Meat+Poultry - June 2019 - 96

PA C K A GING SOLUTIONS

96

2019 AUTOMATION TRENDS + TECHNOLOGY MEAT+ POULTRY

Multivac's full-line integrated robotic solutions
maximize line efficiency
in any operation.

AUTOMATION CONSIDERATIONS
The most common reason Multivac's customers
consider automation is not only cost of labor but
also the availability of labor, Chaudhry says.
"Most large meat processors are typically
located in remote areas with a thin labor force,"
he adds.
As such, Multivac automation solutions
increase productivity, quality and safety - typically the top three key performance indicators
for meat processors, Chaudhry says.
Research has shown that implementation of
one robot with an investment cost of $250,000,
substituting two manual-labor positions at a
$50,000 per year burdened rate offers return on
investment (ROI) at just under two years, he says.
"That ROI may further decrease if additional
benefits of robot automation are considered
such as less product waste, higher hygienic standards (no human contamination) and product
consistency," Chaudhry says.
According to Vause at Soft Robotics, the
three key benefits of his company's solutions
for the meat and poultry industry are pickability,
rate, and food safety/cleanability.

Multivac

interface screens.
"We've eliminated all possible areas for bacteria to build up," Souser says. "There is an important distinction between equipment that is capable of wash-down environments and equipment
that is also hygienic. Our equipment is intended
to be both wash capable and hygienic."
Additionally, Souser says the company's PIVT
automatic leak detection system is ideal for
packages that contain brine or juice, such as hot
dogs, sliced luncheon meats and sausages. The
system uses a combination of vacuum, vision
and other sensors to find package seal contamination, leaks and pinholes.
"This inspection system has helped several
processors reduce product waste," he says.
Bedford, Massachusetts-based Soft Robotics
designs and manufactures robotic gripping
systems for the automation of raw protein
primary and secondary packaging.
"Designed to pick items with the same dexterity
as the human hand, our solution enables instant
productivity by adapting to the variable and delicate nature of raw protein without any sensors,
computer programming, tool changes or downtime," says Carl Vause, CEO of Soft Robotics.
Soft Robotics' food and beverage grippers
are also safe for food contact, he says, as they
are fully sealed and validated for ingress protection, keeping products safe from contamination
and bacteria.
Another company, Kansas City, Missouribased Multivac, has been offering automation

solutions for both primary and secondary packaging for more than a decade.
"Whether it's through product loading into a
packaging machine using high-speed delta robots
or case packing and palletizing, through automation, Multivac's full-line integrated solutions
maximize line efficiency," says Waheed Chaudhry,
automation project sales engineer for Multivac.
Multivac also offers various vision systems
to supplement robotic automation, with the
most common being the line scan vision systems
that "look" at a product as it travels through a
camera's field of view.
"The vision system can offer very basic data
such as product presence, product orientation,"
Chaudhry says. "More complex vision systems,
as part of the Multivac portfolio, offer higherlevel inspections, which can detect product and
package flaws."
These vision systems tend to require a considerable amount of data processing power as well
as programming to narrow the inspection parameters such as certain flaws in the package seal
area, he adds.
"Otherwise, the vision system can pick up
every little micro feature that may not affect the
integrity of the seal but may produce a false positive," Chaudhry says.
Meat+Poultry - June 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Meat+Poultry - June 2019
