PA C K A G I N G S O L U T I O N S Automatic ASSISTANCE Automation in packaging technology helps processors overcome labor and efficiency issues BY L U K A S S O U T H A R D | m e a t p o u l t r y @ s o s l a n d.c o m A 72 MEAT+ POULTRY | 01.21 | www.meatpoultry.com The pandemic has put even more focus on automation in processing plants to improve food and worker safety. Harpak-Ulma, based in Taunton, Mass., has developed a new master bag system that integrates the primary packaging of individually portioned meat and groups those products into large orders, known as masters, for shipping. The machine sorts the packages by SKU and groups them into masters without a human hand touching the oftendelicate package. Multivac Automated packaging machines allow processors to cut down on the amount of labor needed to run their lines. utomation is often described as a job killer, but robots and packaging machines are filling roles in the meat industry that are hard to staff and can even be dangerous for workers. Packaging companies are not just equipment peddlers selling palletizing robots anymore. Automation and robotics are integrating data collection and vision systems to minimize human error and reduce the need for repetitive tasks by workers by putting machines right on the line next to their human operators.http://www.meatpoultry.com