Taking a glimpse into the future of the food production process

In a market where consumer purchasing intelligence is becoming increasingly powerful, where internet ordering is growing rapidly, and where logistics are becoming highly dynamic, food manufacturers need to set their sights on becoming more agile and flexible to satisfy the changing and increasingly demanding requirements of both retailers and consumers.

The UK currently ranks as the second worst country for productivity among the industrialised nations and, if we could raise productivity to the levels of the USA, each household would be £21,000 per year better off. “For the machine designer it is simply not possible to adapt many existing solutions to achieve the step change in productivity that manufacturers are looking for,” said Martin Leeming, CEO at Trakrap. “The whole system architecture needs to change from the bottom up and you quite literally have to go back to the drawing board and start again.”

Leeming agrees with many others, saying that the answer lies in the digitisation of machines and processes and in the acquisition and proper use of big data. “A big step change in productivity improvement does not lie in simply undertaking the same process with less people. It requires companies to rethink other things like speed to market, asset utilisation, energy reduction, reduced changeover times and making to order, not to stock,” continues Leeming. However, he admits that there are a lot of barriers that need to be broken down to achieve this – only 48% of manufacturers claim to be ready for Industry 4.0 and it is thought that 40 to 50% of existing machinery will need to be replaced to make the step change the country needs.

Keith Thornhill, business manager – Food and Beverage at Siemens UK & Ireland, says that the current rate of technological change within the industrial environment shows no sign of slowing, and, as such, accurately predicting how the food industry will be implementing technology solutions in the middle of the next decade, is not an exact science. However, he has been able to highlight some definitive trends which look set to influence progress in the next few years. “With competitiveness and changing consumer demands increasingly being seen as industry drivers, it is clear that automated processes – whether they be physical or digital – will assist food manufacturers to deliver cost-effective, repeatable and safe products,” he said.

However, to achieve this, there is a need to focus on critical areas of productivity, efficiency and agility. By looking to maximise effectiveness it is possible to take significant steps towards creating the technological-driven solutions necessary for the competitive years ahead.

According to Thornhill, there are some identifiable areas that require particular attention. He advises food manufacturers to set a clear mid-to long-term vision of digital integration so that factories can adopt maximum transparency across all areas of product development and production. “This includes a need for closed-loop data integration from the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) level right through to production, individual asset performance and back,” he said. “Detailed machinery and automation specifications also need to be agreed, so that data transparency can underpin strategic decision making and productivity targets can be addressed.” Thornhill also advises that companies seek to reduce obsolescence, both to reduce costs and to ‘future proof’ available assets.

Andrew Macpherson, food & beverage manager at Festo, agrees that the pressure from retailers and consumers to safely produce more food, of greater variety, at sustainable prices and high quality, is driving investment in automation. He predicts that the level of automation in the food sector in 10 years will completely change the food production environment. “In the future, food production machines from different manufacturers will need to share data and communicate with each other, using open communication protocols, and will be able to make necessary adjustments automatically. These machines will also be able to tell the operator if a problem is developing, whether performance is dropping or energy consumption is rising, and more importantly what needs to happen to fix it,” said Macpherson.

Food manufacturers, suppliers and customers will also become more closely linked. Data relating to consumer demands and trends will be shared to ensure that production is adjusted based on real time demands. “All of this available data will bring new challenges, relating to security and how to interpret it. Engineers will have to work more closely with their IT colleagues to get the maximum benefit for their business,”

he said.

“As the link between the consumer and the food manufacturer gets closer, production machinery will need to become more flexible and able to change to smaller batch quantities, quickly.”

Macpherson believes that the materials used in the production machines of the future may also be completely different to what is being used as standard today. Take, for example, the development of nano-coating technologies such as plasma coating. “This could allow standard materials to be coated to provide increased bacterial resistance, potentially replacing stainless steel in the food sector,” he said.

New technologies will also emerge that help extend the shelf life of food products. These might involve new processes or the use of different gases – for example ozone. “This will raise further challenges for food machinery producers, such as how to handle these new processes while ensuring it is a safe working environment for their staff,” concludes Macpherson.

“The requirement for efficiency monitoring, product tracking and traceability, faster, safer, lower-cost processing and packaging solutions and plant flexibility are growing across all sectors of the food industry,” said Chris Evans, marketing and operations group manager at Mitsubishi Electric – Automation Systems Division UK. This has resulted in rapid advances in automation technology – one of the biggest is the increasing use of small articulated arm and SCARA style robots to perform repetitive tasks. “Mitsubishi hosts regular seminars on the use of robotics in the food industry and attendees are usually surprised by the low package cost, combined with ease of use and simple integration,” said Evans. “Platform integration is a major theme when it comes to delivering multiple benefits. Users expect an incremental improvement when replacing individual automation components such as drives, servo systems and PLCs. However, if you take a holistic view of your automation system, then you can make some really significant gains.” For example, using a powerful PLC to manage a production line. It can coordinate everything from guided operator pick to light systems that improve quality and throughput for manual workers, to conveyor systems, process plant, ovens and chillers, high-speed packaging machines and robot cutting, packing and stacking lines.

