Smart Automation

Automation is the application of equipment and technology to produce food products with the goal of reducing the amount of human intervention, improving the process, and increasing productivity. Automation of food production processes that are normally performed by people can benefit a food plant in many ways: reduced labor, higher throughput, higher quality, greater product consistency, and improvement in food safety. As with all choices, there are tradeoffs when weighing the level and complexity of the automation needed for the returns and benefits to outweigh the costs and risks.

When making such decisions, know that the greater the level of automation implemented in a food processing facility, the less flexible the operation becomes. High levels of automation make sense for operations that produce a limited number of food product items. The opposite is also true: the greater the number of items produced, the less likely a highly automated process will make sense.

Many food processing operations produce a mixture of products, some with high volumes, and some with low volumes. Facilities such as these can develop their operations so that automated lines are set up in the plant to produce the high-volume items, while separate lines or areas are designated for the batch or high-changeover products.

In situations that clearly warrant automation, how do you get what you want in the most economically sensible manner? Is an OEM solution acceptable or is there justification for equipment designed specifically for your operation’s unique needs?

Foth | Food Plant Engineering can help sort out the many options for automation available to food manufacturers. If an OEM solution exists, we can integrate it into your production process. But if off-the-shelf equipment isn’t suitable, we can discuss a first-of-a-kind solution.

When you need custom machine design, know that our engineers integrate your goals at every step of the development process. Our five-phase approach allows a multi-disciplinary team to validate assumptions early and assess, test, install, and integrate the resulting system into the overall facility and production plan.

The added bonus? As a client of Foth | Food Plant Engineering, you retain the design and intellectual property of your custom equipment and are free to modify or replicate it should your facility and production change over time.

For help tackling automation in your food plant, contact us.