Food Manufacture 4.0 – Empowering Food Manufacturing with Automation and Robotics
Published on : Thursday 02-07-2020
Food Manufacture 4.0 has a great potential to modify and develop the food and packaging industry, with efficient supply chain with unprecedented precision in data exchanges. It enables the more responsive and more engaged supply chain across the food manufacturing ecosystem. Moreover, the advancement and development of digitalization in food manufacturing plants have already shifted the demand curve on the positive side in the past few years. The incorporation of automation and robotics results in automated picking systems, batch traceability, and the use of robots to material transferring.
“Food Manufacture 4.0 based on the main principle of value addition. It is expected that the use of networked production can enhance the productivity rate by around 30%” – German Academy of Science and Engineering
Food Manufacture 4.0 primarily expands manufacturing productivity and flexibility of a plant. The automation and robotic solutions will further vary depending on plant and equipment installed requirements. For instance –
• Optimizing inbound and outbound logistics to the factory
• Reduce price via real-time production control across the complete plant
• Improved productivity through optimization of particular procedures with the aid of empowering personnel through. Visualization of statistics and KPIs, making key information without difficulty available to all key personnel
• Warehouse automation
“The systematic implementation of automation and robot structures across the manufacturing zone ought to facilitate a prime advancement in food manufacturing efficiency at some point of instances of unsustainable financial pressures” – the National Centre for Food Manufacturing, University of Lincoln
The collaboration of Human and Robots
The collaboration of human and robots or the human-robot interaction is the key to the successful incorporation and implementation of automation and robots in the food manufacturing 4.0. Also, it is the trend in the industry to let humans and robots share workspaces while operating and execution of tasks. This expected to bring the evolution of superior artificial intelligence, allowing collaborative working between people and co-operative robots, or cobots. The strategic use of cobots will enhance safety and enhance flexibility and productivity in the plants.
Considering the current market conditions, the companies in the food manufacturing industry are focus on the upgrading of smart technologies to enhance production and employee skills through implementing technology and training the staff. Moreover, the companies are considering the benefits and invest in the advancements in digital tools such as the Internet of Things and advanced data analytics to minimize the risk and capital cost associated with the manufacturing of food integrated with automation and robotics. This expected to simplify the complex supply chains and faster the rate of catering to changing consumer demands in the global market.