Industrial Robots Increase Flexibility in the Food Industry
High hygienic standards for robots required / Meat and fish industries offer substantial potential
In almost no other sector is the competition for low prices as fierce as it is in the food industry. Products are produced in millions of units every day. Consumers demand consistent quality while the prices for raw materials are rising. These are all factors that have an influence on the production process. At the same time, consumers want to spend less money on food products. This puts pressure on businesses in the industry to reduce costs and make production processes more efficient, which can be achieved by automation.
“The food industry especially offers tremendous potential for growth”, Björn Gentsch from DENSO Robotics Europe explains. Ingredients, raw materials and products have to be sorted, portioned, processed and stacked – there are numerous tasks for industrial robots in the food industry. This is especially true since the sector is very diverse and processes a large array of materials. Additionally, it is one of the most important industrial sectors in Germany. According to numbers provided by the Federation of German Food and Drink Industries (BVE) for 2012, this sector included 5,900 businesses with over 550,000 employees. It had an annual turnover of almost 170 Billion Euros in Germany – with trends still rising, especially when eying the export market that has become more important in recent times.
Regional versus industrial production
Despite the rising demand of health-conscious consumers in Germany for more regionally produced organic food products, international markets require low-cost industrial production. The International Federation of Robotics (IFR) estimates that orders by the food industry, which is extremely resistant to crises, will further increase until at least 2016.
“For businesses with a low output of units, the use of robots is profitable whenever production has to be highly flexible or high precision tasks are required”, Gentsch emphasizes. DENSO Robotics Europe sees a high potential in the meat and fish industries as well as for sectors that require complex image processing in the coming years. DENSO Robotics Europe is, for example, working with a company from Norway that is specialised in the processing of fish. “Our robot filets the fish and operates the cutting blades”, Gentsch explains. The fish is measured by sensors, so it can analyse where exactly the knife has to cut and to find where the bones and the skin are located. Employing the robot has several advantages for the customer because the weight and the shape of the filets are nearly identical for each unit that goes into sale.
Another customer of DENSO Robotics Europe in the food industry is operating in the field of packaging cheese. This company from Germany offers a wide array of products and supplies cheeses in different packaging sizes, units and forms. The DENSO robots take care of the complete packaging process of the cheese – from portioning to the insertion of dividers to stacking. Gentsch: “Without the use of robots this company would not be able to spontaneously and flexibly react to a change in demand. They can process a different kind of cheese just by using a different program.”
Robots protect against human errors
The food scandals of recent years have often been caused by human error. Robots make it possible to increase the quality of products and to ensure that they are safe – while at the same time lowering costs. However, the food industry does pose several challenges for the producers of robots. All machines that come into contact with food have to meet high standards when it comes to cleanliness. They have to be proven not to be a source of contamination and have to be safe from dirt and bacteria. The robots must also be washable and resistant towards cleaning agents and chemicals that are used to disinfect them. That is why robots made from stainless steel are particularly popular in the food industry. The IP67 standard is required for almost all areas in food processing. In order to protect the robots from different temperatures they are equipped with a special casing. This is necessary because the food industry often operates in low temperature environments.
The reason why the robots of DENSO Robotics Europe are so often used in the food industry is because of their innovative design and internal wiring. They can be easily connected through the bottom, which makes them very hygienic. Additionally the robots produced by DENSO Robotics can be equipped with numerous external components like grabbers and cameras because it uses the Open Robot/Resource Interface Network (ORiN). “The image processing and visual identification of food is becoming more and more important because customers demand identical products that look perfect. DENSO Robotics Europe is doing very well in this sector”, so Gentsch.
