Robots can completely revamp the food and beverage manufacturing industry by significantly increasing efficiency.
They can be adapted to perform all sorts of tasks, ranging from case packaging to product handling. They may also aid in the fight against unhygienic conditions, a significant concern for food and beverage producers.
Food processing companies are using robots in increasing numbers to supplement manual labor in collaborative work. It helps companies:
When considering social distancing and the safety of workers, robotics has proven to be an essential aspect. Early adoption of robotics could be the deciding factor between staying in business or closing shop.
Robotics in food production has been chiefly used for end-of-line tasks, including palletizing, packaging, and stacking. The potential for use in the actual food production areas is growing slowly.
Manufacturers are building more hygiene-conscious appliances to ease the entire industry into using automation. Statistics in The Food Safety Modernization Act state that foodborne diseases cause:
Prevent these problems by switching to robotics.
However, before investing a large sum in automating your food processing plant, there are some crucial things to consider.
The first step in making the decision is to know what you want. Depending on the products, you should think about production time, unique needs, and different types of robots.
For example, for handling small items like muffins, case packaging robots must work with great precision. However, for other products, such high accuracy may be unnecessary.
Training the workforce requires a certain amount of capital. However, automation is becoming increasingly user-friendly, with instruction manuals and simple software to ease the transition.
Robots need to be programmed carefully when starting. But after the initial programming, the process runs smoothly. That is because robots will remember their programming forever. And even have the potential to control the entire production process.
While contamination is significantly reduced by automating food processing, using the same robots for more than one raw (naked) product can pose a certain amount of risk.
Cross-contamination is possible and must be monitored closely by skilled workers. Every piece of equipment must be thoroughly cleaned and sanitized after each use to maintain hygienic conditions.
A well-planned cleaning procedure with regular check-in points will help reduce the chances of cross-contamination even further.
One of the essential applications of robotics is in food packaging. Case packaging has become more uniform and straightforward thanks to collaborative robotics.
With the pick and place operation, they can classify, align, and place items with much greater precision than humans. Case packaging is a safe place to start introducing robotics into your food processing system.
Make sure that your case packaging solution meets the following requirements:
Depending on product size and capacity more than one robot could be required, be aware of space requirements.
Pre-programmed robots for different products based on the product’s size and shape.
One of the most challenging tasks is de-molding baked items. Wide pans are used for baking mass-produced baked goods.
That is where you can use robotics, as they use a sophisticated depending tool to extract items from pans. The baked goods are kept in place by small pins or vacuum.
The things to consider while choosing the right depending tool are their end-of-arm tooling. There are multiple options to consider:
Research the best collaborative robot for your product before investing. For example, buy a case packaging machine with a vacuum cup if you have a wide variety of baked items like cakes and bread. However, if your products are more delicate (such as macaroons and cookies), opt for machines with fingers instead.
A key component in installing a robot is accounting for the space they will take up.
Let’s assume a robot is supposed to perform tasks that ten people typically perform standing within two meters of each other. When using robots, you must consider the physical distance between the robots and the conveyor to reach items and coordinate their behavior to ensure consistency.
Another consideration when allocating space is safety. Although rare, malfunctions in processing can occur. Protect workers by:
The bottom line is, you need to make sure that robots are given proper working conditions to avoid overburdening their systems. That will protect the machinery from wear and tear. It will also protect workers from accidents.
There must be a wireless or hardwired link of all installed equipment to a local network. That will help in controlling the process and data acquisition.
The skilled workforce comes in handy here, monitoring the processes live and course-correcting preemptively. Benefits of successful collaboration include:
Source: brown and white cupcakes on white tray photo – Free Food Image on Unsplash
Investing in robotics for your food processing plant must be a well-planned decision. When used right, robotics can give productivity a boost and better profit margins. Contact us today if you are ready to start automating your plant.