All fresh fruit bunches (FFBs) harvested in the plantations are delivered to the mills within 24 hours. Doing so results in a higher yield and quality of crude palm oil (CPO) at the mills.

FFB is at its optimum ripeness once loose fruits start detaching from the fully formed bunch on the oil palm. At this point, free fatty acids (FFA) also start setting in when bruising of bunches occurs during the process of harvesting and transporting. FFA is detrimental to the yield and final quality of the CPO created at the mill. This is the main reason why the harvested FFBs have to be delivered to the mill for processing within 24 hours. The faster the fruit is crushed, the less FFA is formed, the better the yield and quality of CPO.

At the platforms FFBs and loose fruit are loaded either directly into trucks or into stationery bins which are than hauled by a prime mover. Trucks arrive at the mills and unload the FFBs ready for processing into CPO. Mills process FFB as it comes in from the plantations.

Delivering quality palm oil products to the market starts at the tree and continues throughout the production process. The shorter the lag time between harvesting and milling, the less free fatty acids formed in the FFB, which then creates better yield and quality CPO at the mill.