Spice up your food production

With local manufacturing being outsourced or moved to low cost countries like China and India, there is one sector left which is still local but under threat: the food industry. Robots have been implemented widely over the past decades in many industries; predominantly automotive related sectors. In the new millennium robots have only been gradually introduced in the food industry.

“Investing in flexible automation using robots is the only way to keep our factories in Europe.”
-Bob Struijk / Vice President FANUC Robotics Europe

European food companies have been quick to embrace robot technology when it came to secondary processes like palletizing and later packing. In these types of applications industrial robots, similar as used in the car industry, were used to handle packaged food, replacing traditional machinery. It allowed higher throughput and reliability in the end of line processes. The extreme high reliability of the robots allowed companies to save on maintenance costs as well as benefit from the substantial increase in up-time of the installation and lines.

FANUC robot handling salmon in Norway

Cutting on Labor, Increasing productivity

The recent years have shown an enormous interest and growth in handling primary food: robots handling the raw/fresh product. The driving question here was: how to cut back on the rising labor costs while maintaining line flexibility? For robots to actually work in the food production and thus be in direct contact with any kind of food implies a compliance with local conditions in the food sector. Food can be characterized as a non-uniform product, not having clear standards, hence a show-stopper for robots. Second is the hygienic component; are industrial robots suitable for use in primary processes. And lastly the environment within the primary processes is harsh: how are robots withstanding the various cleaning and disinfection processes? In addition to the possible presence of salts, alkaline, acids etc, just the simple fact of hosing down a robot with water under pressure will definitely put it out of business. Extreme high and/or low temperatures or fluctuations also play their part.

At FANUC, being the world's largest robot manufacturer, we have taken these items to heart and came up with a new way of looking at robot design. It resulted in robots with smooth surfaces, adapted sealing, white body color and epoxy paint, plastic covers instead of steel, and food grade grease in the mechanical unit. These robots, also known as food pickers and available as recently as 2008 comply with above mentioned conditions and reshape the current industry.

FANUC Food picker handling croissants

These food pickers, with 5 degrees of freedom can now be found in large numbers handling cookies, dough, chocolates, frozen fish and many other primary food products, even truffles!

Another Push Forward

While the introduction of articulated food robots was warmly welcomed by industry, it demanded more. Increasing automation levels implies increasing output quantity. While picker robots could achieve multiple picks per movement speed remains an issue. Next to articulated robots there is also the Delta robot, also known as spider robots. They have been around for quite some time, finding their way easily into the food industry. While their use has been validated, they do break down regularly due to a lack of stiffness at high speeds and lack in many cases additional degrees of freedom. So for FANUC the most challenging area was certainly the development of a new delta robot, not with 4 axis but having 6 degrees of freedom with the appropriate supporting structure.

The result comes in the form of a delta robot, having full 6 degrees of freedom. It allows users to pick-up food articles, and places it in any chosen way into a tray, blister or other carrier. The results are stunning: for the first time i.e. vegetables and fruits can be packaged in even smaller containers, in the desired direction! And all this is realized at speeds pertaining to delta technology.

Rethinking robot design produced innovative robots.

This versatile and unique design will yet create another wave of automation in our factories, achieving lower cost per unit produced while increasing flexibility and line-reliability. The use of integrated vision systems only completes the picture. This feature is unique in the robotics world, started by FANUC in the late 80s to give robots "eyes". Capturing images and processing the data into information for the robot is being handled by the same controller driving the robot. No more need for costly unreliable PC driven systems and interfaces. And what is not there cannot break down and stop the line! In addition, not only is it easier for factory operators to work with only one system instead of several, it also greatly enhances the reliability and thus throughput of the line. Again a hidden cost saver only recently recognized by industry.

Ahead or Out

With the technology available we are entering a decisive stage for Europe's food sector. Especially the smaller, local producers of typical foods become under pressure of multi-nationals and globalization.  Question remains if we are fast enough to further embrace robotics as the solution for reducing the labor content, while increasing flexibility. Governmental focus on R&D is only now starting on a European level, way behind our Asian and US counterparts. Educational interest in high end automation is there, but lacks the proper funding. So it is up to the local food industry to pick up on this challenge and modernize the production platform. At FANUC we work hand in hand with our local system integrators to bring home these solutions, supporting local industry with the latest technology. info@fanucrobotics.eu