This article is part one of three in a series focused on helping food processors learn more about HE robotics integration, including the history behind food-grade robotics, the benefits of robotics and tips on vetting integrators and robotics producers.
More than ever, food processing organizations face a number of challenges that make it harder for them to meet product demand without increasing prices significantly.
Labor shortages, increased labor costs and increased downtime due to illness are a few of the biggest issues.
Unfortunately, not only have these issues been plaguing food processors for a couple years now, there’s no definitive end in sight. Which means food processors have a choice–accept this as the new status quo and hope it fixes itself before it’s too late or take steps to overcome the challenges and further ensure their organization’s resilience through future challenges.
EnSight Solutions and Stäubli Robotics have a solution to help with the latter–robotics.
Read on to learn more!
Our Companies
EnSight Solutions has a long history of helping food processors overcome daily challenges with unique equipment and integration solutions. We’ve proudly helped some of the world’s largest food processing companies increase their production efficiency and quality.
While EnSight has been, and always will be, a trusted source for food processors, Stäubli has a more varied history.
The Switzerland-based company was founded in 1892 as a textile machinery manufacturer. Over the years, they became the leading textile machinery manufacturer in the world–about 80% of the fabrics in the world today are woven on high-speed Stäubli dobbies or jacquard machines.
In 1982, Stäubli applied their mechanical engineering and technology prowess to robotics. Just like they did with their textile division, they grew the robotics division to become one of the top five mechatronics organizations in the world today. Then, in the early 2000s, they expanded again, this time into the food processing industry.
At that time, some of Europe’s largest food processing organizations approached Stäubli and asked if it could build high-speed, high-precision robots for the food processing industry. The processors weren’t looking for palletizers, either, but rather robotics solutions that would work on the primary side of their organization.
Before that, no companies offered a robot that could function and survive in the harsh hygienic environment (HE) of a food processing facility. Stäubli took the challenge and partnered with the European Hygienic Engineering & Design Group (EHEDG) to develop the world’s first washdown-capable robotics system.
Today, EnSight Solutions and Stäubli are proud to partner together to offer food processors high-speed, high-precision and high-quality robotics solutions to overcome labor shortages, labor cost increases and efficiency issues.
HE Robotics Robots
What makes a food-processing specific robotics solution different from a “regular” robot?
A lot.
As every food processor can attest, the primary side of the industry is tough on machines. Not only do they need to be washdown capable, but they also have to stand up to the tough cleaning chemicals the processor uses to sanitize everything, and then they have to continue functioning.
Stäubli HE Series robots can do that with ease.
These robots feature pressurized arms to ensure no water or moisture of any kind can get into the inner workings and degrade the machine. They also have special seals to further mitigate moisture intrusion.
Every robot in the line also features a special coating that won’t flake or chip and can stand up to chemicals across virtually the entire pH range. This means an organization can wash down their robots the same way they do the rest of their equipment without worrying about ruining them.
In today’s challenging food processing environment, more and more organizations are turning to robotics to help ease their labor and efficiency troubles. It’s not just the bigger companies, either. Smaller organizations have easily proven the ROI on robotics and reaped the benefits of integrating robotics systems into their processes.
In part two of the Robotics Integration series, we’ll take a look at how robotics can help organizations overcome challenges, ensuring they’re the right choice for food processors of all sizes.
EnSight Solutions is a Stäubli Robotics Strategic Partner. This means that food processors can rest assured that when they work with our companies, they’re working with two organizations who are dedicated to helping processors overcome their challenges together.
If you’re interested in learning more about EnSight, Stäubli and our robotics integration services, please contact us.