Food & Drink Process & Packaging Issue 19 2018 | Page 32

Why robots are part of the recipe for success for food producers The ability to respond quickly to changes in customer tastes and keep up with competitors is putting food companies under growing pressure to find new ways to stay one step ahead. Fast, flexible and increasingly simple and cost effective to implement, robots offer an attractive solution for producers to expand the variety of goods they can offer. WRITTEN BY MIKE WILSON, BUSINESS & DEVELOPMENT MANAGER FOR THE UK AND IRELAND, ABB ROBOTICS Ongoing developments in technology, coupled with an expanding variety of robots in different sizes and mounting arrangements, are seeing robots increasingly making their way into food production applications. One example is picking and packing. Using integrated vision technology, the latest high-speed picking robots can recognise a variety of shapes, sizes and colours, adjusting their performance to achieve the fastest and most precise process. They can also be quickly switched over to handle different products, with the added option of equipping them with either finger-like grippers or suction pads, depending on the product being handled. Another application where robots are transforming performance is slicing. With many types of food products, it has traditionally been difficult to find a solution that can achieve a clean cut. With advances in technology, this challenge has been overcome. Compact robots tooled with ultrasonic blades, can slice through a variety of substances quickly and to a consistently high standard. Compared to a mechanical cutter, a robot tooled with an ultrasonic blade can achieve a greater variety of cut profiles with no risk of production errors. Developments in robotic vision and software have also opened new possibilities to produce bespoke products. Dutch baking company, De Bakker, for example, uses CAD software to create and upload individual designs to an ABB robot 32 FDPP - www.fdpp.co.uk for icing onto cakes. Since installation, the robot system has increased the company’s productivity by over 1,000 percent. With food producers facing changeable times, companies searching for an efficient, reliable and productive solution would do well to consider robotic automation. For more information, email robotics@ gb.abb.com or call 01908 350300 ref. ‘Robots for food’.