Increased manufacturing flexibility
Stacking up
A leading bread products producer in
the UK stacks more pancakes faster and
more efficiently with robotic automation.
Text Jonathan Wingate Photography James Bedford
H
oneytop Specialty Foods is the
leading bread products pro-
ducer in the UK for a reason:
The company understands
that to remain at the top, every aspect of
its food production and packing process
has to be efficient, hygienic, flexible and
most of all productive.
For the picking and stacking of pan-
cakes in its factory in Dunstable, Bedford-
shire, Honeytop sought the help of ABB
Partner RG Luma – a firm that supplies
industrial automation, custom purpose-
built machines and robotic integration.
RG Luma designed, built and installed
two lines, each using four FlexPicker
IRB 360 robots from ABB Robotics.
This innovative technology enables
Honeytop to meet its own exacting stan-
dards for hygiene and increase productiv-
ity by reducing labor costs and speeding
up the production line.
The four FlexPicker robots are capable
of handling an astonishing 110 picks per
minute, meaning that Honeytop’s pan-
cakes are picked and stacked precise-
ly and quickly. Pancakes are all manually
checked before entering the robot enclo-
sure, where they are picked and stacked
in piles before being placed onto one cen-
tral out-feed conveyor. Each robot is con-
nected, via a series of conveyor belts, to
an automated hotplate production line
that produces large quantities of batter-
based products, including delicious, light
and fluffy American-style pancakes.
The conveyor belt operates on a
cascading system (helping to cool the
pancakes to room temperature after
20
ABB robotics 2|10
they have been baked) before prepar-
ing them for stacking and packing. This
has dramatically reduced turnaround
time between products and ensured
that Honeytop can meet its customers’
tight deadlines – a vital point when deal-
ing with some of Europe’s biggest super-
markets and fast-food chains.
Improved hygiene
Before Honeytop had enlisted RG Lu-
ma, pancakes were picked manually,
which was much more labor-intensive
and much less time-efficient. RG Luma’s
system cuts out human error and en-
sures that no human hand touches the
pancakes before they reach supermarket
shelves.
“We work in a competitive industry
with very tight turnaround times and re-
ceive daily orders that are expected to be
sent out to the depots within 12 hours of
production,” explains William Eid, Hon-
eytop’s Director, whose own background
is in engineering.
“I have to admit that when we first be-
gan talks with RG Luma regarding this
production line, we had some reserva-
tions about whether the robots could
help introduce the flexibility and reliability
that we needed,” he says. “Despite our
apprehension, they have delivered exact-
ly what we wanted, and we are extreme-
ly happy with the way our business has
benefited from their innovative robotic
automated technology. In fact, we have
not experienced one issue since the in-
stallation last year. The robots have al-
ready enabled us to absorb a number of
Quick facts
− − The original speed require-
ment was exceeded by 14
percent.
− − The robots enabled a reduc-
tion from 10 to two people
per shift.
− − Changeovers between differ-
ent products are carried out
from an ‘operator interface
screen’ in a matter of sec-
onds, so urgent orders can
be met almost immediately.
Honeytop
Speciality Foods
Honeytop Specialty Foods Limited
was established in 1984 by brothers
William and Charles Eid. Honeytop
is the UK’s leading privately owned
naan bread producer and Europe’s
leading volume manufacturer of
specialty flatbreads. It also produc-
es pancakes, dough balls, tortillas
and crumpets. More information can
be found at www.honeytop.co.uk.