“The future for automation in the food industry is most certainly going to be centred around increased plant and automation platform integration, simply because the universal advances that producers require cannot be delivered without it,” concludes Evans.

The days of mass production appear to be coming to an end, with consumers demanding more highly personalised products.The automotive industry gives us a good example of where this is happening today.

It is already possible to choose your own car down to minute detail, and it will be made for you on a flexible production line. The same choices are now also coming to the food market. It is already possible to design your own chocolates and have them made for you on a 3D chocolate printing machine, while here in the UK Boomf, a personalised confectionery producer, has seen business increase by 600% in its second year.

“Great though all this choice is for the consumer, it often represents a challenge to the traditional business model which is built on high volume, mass production. If you want to survive then you need to differentiate, and do something different,” said Steve Arnold, business manager Food & Packaging at SMC.

New technologies are emerging to help businesses meet the need for more flexible, agile, smart manufacturing. Data appears to be the key – first collecting it and then being able to interpret it – to allow businesses to make more informed decisions.

“New buzz words like ‘cyber physical systems’ are already allowing machine builders to transform a humble electric drive or process valve into a smart sensor, allowing manufacturers to purchase standard production lines but with the capability to run many different product formats in large and small batches and still turn a profit,” continued Arnold. “The automotive sector has been doing this for many years and the challenge for the food sector is to embrace this new technology too, allowing for greater flexibility and agility to meet changing consumer demands.”

According to Mike Wilson, sales & marketing manager at ABB Robotics UK, robotic automation will become a more attractive solution for both production and packaging applications in the food and beverage industry as they offer a solution to allow producers to keep pace with the demand for greater variety, quality and faster delivery – producers need to find new ways to keep pace.

“The UK food and beverage sector has been investing more in automation in recent years to help it survive the supermarket price war. However, further investment in automation is needed to ensure continued competitiveness,” said Wilson. “Other countries are automating at a much faster rate, with the most productive country in the food and beverage sector being Finland,” According to data supplied by the International Federation of Robotics, Finland adopted 55 more robots per 10,000 employees than the UK in 2014.

As factories around the world start to ramp up their use of smart technology, UK food manufacturing needs to focus its mind on the subject too. “As the tools which perform the various processes involved in smart manufacturing, robots are the primary technology that should be considered before implementing a full Industry 4.0 strategy,” advises Wilson.

“As cyber-physical systems that use data to operate and communicate with other elements in the factory, robots are one of the mot prevalently featured automated machines in any Industry 4.0 model. They are also beneficial to anyone wishing to overcome the typical challenges facing food producers, such as inconsistent product quality, flexibility and reliability problems. Robots can also perform processes which have been identified as high risk by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE).”

“The UK food industry is a high labour economy and I don’t really see that changing any time soon,” said Robert Brooks, European industry marketing manager - Food & Beverage for Omron Europe. “However, we are seeing a continuing move towards ‘redeployment’ of the workforce for better resource efficiency and this is being driven by both cost and need.” Brooks highlighted the juxtaposition now facing industry – that of a skills shortage coupled with the need for greater automation driven by a need for greater productivity and flexibility. “This means that any automation solutions, such as robotics, will need to be easy to use,” he said. Brooks believes that there is now an increasing appetite within the food industry for robotic solutions. Around-the-process robotics, such as autonomous intelligent vehicles (AIVs) will also form a fundamental part of the future food manufacturing plant. Initially applications for such solutions, which are designed to dynamically move materials around a plant without the need for facility modifications, might include raw stock material replacement and replenishment and bringing spares and repairs to the line. “Moving people away from repetitive tasks, and with the potential to link these robots into the production and maintenance processes or ERP systems, the food industry could find a host of applications for this new breed of robots. There are so many opportunities for their adoption within the food manufacturing environment and again, this will be driven by the need for

greater efficiency.”

Brooks also expects to see increasing adoption of simulation technologies to provide a low-cost solution to visualise the total cost of ownership and proof of concept of any potential new automation solutions before purchase. “Artificial Intelligence (AI) is another technology that is knocking on the door of the food factory,” continued Brooks. “We should expect to see these cognitive thinking systems being employed to make sense of the increasing amounts of data being made available from smart systems.

AI technology could be used, for example, to help manufacturers to link consumer buying patterns to the weather and environment. There are many areas where cognitive thinking solutions could find applications in the food industry.”

For now, though, Brooks advises that engineers need to look more closely at the tools they already have available to them. “I believe that there is far more that could be achieved with today’s robotic and vision solutions. It is important to ensure that the best is made of what is already available while also keeping a close eye on emerging technologies. It is important to take time out to find out how these technologies might fit into your organisation – now and in the future – because you can be sure that some of your competitors will be doing just that.”