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Machinery Integration

If your company is responsible for producing food and beverages, there’s a good chance that you’re looking to vastly improve productivity without compromising quality. You might already be working with some automated solutions, so you already appreciate the benefits. At ETG, we specialise in designing and developing state-of-the-art machinery integration technologies, among other advanced manufacturing technologies.

We can assist you in all regards, from process and product consultancy to build-to-print and whole-line solutions. Automated equipment is a great way to increase productivity while reducing the number of errors and improving repeatability. With ETG working by your side, we can work to devise equipment that’s tailored to your requirements. We also offer unbeatable levels of support and can deploy products to any location around the globe.

If you would like to discuss your requirements further with a member of our team, don’t hesitate to call us on 02476 428 500. You can also get in touch by clicking on our contact page where you’ll find our online form as well as contact details for our offices in Germany, China, and the USA.

How Automation Works in The Food and Beverage Industry

When it comes to the food and beverage industry, two factors are very important – speed and precision. If your equipment is generating a lot of waste, producing products of sub-standard quality, or struggling to keep up with production quotas, it’s time for an upgrade. Machinery integration works by automating certain processes formerly performed by people. In doing so, you vastly increase productivity as these machines can go much faster than even the most experienced worker.

Not only that, but these machines help improve levels of precision dramatically, essentially eliminating human error and ensuring quality and uniformity with all products produced. This greatly aids with repeatability, allowing for mass runs to be carried out in a very short space of time, ensuring production quotas are met.

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Machinery Integration for Food and Beverage

Here at ETG, we develop concepts for as well as design and build machines for a whole host of sectors, including food and beverage. Packing automation, for example, is one vital area where precision, speed, and repeatability are all necessary. A single piece of packing technology can quickly make short work of packing an entire run of any product in a fraction of the time it would take by hand. And the packed items will all have the same uniform appearance, with no irregularities.

Robotic processes are vital, which is why we have 4- and 6-axis industrial robots which we can customise to your specific requirements. These robots are highly advanced, designed to assist in a range of manufacturing processes. They can be easily programmed to perform the desired function and are fully automated, so you can leave the machine to take care of the repetitive, time-consuming tasks. And as these robots move on four- and six-axis, they are very versatile.

Food and Beverage Services

There’s no doubt that machinery integration is essential for the food and beverage industry. The ability to assemble, label, pick up and place items ensures the function of a workforce can be easily carried out. This allows you to operate a production line with less manpower. Not only that, but it vastly improves health and safety; robots can be used to handle processes that could potentially be dangerous.

Our robots are designed to work quickly without compromising quality or precision. They have a high capacity to deal with even complex tasks associated with the process. This ensures the highest standards are consistently met.

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Improve Machinery Integration

If you’d like to find a way to improve machinery integration while scaling up your automated processes, we’d be delighted to speak to you. We deliver on ROI thanks to our expeditious 5-step production strategy (Develop, Design, Deploy, Data Capture). If you’re looking to significantly lower manpower and resource allocation while maintaining or scaling up operations, we can assist with the execution of this goal. We’ll meet with you to discuss your requirements in more detail before coming up with a solution that’ll deliver fully on these requirements.

Automation Solutions

Packing automation is just one of the many outstanding machine-based solutions we can offer here at ETG. Designed with the purpose of improving productivity and precision, our advanced manufacturing technologies will enable you to compete with any other company, meeting demand and being able to scale up or down production as required. In this industry, time is of the essence, especially when dealing with perishable items.

The ability to deliver products quickly to meet consumer demand while maintaining quality and food safety levels is essential. Fortunately, our packaging solutions are of the highest quality available. And not only that, but we can devise other automated solutions, from robotic processes to fully automated glazing solutions and more.

Food and Beverage Automation

As we’ve stated already in this article, companies throughout the food and beverage industry are under constant pressure to lower costs while maintaining or even increasing production levels. Balancing this need with food safety and quality control can be almost impossible unless you fully automated your processes. From increased efficiency to improved traceability and health and safety, food safe robotics are very much the future of the industry.

