Food & Beverage
How to address the New Normal of factory automation in food manufacturing
Food and beverage companies can now set the course for the time after the COVID-19 pandemic using automation to boost competitiveness and productivity. This article from Omron explains why manufacturers should focus their resources on four market driven perspectives: workforce, product quality, flexibility and sustainability
T
he coronavirus pandemic has posed immense challenges to companies of all sizes across all industries. According to Deloitte Global, food and beverage (F&B) companies are facing
significantly reduced consumption as well as disrupted supply chains. But how can manufacturers adapt their business strategies and production processes, factories and machinery to the new circumstances – both in terms of the pandemic and in the long term? The current crisis offers a chance to rethink outdated procedures and use automation with the aim to boost productivity, efficiency and quality. F&B companies that want to prepare for the future should be appraising the opportunities and possibilities that innovative robotics, sensor technology and holistic automation approaches provide. This project should consider four key market drivers and perspectives: workforce (employees), product and packaging quality, production flexibility and sustainability. Automation in this context does not only mean robotics or
artificial intelligence, but a well-thought-out overall structure of fixed, collaborative and mobile robotics; plus monitoring and control technology, sensors and vision technology tailored to the respective production requirements. In addition, the various stakeholders and market drivers should not be considered in isolation, but as a whole and integrated into the future production strategy.
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COllabOraTIOn anD FaCTOry harmOny are key
The first aspect to be considered in this respect are the employees, the workforce perspective of factory automation. Robert Brooks, Omron Europe’s industry manager Food and Beverage, comments: “At the moment, there are millions of people employed in these sectors. This number has an enormous impact on producers in terms of costs, but also primarily in terms of the health and safety of human resources. The pandemic has led to developments such as social distancing and tighter safety regulations
that companies need to adhere to. Automation can help in overcoming this challenge while also improving security and efficiency in the longer term.” A simple example is a cobot or mobile robot solution that can relieve employees from challenging and repetitive tasks
so they can focus on more value-added and fulfilling roles. Daniela Moles, communication expert at Omron Solution Partner LCS Group, explains: “We carried out a project where we implemented a fully automatic system for the handling of heavy rolls of fabric that weigh up to 30 kilos. These rolls were previously handled by humans. Automating this exhausting task meant that the company could support its employees while also boosting efficiency and productivity. The value of automation is in the mix of humans plus machines, robots and AI. Collaboration is key.” While robots show their advantages when it comes to speed and accuracy, human colleagues can take care of business-critical issues, customer communication and daily individual tasks. Regarding the important aspect of ROI, companies should increasingly focus on releasing human labour to do value-added tasks, which is absolutely crucial for
34 January 2021 UKManufacturing
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