ROBOTS FOR FLEXIBLE AUTOMA-
TION IN THE FOOD INDUSTRY
pper for robots.
Second is the hygienic component:
our local system integrators to bring
home these solutions, supporting
local industry with the latest tech-
In today’s competitive marketplace, are industrial robots suitable for use you need flexibility in your manufac- in primary processes? And, lastly, turing processes in order to respond the environment within the primary quickly to market dynamics. FANUC processes is harsh: how are robots Robotics provides robotic solutions in withstanding the various cleaning Europe for the food industry. Euro- and disinfection processes? robot manufacturer, we have taken
In addition to the possible presence with a new way of looking at robot
of salts, alkaline, acids, etc., just the design. This has resulted in robots
simple fact of hosing down a robot with smooth surfaces, adapted
with water under pressure will defi- sealing, white body colour and epoxy
nitely put it out of business. Extreme paint, plastic covers instead
pean food companies were quick to
embrace robot technology when it
came to secondary processes like
palletising and later packing.
In these types of applications indus-
trial robots, similar to those used in
the car industry, were used to handle
packaged food, replacing traditio-
nal machinery. “Investing in flexible
automation using robots is the only
way to keep our factories in Europe,”
says Bob Struijk, vice president of
FANUC Robotics Europe. It allowed
higher throughput and reliability
in the end-of-line processes. The
extreme high reliability of the robots
allowed companies to save on main-
tenance costs as well as benefit from
the substantial increase in up-time of
the installation and lines.
ROBOTS FOR FRESH FOOD PRO-
DUCTION
Recent years have shown an enor-
mous interest and growth in hand-
ling primary food: robots handling
the raw / fresh product. The driving
question here was: how to cut back
on the rising labour costs while main-
taining line flexibility? For robots to
actually work in the food production
and thus be in direct contact with
any kind of food implies a complian-
ce with local conditions in the food
sector. Food can be characterised as
a non-uniform product, not having
clear standards, hence a show-sto-
high and/or low temperatures or
fluctuations also play their part. At
FANUC we work hand in hand with
nology.
SIX-AXIS DELTA ROBOT PICKER
At FANUC, being the world’s largest
these items to heart and came up