Many companies are looking to increase their level of industrial automation in the coming years. The problem is that most companies don’t know where to start. We touch on staff training below and how implementing new technologies should have a profound impact on how you do things. If there’s no impact, then you’ve likely invested in a technology you didn’t need. So, how do you make an informed decision?

As well as build-to-print and whole-line solutions, we can also provide product and process consultancy. Note that this is included as part of our whole-line service but can also be provided as a stand-alone service. We’ll guide you through the automation selection process, seeking to clearly understand your problem, the need to solve it, and how we are placed to do

Food Safe Robotics

Food safe robotics are becoming increasingly commonplace throughout the food and beverage sector. They can be involved in all stages of the process, from preparing to cooking, sorting, packaging, and palletising. Not only do they save time and space, but they also boost food safety. The simple matter is that human contact with food is significantly reduced. Robots are easier than ever now to program, clean, and sanitise, ensuring contamination levels are virtually non-existent.

When it comes to food handling and washdown environments, human workers cannot compete with the versatility of food safe robotics. Such robots are designed and built in-line with food handling safety regulations. And unlike a human worker who might ignore certain rules to save time or make life easier, a robot will abide by these rules 100% of the time.

Smart Manufacturing

With the world changing in drastic ways, manufacturers are looking for ways to build flexibility into the plant, create visibility within the supply chain, and add transparency to the process. They are looking to do this in a way that meets government mandate and corporate sustainability goals while fostering consumer trust. Through automation, data integration, analytics, simulation, and energy sourcing, it’s possible to transform your facility into a smart manufacturing facility.

The idea is to incorporate cutting-edge machinery that interconnects operations and the supply chain in order to create a smart food solution. To learn more about smart manufacturing and how it can benefit your business, speak to ETG.

Industry Challenges

There are three challenges associated with integrated technologies that automate processes, and these include:

  • Staff Training
  • Initial Cost
  • Security

Naturally, implementing any new technologies will require re-training your staff. These technologies impact your business, changing the way it functions and operates. There should be a noticeable change; otherwise, you might have invested in something you don’t need. Training your staff means factoring in costs, bringing them up to speed with its use so you can make full use of the benefits.

The initial cost is another factor, from the initial outlay for the software or machinery to maintenance costs. It’s worth noting that while the initial cost might be high, the long-term benefits will ensure you’ll soon benefit financially from your investment. Finally, security; as technology evolves and new, more advanced machines are developed, some might be insecure, given how new they are.

This last one is actually largely false. Newer technologies have the latest systems and receive constant updates, making them very secure. In fact, older technologies are more likely to leave you exposed as they are no longer supported.

Optimise Operations to Improve Performance

So, as you’ve likely deduced by now, automated solutions are necessary for optimising operations in order to improve performance. As the industry grows, so too does demand. More and more businesses are rising to meet this demand, so if you wish to remain competitive, you need to modernise your processes. Just some of the benefits of our advanced manufacturing technologies can be found listed directly beneath this section with further elaboration below.

Benefits of Machinery Integration

There are various benefits of choosing to integrate automated technologies into food and beverage processing, such as:

  • Enhances Traceability
  • Standardises Quality Control
  • Improves Workplace Safety
  • Increases Efficiency
  • Protects Your Brand’s Image
  • Provides Flexibility

Machinery for the Food and Beverage Industry

As you can tell from the above information, automated technologies are certainly highly beneficial when used in the food and beverage processing industry. These machines can be applied in almost any area of a production facility, from the primary packaging area in either the raw materials and preparation areas or the secondary packaging area.

At ETG, we’re immensely proud to work with clients to supply them with machine options that greatly enhance their production processes. If you’d like to learn more about us as a company or how our automated solutions can benefit you, keep reading or get in touch with our team today.

Why Choose ETG?

