Robotic iceberg de-coring at commercial scale
One of ExtractaCore’s robotic de-coring systems was installed at a facility in Brittany in 2023. The factory processes iceberg lettuce for foodservice customers including McDonald’s France, placing the de-corer within an established supply chain with demanding requirements for product quality and continuity of supply.
The processing challenge always begins with the crop. Iceberg heads arrive ungraded with differences in size, shape and core position. Core removal must accommodate that variation while maintaining a consistent cut through repeated production cycles.
Installation photography: ExtractaCore, Brittany, 2023.
Robotic trimming for clean, consistent cutting of iceberg heads.
At the Brittany installation, ExtractaCore was initially integrated alongside the existing manual de-coring line. This brought robotic core removal into the factory’s established processing operation, connecting the equipment with upstream handling and downstream production.
The surrounding supply chain has continued to develop. A September 2025 joint press release described how successive investments had supported growing local iceberg volumes, with the nearby factory enabling rapid processing after harvest.
Within its account of the factory’s investment, the release highlighted robotic trimming for clean, consistent cutting of iceberg heads, alongside optical quality control. That emphasis reflects the role of precision preparation in a larger operation: the quality of each cut carries forward into the product that is subsequently processed and packed.
Installation photography: ExtractaCore, Brittany, 2023.
ExtractaCore single-lane robotic de-coring cell.
For ExtractaCore, the installation demonstrated the application of robotic de-coring within commercial fresh-produce processing. Installed in a factory serving a major foodservice supply chain, the system continues to bring our approach to crop handling and cutting into daily industrial use.
ExtractaCore combines controlled crop handling, intelligent vision and precise robotic cutting to respond to each head as it arrives. By adapting core removal to the crop’s natural variation, the system retains more usable product while reducing reliance on repetitive manual trimming. With capacity of up to 55 heads per minute per robot, it brings that precision to sustained production, supporting predictable throughput.
Fresh cut iceberg, with 40mm core diameter
Installation photography: ExtractaCore, Brittany, 2023.
Processing precision earns its place on the factory floor: in the saleable product retained, the consistency of preparation and the capacity to sustain production.
The crop will always vary. Your process does not have to.
