To Buffy Hagerman, Marketing Communications Manager key technology
The food industry has always been inseparable from an ever-changing health and economic environment, and recent challenges in these areas have brought automation to the forefront. Automation in the food industry has historically been, and still is, very challenging due to the need to process a wide range of heterogeneous products while meeting the required stringent safety standards.
However, large food companies are increasingly proving that effective and efficient food automation is possible and are reaping the rewards. Learn more about the current state of automation in the food industry and what it means for production, efficiency and safety.
Application of automation in the food industry
Automation in the food industry takes many forms. These include:
- Robotics: Robots are the fundamental foundation of automation, and today’s food industry robots are equipped with advanced technology that ensures they will continue to be an important part of the future of automation. Robots can closely mimic human grabbing and multi-axis motions, offering significant advantages in harsh environments (such as freezers) and light-off processes. Robots, often in partnership with human workers, continue to perform a vast array of tasks not only on production lines, but also in picking, sorting, and fulfillment. An integrated conveyor and sorting system is one of the most efficient ways to use automation in today’s facilities.
- Artificial Intelligence (AI): AI technology is used in several areas of food manufacturing. For example, visual inspections for livestock and food safety and proper handling, and facility floor signage to ensure that employees are following appropriate safety measures such as proper hygiene, clothing, and safety. . Handling procedures.
- Packaging: With today’s high degree of automation, even traditionally difficult-to-handle foods such as meat and poultry can be effectively cooked and packaged through automated processes. Automated equipment can dismantle (rather than cut) the meat from the bone and package the exact amount of product needed. All of these require little or no worker intervention.
- Drone: Drones play an important role in the agricultural and agricultural component of food manufacturing, assisting with seeding, planting, fertilizing, pesticide application, and visual inspection of planting areas and other parts of agricultural facilities.
Benefits of automation in the food industry
The automation applications described above yield immeasurable benefits. These include:
- price: Automation increases efficiency and reduces costs. By enabling facilities to run their processes in a more productive manner (improving speed and throughput), automation can reduce overall production costs while increasing output. New automation infrastructure often requires a significant upfront investment, but this investment pays off in a predictable manner, with cost benefits once the break-even point is reached.
- speed: Production speed is part of increased productivity and efficiency, but it’s still worth mentioning. Faster production means tighter adherence to deadlines, closer adherence to customer requirements, and improved overall customer satisfaction, which can generate significant long-term business benefits. , which speeds up the process while allowing people to perform higher-value tasks that machines cannot complete, further increasing the return on investment.
- safety: Food manufacturing presents many risks to workers, including extreme hot and cold environments, exposure to hazardous equipment (such as cutting and slicing equipment), and concerns about proper food handling (both employees and end customers). Brings Automation reduces these risks by using robots and other equipment to perform the most dangerous processes, while freeing workers from the harsh environments that can pose the greatest risks and discomfort. increase. Processing with automated equipment also greatly reduces the risk of cross-contamination.
- Resilience: As mentioned earlier, automation in the food industry has traditionally been considered too difficult to be worth the effort. However, in today’s food manufacturing landscape, automation has enabled unparalleled levels of facility continuity and safety, especially in the face of near-unprecedented demand.
Automation is poised to continue to expand and improve as the benefits are now fully realized. These applications and benefits provide the necessary foundation for understanding the role of automation in today’s food manufacturing.
Buffy Hagerman is a Marketing Communications Manager. key technology, a major food processing equipment manufacturer. Hagerman is responsible for his marketing initiatives to increase awareness of the company’s high-performance digital sorting, conveying, and process automation solutions around the world.