When you’re in the market for automated technologies, it can be tricky knowing who to turn to. Founded in 1972, ETG is now entering its 49th year of operation. For nearly half a century, we’ve assisted countless businesses looking to automate their production processes through the implementation of bespoke advanced manufacturing technologies. We tailor our service, providing product and process consultancy, build-to-print, or whole-line services to suit our clients’ needs.

Our global reach and vast capabilities have amassed us a loyal client base, many of whom wouldn’t hesitate to recommend our services to friends, family, and associates. Not to mention that our reach also means that we can deploy products to almost any location in the world and even provide full remote support. Our service is affordable too, so you can derive complete peace of mind that you’ve chosen the right company.

Machine Safety

The beauty of using automated technologies is that they greatly improve machine safety. Traditionally manufacturing processes would have all machines operated by people. This can often lead to accidents resulting in the human operator receiving minor or even serious injuries. Even workplace fatalities can occur if mistakes are made on a production line. Automated technologies take over this process entirely, meaning human operators are simply required to oversee the robotic processes.

Automation for Workflow

By using a machine in place of a human worker, the impact on efficiency, scalability, and quality control will be immediately apparent. The simple fact is that automation can help businesses achieve far greater results in terms of productivity, repeatability, and product quality with fewer workers. This is important as there exist many thin margins in the food and beverage industry. You might find your operations need to be scaled up suddenly to cope with demand during specific seasons or because of certain events or trends.

You still need to maintain your brand’s identity and the quality you’ve become known for. Even if you’re selling more products, this temporary upscale can hurt your bottom line. This is where automation helps as it can be scaled up or down without needing additional manpower.

Improve Manufacturing

Less contact with the product is needed by human workers, which greatly improves food quality standards. Packing is far less likely to be contaminated by a simple sneeze or innocuous cough. The number of points of contact is limited, as is potential delay, variability, or downtime. And as productivity is scaled up and the amount of space required can actually be scaled down; as you won’t need spaces for human workers to manage the machine processes.

Uniformity of Products

Through automation, it’s a lot easier to maintain the uniformity of products. There are various touchpoints throughout the process, from supply to production and distribution. A serious misstep or even a minor one can impact your brand’s image. This could be shoddy packaging, contaminated food, poor quality, etc. Automation allows you to pick up on issues earlier in the process and ensure these are corrected. This makes it easier to standardise the entire process, ensuring complete uniformity.

Improve Efficiency

Increased efficiency is arguably one of the most important reasons to have a machine take care of production. When set up and deployed correctly, automation can help greatly increase the speed of your production process, making it faster than if you relied solely on human workers. In the food industry, time is precious as demand is constant and delayed production could result in more waste being generated. Automation improves quality, increases profits, lowers operational costs, and allows you to increase supply to meet demand.

Sustainability

Crucially, machinery helps improve sustainability as you’re able to maintain levels of productivity indefinitely with no drop-off whatsoever. There’s also traceability to consider; when coupled with analytics, automation helps improve traceability of raw materials and foods from the field all the way to fulfilment. Almost no manual input is needed; foods can be tracked, providing a clear oversight of what’s happening at every stage of production.

This capability is hugely important for companies that process perishable foods and beverages and allows for improved supply chain management, highlighting inefficiencies and unnecessary expenses.

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Contact Us

Suppose you’d like to get in touch to discuss your requirements in more details. Then pick up the phone and call ETG today on 02476 428 500. If you’re looking to contact us in Germany, China, or the USA, click on our contact page. Here, you’ll find contact details for our different locations as well as our online contact form.

Contact the Machinery Integration Experts

So, now that you’ve had a chance to read up more about machinery integration, we hope that you now know who the best team to call is – ETG. Our capabilities are impressive, and our ability to devise, develop and deploy solutions is unmatched. The key to being more productive while eliminating human error and greatly improving repeatability is to invest in automated technologies. That’s where we come in!

Whether you’re fresh out of ideas, already have a concept in mind but wish to work with a different manufacturer, or you require a whole-line solution, we have you covered.