How will robotics and automation change food processing?

National Centre for Food Manufacturing, 28/04/16

Mega TrendsHealthConvenienceChoiceSafety & Trust

Highly Price SensitiveRetailers price war with discounters

The Market:Consumer Driven

Impact on manufacturing?Productivity vs Uncertainty

• Ever-increasing diversity of products requiring greater flexibility.

• Lower relative volumes of each product line, more SKUs.

• Fierce competition.• Increased compliance requirements,

traceability, audits etc.• Impact of living wage.

• Cost pressures

• Flexibility

• Traceability

• Food safety

• Waste

• Adaptability

Why automation? Flexible but low costSolving food manufacturers’ biggest challenges

"Whilst we are very innovative ... where can I see it operating""We would need to initially run the process in parallel to ensure continuity of supply" "Brilliant however we have got too much going on to look at it seriously““Finding suitable space within the current factory layouts will be challenge, can we stick it on the 3rd floor?”“Our products are handmade”

Blue Ocean Thinking

Industrial Robotics:Introduction and Future

PerspectivesDr. Andrea Paoli

[Illustration by Brucie Rosch]

Conclusions

What is a robot?What is industrial robotics?

Robotic ArmsMobile Robots

Industry 4.0

What is a Robot? 1/2 1921: Writer Karel Capek introduced the word

‘robot’ from the Czech word ‘ROBOTA’, meaning ‘drudgery’

A robot is a goal oriented machine that can sense, act and plan

What is a Robot? 2/2

Industrial Robotics Re-programmable multi-functional manipulator designed to

move materials, parts, tools, or specialized devices through variable programmed motions for the performance of a variety of tasks, which also acquire information from the environment and move intelligently in response (Robotic Institute of America)

Industrial Automatio

nRobotics

Mobile Robots 2/2

2016: Arla Foods warehouse

Robot Economics 1/4

[Barclays Bank – Future Proofing UK Manufacturing, 2015]

Robot Economics 2/4

[World Robotics 2015 Industrial Robots, IFR]

Robot Economics 3/4

[World Robotics 2015 Industrial Robots, IFR]

Robot Economics 4/4

[World Robotics 2015 Industrial Robots, IFR]

What’s going on here?!?

Industry 4.0

[http://www.engineersjournal.ie]

Factory of the Future

[Courtesy WillowGarage]

Do we trust robots?

Basic Safety-Related Functions

Supervision Functions

Intrinsically Safe Robots

Next Generation Predictive Robots

We are here!!

Smar

tnes

s

Next Generation Safety

Laser Scanner

Controlled 3D cams

Wearable sensorsSmart glasses

Raw dataEye tracking

Body segmentationParts recognitionIntentions detection Human prediction

Robot movements adaptation

Conclusions Industry 4.0 revolution

Human and Robots work together High productivity and availability

We need to work together More investment Push robotics in less-explored sectors

Robotics of the future Internet of Things Advanced Safety Natural Human/Robot interaction

Inter-Sector Knowledge Transfer Opportunities

Jeff Nowill, Kuka Robotics

Demonstration & Pods

How will robotics change traditional food manufacturing?

Ian Beauchamp, OAL Mark Swainson, University of Lincoln

• Traditional process / technology base• Labour intensive• Established thinking• Competitive market

How can robotics assist in overcoming these issues?

Potential Impact of Robotics/AutomationTypical food industry issues

• Product hold-up• Burn-on• Spoilage• Spillages

Margin erosion and increasing disposal costs

Yield ImprovementTypical areas of loss / cost within food processing

• Manual systems / overrides• Uncontrolled variation / procedure• Ingredient / product handling damage• Preference / interpretation

The ‘human’ factor!

Quality ImprovementTypical areas resulting in poor product quality

• Small batch size• Ease of reconfiguration• Simplification of hygiene requirements• Reduction in cycle times

Optimised / tailored approach

Requirement for Increased FlexibilityTypical areas to improve flexibility

• Traditional processes / technologies• Labour intensive operations• Reliance on low skilled contract labour• Staged increase in the minimum wage

Prepared for the future!

Requirement for Reduced Labour CostsTypically within food processing

• On-line analysis / QA approval• Handling stability / consistency• Downstream synergies – cryogenic cooling• Human / robotic interface

Any questions?

Going ForwardFuture developments within food processing

The APRIL Vision

Harry Norman, OAL

• Consumers want more choice• Food deflation• Manufacturers suffering from rising costs• No major advances in productivity• Living Wage• Environmental responsibility

In summary:

Ingredients for change:

• Technology costs – Moore’s Law, Economies of Scale

• Technology advances – vision, Artificial intelligence

• Connected world – Internet of Things

• $775 million acquisition late 2012 – Kiva.

• Expected to install 10,000 robots at Amazon warehouses by 2015

• Actual end of 2015 – 30,000 robots!

Other industries continue to invest:Amazon

Create a Global Centre of Excellence for Robotic Food Manufacturing at the University of Lincoln.

1. Educate the industry.

2. Partner with visionary early adopters.

3. Deliver a disruptive change in manufacturing.

Recipe for food processing automation!

• Flexible manufacturing• Yield enhancement• Improved product quality / consistency• Smaller factory footprint• Leaner labour force

Genuine competitive advantage

The Icing on the CakeAutomated Processing Robotic Ingredient Loading

Tours of National Centre for Food Manufacturing