Automatica 2014: Solutions for the F&B industry

Source：Automatica Release Date：2014-04-01 285

Food & Beverage

The food & beverage industry, one of the biggest growth markets for the automation sector, takes the spotlight at Automatica

VISITORS from the food and beverage industry will find new robotic solutions for manufacturing products efficiently and safely at Automatica 2014 which takes place from 3-6 June at Messe München, Germany.

Proof is in the numerous projects implemented in the food sector: sorting bakery goods, packing lettuce, sliced cheese, and palletised beverages, to name a few. There is hardly any process that can be imagined without them - filling, dosing, cutting, labelling or picking, packing and palletising. Automated solutions ensure output and savings in the long run.

The comparison of state-of-the-art systems, which have already been in operation for several years, with that of current high-performance lines, as they can be seen at Automatica, make it clear: significant improvements have been achieved in all relevant criteria such as cycle times, availability and energy efficiency thanks to development work. Delta robot kinematics and ultra-fast pickers score with more than 200 picks per minute. Modern production lines achieve output that was considered inconceivable only a few years ago.

100,000 units per hour
In the Dutch Bavaria brewery, a combined system of 10 Motoman robots handles picking, packing and palletizing of some 100,000 beer cans in one hour. Dirk Franken, managing director of the system integrator Robertpack said, "At this output, the system has to handle approx. 80 different variants – all of them with retrofitting expenses of almost zero. Such solutions can only be achieved with consistent use of robots.”

Roberpack

Robertpack's packaging system for the beverage industry has an output of 100,000 beer cans every hour (Photo courtesy of Robertpack)

Modern food lines are catching on in performance with those of the beverage industry. A packaging system from ASA GmbH for hot dog buns, for example, can do 100,000 units per hour. The buns are packed via four production lines, all equipped with Fanuc robots. ASA managing director Mario Kr?mer is filled with enthusiasm about the performance of the newest robot generations: "The robot manufacturers did their homework. Robot solutions available today handle many requirements of the food industry."

Manfred Hübschmann, managing director of St?ubli Robotics, agrees. "Only thAlphabounce SD M