INDUSTRY FOCUS Food & Beverage
Robotics opportunities for the food & drink industry
Julian Ware, UK & Ireland Sales Manager for ABB Robotics, explains the reason behind UK food and drink businesses’ increased investing in robotic automation
Dealing with contamination The whole question of contamination is an interesting one and relates back to the issue of preconceptions around robotics. In fact, the reality behind many of those perceptions has shifted over time. This is most obviously true of capital cost, which has reduced dramatically over the years. It is also pertinent to the programmability of robots, where diff erent options are now available.
T
hese are interesting times for robotic automation in the UK’s food & beverage (F&B) sector with, on the one hand,
many persisting entrenched attitudes towards this technology and, on the other, the turmoil of the pandemic making manufacturers much more willing to invest in dramatically diff erent production strategies.
In a survey carried out in 2002 on behalf
of ABB, of those UK F&B manufacturers taking part, over 94% said their business had been aff ected or completely impacted by the pandemic. Just over 70% said they currently don’t use robotics, but a similar proportion claimed they were likely to introduce or increase its use. Over 70% of F&B respondents also said that, in the light of the Covid-19 pandemic, they saw some of the benefi ts of investment in robotics and automation stemming from their ability to facilitate social distancing and help to minimise cross-contamination.
34 July/August 2021 | Automation
But, the theme of contamination highlights a misconception that industrial robots are not designed for use in clean or high-hygiene environments. In fact, for years now, many ABB robots have been available in versions suitable for the cleanest food-factory environments, in accordance with the EU’s Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC, which lays down well-defi ned hygiene requirements for equipment in direct contact with food. Examples include the ABB Flexpicker, which has been installed in versions rated to an IP67 ingress protection level, as well as IP69k, rated to withstand not only exposure to water but high-pressure, high- temperature washdown. The process of adapting existing robots to demanding production environments is an ongoing one. Recent developments include additional protections for the small IRB 1300 industrial robot, originally launched by ABB in 2020. Earlier this year, an IP67-rated version of the robot was introduced, as was an ISO-4 cleanroom version, principally targeting the pharmaceutical and semiconductor industries.
The ISO-4 version includes features such as hygienic-standard paint, a particle fi lter and fully-sealed design to prevent any contamination from oil, particles or any other substance inside the unit. Even where this protection standard is not appropriate for a particular F&B application, it demonstrates the ability to tailor overall hygienic design to specifi c industry needs.
Even those factories with the strictest protocols to enforce best practice in
terms of operator hygiene and cross- contamination know that this can never be guaranteed, especially in plants with a high staff turnover. They also know their businesses can pay a high price for lapses in hygiene, given the crippling costs and damaging publicity – not to mention the damage to relations with retail customers – that a product recall brings in its wake. Industrial robots designed and approved for use in clean areas of the factory can help eliminate these risks, as well as any costs associated with them. Robot manufacturers are supporting this type of rethink, not only through hygienic system design but also by off ering a far wider range of end-of-arm tooling (EOAT). Such tooling now includes, for instance, multi- fi nger grippers that mimic the human hand, not only in terms of appearance but also in their ability to sense and respond to the profi le of irregularly-shaped and easily-damaged products.
Intelligent systems The advantages of robotic automation do not stop here. Hygienic design, easier programming and refi nements in EOAT capability can also be combined with more sophisticated vision systems, including 3D vision. Such intelligent systems are capable of assessing non-uniform food products and ingredients in real time for everything, from weight to a range of defects. Finally, robots will often outperform human operators in terms of more than just repeat reliability. They can also be deployed in hostile conditions such as frozen or heat processing production zones. It appears that such technical capabilities – including machine options for high-hygiene areas – are already combining with the conditions dictated by the pandemic to convince many UK businesses of the benefi ts of robotic automation.
CONTACT:
ABB
www.abb.com/robotics
automationmagazine.co.uk
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