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5 Reasons to use automated food packaging

Despite pandemic-driven supply chain issues and an increasing push to meet sustainability targets, the food industry remains one of the fastest growing sectors of the global economy.

For businesses operating in this competitive industry, there’s a constant need to think several steps ahead of rivals in order to not only achieve decent profits, but also to provide a quality service to consumers with ever-rising standards.

These days, automated food packaging systems and robotics account for 94% of warehouse operations, handling huge volumes of products at very high speeds, meeting the exacting demands and fast turnaround times required by supermarket supply chains.

So what is the definition of automatic food packaging?

Most food packaging plants use a two-stage process: Sometimes known as Primary and Secondary Packaging.

• Primary packaging is all about wrapping, canning or packaging raw and cooked foods.
• Secondary packaging is concerned with getting those items onto pallets and out to distribution centres.  

PERUZA Full layer palletizer

Both of these packing stages use advanced robotic technologies, including vision-guided hydraulic arms to enable fast, efficient processing. Let’s take a closer look at five distinct benefits that these systems bring to the industry:

1. Larger volumes of products in a shorter space of time

It’s definitely possible to increase productivity on a production line by increasing floor size and adding more human workers. Unfortunately, at some point the economies of scale kick in, and productivity hits a wall.

Automated food packaging systems on the other hand, can process huge volumes of food or packaging in very short spaces of time. Unlike human workers, robots will never tire, and can achieve repetitive precision at vastly higher rates than the most skilled human laborer.

2. Improved food safety and cleanliness

Did you know that one in ten people around the world will get sick after consuming contaminated food? On top of that, at least 400,000 people die each year from food poisoning alone. For food processing plants, that means safety and cleanliness are always ongoing concerns.

So how can automation help to improve food safety?
Most bacteria is spread around raw food packaging companies by workers. Therefore, by reducing human to human contact, machines can help to eliminate or at least limit cross-contamination.  

Robot Palletizer with floor

3. Greater levels of precision

Human mistakes are inevitable — no matter how skilled the member of staff. On fast, high volume production lines, these mistakes can create critical blockages or even cause irreparable damage.

Besides the risks of damage or stoppages, robotic or automated packaging systems allow for vastly higher levels of precision, especially in operations where weight calculations need to be made or labels added to packaging.

4. Reduced labor costs and lower expenses overall

Operating a commercial food processing facility is an expensive business. Staff need to be competent and reliable, which means large portions of the budget devoted to wages.
Although the investment cost of automation and robotics is initially very high, it quickly pays for itself in the long run, adding a layer of efficiency and speed that simply can’t be achieved by human staff.

Many people are concerned that automated systems will remove the need for human staff completely. Whilst this is a valid point, most robotic machines still require human operators, and can be thought of more as assistants, rather than fully fledged members of staff!

Peruza Robot packing solution for flowpacks

5. Reduced production line bottlenecks and downtime

Unlike humans, automated packaging machinery can be custom built to work with certain production lines or workflows. For the most part, that means errors and bottlenecks can be greatly reduced.
In addition to removing bottlenecks from production lines, robotic machinery will reduce downtime, because unlike human operators, machines will never need to take breaks or work for set amounts of time each day. It’s also worth mentioning that in a world governed by COVID-19 restrictions and lockdowns, robotics can often mean the difference between a production facility remaining functional or closing its doors for good.

Summing up

To achieve greater levels of efficiency, food packaging companies increasingly need to embrace automated and robotic systems. The global food supply chain is fragile, and with the industry becoming increasingly competitive, businesses can significantly reduce waste and overhead costs, whilst greatly increasing productivity.

Article sponsored by: Peruza

editorial@seafood.media
www.seafood.media

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