Food for thought

22 April 2014



The work of a new UK government ‘enforcer’ will have a positive effect on the uptake of robotics in the nation’s food production sector, according to BARA, the British Automation and Robot Association, as David Longfield reports.


In the past, according to robotics industry body BARA, the powerful UK multiple retail sector has succeeded in passing costs back to its groceries suppliers to such a degree that it has seriously impinged on manufacturers' will to consider the investments in new technology necessary to bring them up to speed with their competitors in other EU markets and beyond.

However Christine Tacon, the UK's first Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA), appointed early in 2013, possesses powers backed by law to require supermarkets to adhere to the UK's Groceries Supply Code of Practice (GSCOP) legislation, which regulates interactions between the ten largest supermarkets with an annual turnover of £1bn and their direct suppliers.

With its requirements for fair practice, clearly defined contractual terms and tightened controls on 'punitive' payments for perceived breaches by suppliers, the hope is that the GSCOP will reduce the ever-mounting pressure on supplier margins - which are particularly hard-felt by UK food manufacturers - and ultimately result in a "much needed" shift in investment in automation and robotics installations in the sector.

"This is good news as far as automating the food sector is concerned, and also for our members, most of whom supply machinery to the food sector," says Grant Collier, head of marketing for BARA at the PPMA Group (Processing & Packaging Machinery Association), partner to BARA since 2009.

PPMA/BARA surveyed the 367 companies that took part in its government-backed Automating Manufacturing programme, which ran in the UK from September 2010 to March 2013, targeting mostly SMEs looking for impartial advice and assistance on the potential for automation.

Collier describes "a great deal of reticence" to automate the food sector.

"There is clear evidence that the reluctance to adopt automation is in part driven by endless squeezing of supplier margins by the major multiple retailers," he says. "The Groceries Code Adjudicator's actions will hopefully help to change this culture and enable much-needed automation of the UK's largest industry."

Lagging behind
In its World Robotics 2010 report, and a more recent update to 2012, the Germany-based International Federation of Robotics (IFR) demonstrates the UK's relative dearth of robotics in manufacturing (see chart). Leaving out the effects of each nation's automotive industry (which dominates the total number of robots in every case), it is clear that the UK - at only 25 robots per 10,000 in 2010, and 27 in 2012 - clearly lags behind its competitor nations by some distance on this comparative measure.

To put it into context, the IFR's figures for "operational stock of industrial robots at the end of the year" in 2012 in the UK manufacturing sector showed a total of 13,720. Of these, 9,066 were in the Automotive sector (66%), with the Plastics and Chemicals sector next largest at 1,666 (12.1%), followed by Metals at 983 (7.1%); the category Food Products & Beverages/Tobacco Products was next with 938 operational robots installed (6.8%).

However, striking a more optimistic note for the packaging industry, in its assessment of the numbers, the IFR states: "The stock of the food industry is continuously rising."

Food sector interest
Confirming the trend highlighted by the International Federation of Robotics, BARA has reported that annual UK sales of industrial robots for 2013 were "almost as strong as the record year in 2012".

BARA chairman Mike Wilson says: "Whilst this is good news, and the automotive sector has unsurprisingly generated most of these sales, we are witnessing only a modest upward trend over the last few years in the uptake of automation and robotics across other sectors." Pharmaceuticals was the strongest sector, he says, with growth of 116% over 2012 sales, and Food & Drink rose by 28%.
However, balancing this, Grant Collier, who is also responsible for the BARA Automating Manufacturing programme, comments: "We have seen a tremendous level of interest from all sectors for the use of automation, but in particular 37% of the total 367 [AutomatingManufacturing] applications received came from the Food sector."

So the interest is evidently there for packaging manufacturers to put more money behind automating their processes and introducing robotics in the UK food sector. It is to be hoped that the Groceries Code Adjudicator, Christine Tacon - who will present a "combative talk" on the UK's leading supermarkets at this year's PPMA Show at the Birmingham NEC, 30 September to 2 October - will provide the nudges in the right places to engender the necessary action.

Favourable conditions
With fresh food sales on a global scale increasing by 3% in 2011 (source: Euromonitor), the time is right for fresh produce packers to consider Delta robotics, argues Bosch Packaging Technology robotics product manager Roy Fraser.

New advances are continually bringing down the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of Delta robots, and along with the necessity for increased output it presents "the ideal scenario" for fresh food producers, Fraser says, including for those who have never previously considered robotics: "In the current climate, fresh produce packers are particularly focused on reducing direct costs, or cost-per-unit, and on enhancing their scale-up capabilities."

The flexibility of advanced automation solutions allows manufacturers to increase or reduce output more easily as demand fluctuates, compared with manual labour - particularly important, Fraser explains, for fresh food producers who need to adapt to the high mix/low volume output demanded by modern market trends.

Bosch Packaging Technology's DD23 robot is the first Delta robot to have directly servo-driven arms, the company says, removing complex gearboxes and reducing downtime, while also increasing machine speed. The DD23 is said to be ideal for fresh food producers wanting to increase output within a "still conservative" investment climate.

Healthy outlook
Fanuc UK
managing director Chris Sumner says there has been a "marked increase in uptake" in robotics in the UK food market: "The most recent demands from producers relate to food safety and the use of robots to improve hygiene during the manufacturing process," he says.

Fanuc has recently launched two IP69K certified assembly and handling robots for use in high pressure wash-down environments. Where high speed is the critical factor, the new four axis M-2iA delta style pick and place robot can pick wrapped or unwrapped goods from one conveyor and place them into product trays or cartons at up to 220 cycles/min.

Where dexterity is the main requirement, Fanuc's new six axis LR Mate 200iD/7C articulated arm can tilt, twist and rotate single or multiple products "with ease" at up to 180 cycles/min.

Fanuc backs the forecasts made in the January 2013 IFR report, Positive Impact of Industrial Robots on Employment, which predicts that 2 million jobs will be created in the next 7-8 years because of the robotics industry.

"What's more," Sumner adds, "this study predicts that between 60,000 and 80,000 new activity jobs will be created in the food industry alone from 2012 to 2016."

All-round vision
At Interpack in Düsseldorf in May this year, Germany-based machinery specialist Gerhard Schubert will mark its 30th year in the development of image processing for packaging robots by introducing a new 3D scanner, which "adds a new dimension" to product recognition, by making use of control parameters such as volume, weight and stack height.

The development is based on stereoscopics, realising a height resolution of 0.5mm in a measuring range of 60mm height. The new system tolerates belt soiling, as long as it remains below a certain height threshold, which allows products to be detected under difficult conditions. According to the company, the first TLM (Top-Loading Machine) picker line with one of the new 3D scanners has already been put into operation at a confectionery manufacturer in Belgium.

www.automatingmanufacturing.co.uk
www.bara.org.uk
www.boschpackaging.com
www.fanuc.com
www.gerhard-schubert.com
www.ifr.org



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