AI/MACHINERY/AUTOMATION
Covering all bases
Grote is a pioneer of sandwich assembly line equipment, with an exciting arrival. So, we got the lowdown from director of technology, John Truscott. Tell us about your latest automation innovation for food to go? It uses robotics to place tortilla wraps onto a high-speed production line. Many FTG products start the manufacturing process with a base: bread for sandwiches, flour tortillas for wraps, naan for a flatbread sandwich. Wraps are manually sorted from a bulk container and placed on a production line by the operator, who has to maintain the pitch and speed of the line. We’ve automated this process. Stacks of wraps are placed on the in-feed and scanned by our 3D-vision system, which recognises the shape of individual products from the stack. The robot can then pick out individual tortillas or slices of bread, understand their shape, and place them in the best alignment to optimise the automatic placement of ingredients further down the line. This not only saves labour but improves product quality and throughput. The machine can feed the line with between 4080ppm. The first machine of this type was completed in 2023 and integrated into a collaborative wrap line which
included slicing, automatic depositing and robotic wrap cutting. We are developing the technology and working on applications for burrito, pizza and other sandwich production. Let’s discuss your relationships with key players in the sector. We’re a long-standing trusted supplier in the UK and designed this technology for the UK FTG market. We also have a lot of interest in robotics and automation from key players outside the UK. We’re learning about regional differences in FTG and using the power of robotics and our endeffector technology to easily adapt to these changes. It’s exciting! How has Grote responded to the world post-Covid? The pandemic was a great disruptor. The aftershocks of reduced labour and component shortages greatly impacted the industry. I would say that we are getting back to normal, and the availability of labour is not the only driver for automation. Innovation is key to staying on top.
AI and robotic machinery are certainly hot topics. We’ve been developing robotic technology for years. There have been elements of AI and machine learning within our robotics from conception. Our vision systems allow the robot to adapt to changes in each individual product run on our production lines. AI is an overused term, but true AI – where the machine can come to a decision independent of the programmer’s knowledge – would be a powerful element to explore. For example, some operators can grab a handful of prawns and be accurate to a few grams, but others struggle without the use of a check scale. We could train a robot, without us needing to understand the visual clues used, to estimate the weight. The robot could learn this new skill without us learning it first! Are you seeing patterns in terms of machinery and innovation? There has been so much economic change, the industry’s management has been very reactive. The future is becoming more stable and the opportunities for leaders to champion innovation are becoming easier. The tech is maturing but the applications are constantly changing. New customers all over the world want to work with an established, reputable supplier like Grote. Our experience means they are no longer investing in high-risk technology. What are your ambitions for 2024? To make Grote’s advancements in technology a standard part of many of the industry’s efficient production lines.
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