Thought for food

Citation

Gray, J.O. (2007), "Thought for food", Industrial Robot, Vol. 34 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.2007.04934aaa.002

Thought for food

With an estimated value of some £100 billion per annum turnover the food sector is one of the largest economic sectors in the UK, a position which is mirrored in most of the countries of the Eurozone. Food manufacturing is a very diverse activity employing tens of thousands of people in a multiplicity of SMEs and using a wide range of operating procedures in food production. These range from fully automated plants in the beverage and dairy sector to large- scale manual operations in the assembly of for example sandwiches and ready meals. It is the latter area that perhaps provides the most obvious new opportunity for the deployment of modern automation techniques.

A visitor to a large sandwich manufacturer or bakery will usually see highly populated assembly lines with operatives performing a range of simple and repetitive tasks. The reasons for using these rather dated manufacturing procedures are obvious, manual operation is traditional, labour currently is cheap, has been readily available and flexible both in acquisition and deployment and meets the requirements of the dynamic, not to say volatile market conditions which are characteristics of the sector. Such volatility of course also mitigates against capital investment in large-scale automation which requires a degree of long term stability to guarantee a sensible ROI.

The issue that has come to the forefront over the last few years is quite simply the sustainability of the UKs manufacturing base in this sector where traditional manual operation procedures continue to dominate. Labour costs in large agricultural countries in Eastern Europe are currently a fraction of the UK levels and EU integration policies will foster investments in state-of-the-art manufacturing plants and a logistic infrastructure which may make it as easy to get from Warsaw to Dover as from Birmingham to London. Extending the shelf-life of many products by one day could tilt the balance towards sourcing UK food products from the Eastern parts of the EU. There would be incidentally a roll-on effect on British agriculture as the UK manufacturing sector absorbs the majority of its output.

A recent factor effecting sustainability in the sector is the increasing difficulty in obtaining labour for the industry. Working conditions are some times far from ideal, wages are traditionally low and the work is often seasonal or transitory in nature. It is not uncommon in the NW of England for companies to bus in labour from a distance of 30-50 miles from the processing plant. Employment legislation is becoming increasingly restrictive and product consistency and traceability issues together with the need to reduce energy and environmental impact costs are certainly drivers to force a reevaluation of current labour intensive procedures.

There is of course no simple solution to all the economic/ demographic factors that impact on the industry but a number of companies are exploring the possibility of using modern automation techniques to ensure the sustainability of their business models. These techniques will yield the obvious advantages of consistency of manufacture, reduced human contact with the food products, ease in implementing traceability procedures, the possibility of reduced working volume with impact on energy costs required for environmental control and the amount of toxic cleaning fluids used as well as the possibility of using novel manufacturing environments for aseptic operation. There are clear technical issues around the consistent processing of irregular, soft, sticky, slippery natural products and the strict requirements for hygienic systems design. Experience indicates that the former can be addressed by the proper design of gripper systems and the use of standard image processing procedures while the latter is far from insoluable with proper adherence to emerging standards in the hygienic design of food processing machinery.

More significant issues relate to aspects of ROI in the current market models and the state of engineering technology in the sector which will influence the type of automation which can be readily adapted and efficiently deployed.

Traditional industrial robots have successfully evolved to perform repetitive operations with high precision which reflects on the relatively high cost of the devices and associated equipment. Such precision is generally not required in processing food produces and there is thus the possibility of achieving a cost/performance trade off in the design of robots which are more economically acceptable within the current business models of the food manufacturing sector. Some robot suppliers are now producing low cost products which are specifically targeted at the sector and this is certainly a promising trend.

In a similar way current robotic programming techniques do not fit readily with the low level of engineering expertise which is characteristic of many companies in the sector and there is scope for the introduction of novel, intuitive programming procedures which can be used by line operators to readily adapt production procedures to meet rapidly changing market conditions. There is arguably a need for fresh thinking on the design of automation procedures for the food industry and while standard robot solutions have been available for many years in other sectors simply adapting them to the food sector requirements may not be the most efficient or profitable way to proceed. There is certainly a challenge here for robot manufacturers but also an opportunity to be involved in a large new, application domain.

There is also a technical challenge for the food manufacturing sector to adopt new technology which will increase efficiency, reduce waste, improve quality, ensure sustainability and enhance profitability. It will not be easy for this sector to transit from a labour intensive to a capital intensive operation and some form of assistance will be required. This fact has been recognized at least in the North of England where Yorkshire Forward have just established a Centre for Food Robotics (CenFRA) to provide guidance, training and support and unbiased advice for food companies in the adoption of modern automation techniques. There is, I believe, a general need for such a facility to assist the food industry in what many agree is currently a fairly dynamic market situation and ensure the sustainability of a robust food manufacturing sector in the UK.

Predicting the future is always difficult and in such a diverse industry as food manufacturing, an almost impossible task. However, it would be unusual if it differed from all other manufacturing sectors where success and sustainability has accrued to those who have met the challenge of technology and adapted the most advanced and efficient manufacturing procedures available. This process will be assisted by those robot manufacturers who are knowledgeable about the special requirements of the sector and who can supply appropriate automation equipment and are prepared to build long term mutually beneficial links with the industry.

John O. GrayBased at University of Salford, UK