Increasing Role of Automation in the Food Industry

The Role of Automation has various advantages in the food industry, such as automating tracking, maintaining quality and eliminating waste.

FREMONT, CA: The food industry underwent a monumental change. In spite of high demand, supply chains, labor challenges, and other factors made production more challenging. Prior to 2020, food manufacturers had been slow to adopt automation technology as a solution to these problems. 

Because of the pandemic, more people are adopting automation in the food industry. The food industry also embraces cobots and machine vision on the plant floor in addition to more system implementations. 

The cost and expertise barriers are lowering, promoting more adoption: The cost of installing the technology decreased by around 2018, and the ROI was very good. Cost remains the most significant obstacle to full-scale implementation.

Although automation became more prevalent, it was still a trickle. For manufacturers who were in a wait-and-see mode, Covid-19 was the accelerator. It was time to move on. The Robotic Industries Association (RIA) confirmed the trend. Food and consumer manufacturers increased their robotics orders by 56 percent in 2020. Non-automotive orders surpassed automotive orders for the first time in history.

Labor gaps are bridged by cobots: Another hot trend in food industry automation is cobots or collaborative robots. Because they don't require industrial-level electricity, they're also more affordable. Therefore, they are in high demand. In a survey conducted by Automation World, 56 percent of those planning to purchase robots in the next year intend to buy cobots. 

Interaction between operator and machine creates a new working environment. By enhancing workers' safety, enhancing productivity, and increasing employee retention, these jobs are likely to be more skilled. Furthermore, companies can design intelligent systems that enable robots and humans to work together seamlessly.

Processing, packaging, and distribution are just a few of the applications of cobots in the food and beverage industry. 

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Accuracy is ensured by machine vision: The food industry also uses machine vision to verify packaging dimensions using lasers. Furthermore, this technology can detect whether the packaging is open or irregular, which would be a major quality assurance issue. If the machine vision identifies this, it will move to a separate line and not go out for delivery. Compared to manual processes that require humans, it is more efficient and faster.

Automating the food industry has become mainstream. It is likely that Covid-19 accelerated adoption by several years. Furthermore, food manufacturers use smart automation technologies to maximize efficiency.