I, foodbot: declining costs, faster speeds and advances in vision-guided systems are helping food and dairy plants justify the cost of robotics

Dairy Foods, Jan, 2005 by Kevin T. Higgins

With the Star Wars generation swelling the ranks of plant engineers and automation specialists, it should be no surprise that robotic systems are making the transition from food production wish list to commercial application.

While food and beverage applications represent a small part of industrial robotics, suppliers acknowledge they constitute one of the fastest growing segments. One of the earliest food uses occurred in 1985, when a Canadian plant of confectioner Rowntree Macintosh deployed a unit to transfer candies from molding to a wrapping line. High costs and reliability issues slowed the adoption of robotics to additional factory tasks, and many obstacles--product variability, gentle handling, equipment cleanability and sanitation--had to be addressed before technology developed for discreet manufacturing could be transferred to food. Those issues are being resolved, and high-speed robotic arms and vision-guided systems are beginning to work alongside and--in many cases--instead of humans in food factories.

To be sure, the vast majority of robots are found in the packaging area, with secondary functions such as case packing and palletizing dominating. Material handling robots are beginning to generate ho-hum reactions, though an articulated arm robot still draws crowds at tradeshows. Prodded by auto manufacturers who want the flexibility to pick-and-place engine blocks and other heavy objects, today's articulated arm robots can handle 600 pounds or more in a graceful, sweeping motion. Even with club packs, few food products approach those payload demands, but the machines' flexibility and cost-effectiveness in even moderate-volume palletizing tasks give them great appeal.

Articulated arm robots also are adept at multi-tasking. Brewerton, NY-based Schneider Packaging Equipment Co. recently installed a unit that handles both case packing and palletizing tasks. An XRX controller manages the motion of the system's five-axis Motoman robot with an articulated arm that handles 176 lbs, half of which is the weight of the end-of-arm tooling. That leaves enough capacity to power an 88-1b case from the packing area to a pallet position up to 81 inches away. Four, eight-unit cases a minute can be cycled. An Allen-Bradley PLC oversees the system, coordinating all events and providing the operator interface for changeovers and maintenance.

A mechanical system would cost more and require at least 50% more floor space, estimates Schneider's Izzat Hammad, but a more important distinction is the system's ability to handle multiple products and shapes. "Because of the flexibility in changeovers and the elimination of long accumulating conveyors behind the robot, we see tremendous potential in food and beverage," says Hammad.

Articulated arm units are cannibalizing the market for gantry-style robots, an earlier version of palletizing robots that still enjoy popularity in distribution centers where mixed pallet loads must be assembled to meet the demands of each customer. "Robots are certainly taking the place of gantries," laments Earl Wohlrab, manager of Alvey Systems Inc.'s palletizing division. "Whether it's true or not, they're seen as taking less space than gantries." His firm integrates both types of palletizers, and he believes gantries "will definitely continue to shrink as a weapon in the arsenal."

"Packaging is probably the fastest growing market for robotics," seconds Mike Crane of the packaging robotics division of ABB Inc., in Auburn Hills, Mich. "We expected a 30% increase per year, but we're well ahead of that in 2004 and will probably see 80% growth."

Kraft, Nestle, Hershey and other major food companies were early adopters of robotics, but arguably the industry's most aggressive user of the technology is Pepperidge Farm. The bakery's Downingtown, Pa., facility installed selective compliance assembly robot arm (SCARA) robots in 1987, and the Denver, Pa., plant is a symphony of Delta-style robots on the cookie packaging lines. Today, approximately 95 robots deliver high-speed, flexible automation functions companywide, according to Dave Watson, Pepperidge's v.p. of engineering.

"The robots themselves have always been a non-issue in production integration," says Watson. "The challenges always have been issues like the discharge of the product, how it is presented to the robot and other external factors." Vastly improved vision systems, quantum increases in handling speeds and significant shrinkage of robots' footprints are among the most significant improvements in the technology in the last 17 years, he says.

Pepperidge continues to push the robotics envelope, most recently at its Bloomfield, Conn., facility, Food Engineering Magazine's 2004 Plant of the Year. A system employing a FANUC robot to palletize breadbaskets was recently installed at the plant, but it pales in comparison to an automatic pan-handling system that employs five ABB robots and constitutes "the heart of the productivity side" of advancements at the plant, according to Watson.