AUTOMATION & ROBOTICS
KEEPING AUTOMATION ON THE MENU FOR THE UK’S FOOD SECTOR
The interest in and adoption of automation and robotics within the UK’s food and beverage sector has grown significantly in recent times, driven by several different factors. As a sector that in the past had access to a large pool of manual labour, which could be recruited and deployed as required, will the growth of automation and robotics continue as we have seen in the last year, or will manufacturers once again seek to return to a reliance on manual labour to meet future demands?
T
here is no doubt that the combined effects of the Pandemic, Brexit and general
overall uncertainty in recent times have been the catalyst for some UK food and beverage manufacturers to turn to automation as a solution to their resource and productivity issues. According to statistics from the International
Federation of Robotics, the UK’s food and beverage industry almost doubled its installations of robots from 155 units in 2019 to 304 units in 2020 (+96%,) an unprecedented rise in a single year. These new robots and automation systems have been introduced across several different processing, packaging, and handling operations.
The availability of robots suitable for use
in High Care environments has opened up a range of new applications says CME’s Ian Marks Head of Sales - Automation. “One of the areas hardest hit during the Pandemic was the meat processing facilities where normally large numbers of operators would work in close proximity to each other. In addition, the COVID-19 virus seemed to thrive in these low- temperature environments. Automation in these areas brings a host of benefits, aside from the obvious boosts in efficiency and performance. Automation and robots are not sensitive to these low-temperature environments and will operate uninterrupted 24 hours per day. In addition, even
with the tight restrictions on operator hygiene and cleanliness, and the use of PPE, there is still a risk of product contamination. Automation, on the other hand, can be designed to meet even the strictest criteria within the food and beverage sector whilst continuing to operate at the highest efficiency levels.” Whilst some of the most obvious targets for
automation are applications where a product is to be picked, handled and packed, there are potentially numerous other opportunities for manufacturers to introduce automation to improve consistency, quality and productivity. CME’s Ian Marks continues: “One example where the introduction of automation can deliver
38 APRIL 2022 | FACTORY&HANDLINGSOLUTIONS
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