Wash stage control	Set by hand at the panel, checked on a paper round	Dosing and turnover controlled and logged continuously
Dewatering	Batch spin dryer, loaded and unloaded manually	Vibrating drainer feeding a continuous or indexed dryer
Changeover	Slower, but the operator can improvise a setting	Recipe recalled at the panel, repeatable between shifts
Records for audit	Written log, only as good as the person holding the pen	Machine-generated record tied to batch and time
Staffing pattern	More hands, less dependence on one specialist	Fewer hands, higher dependence on maintenance cover
Capital timing	Lower entry cost, upgrade later at station level	Higher entry cost, fewer retrofit interruptions later

Staged route, if you are not committing yet

Specify the frame, tanks and drainage for the higher rate from day one. Stainless steelwork is the part you cannot retrofit cheaply.
Leave conduit, panel space and mounting points for the stations you intend to automate later, and get that shown on the drawing before you sign.
Automate wash dosing and monitoring first — that is where an audit finding costs you a customer, not just an hour.
Automate dewatering second. Residual moisture drives pack quality more directly than any other station.
Automate loading and packing last, when the hours you are running make the labour cost continuous rather than seasonal.

Discuss the staged specification

Weighting reflects the decision logic set out on this page, not a vendor scoring model. Nothing here estimates labour saved, payback or running cost: those depend on your wage rates, utility tariffs and crop yield, and any supplier that quotes them without your figures is guessing.