Food Processing: What are some of the current pain points in food processing that you see robots addressing right now?
TD: Labor scarcity is one of the large challenges that we are trying to address. We simply cannot get enough people on the factory floor. But also, we see food safety and hygiene as a continued focus area, with quality control, traceability, efficiency and productivity also key. We can do a lot throughout the whole value chain within the industries that we serve, which is fish, meat and poultry, all the way from live bird handling to the counter. However, within the team that I'm leading, we have a primary goal of focusing within what we call secondary processing.
FP: Thomas, could you elaborate on what you mean when you say secondary processing?
TD: Yes, so all primals are different: A fish, cow and bird are not the same size or shape. As soon as you start to do cut up and deboning, you need to handle these products differently. But then you start to enter the secondary processing part, where you are creating small, eatable pieces: a salmon portion, breast fillets, wings, steaks, etc. Then they start to look somewhat similar, and we can utilize these similarities and develop automated solutions. We can pack these products into trays, vacuum-sealed pouches or bags that you would see at the retail counter.
FP: How are you utilizing robots in that part of the process?
TD: We can use intelligent software, vision technology and AI to further improve the processes that we have — and we can do things with a robot that humans are not able to do. If you identify a specific pain point that you want to solve with the robot, we can create software that could bring even more value. Over time, the industry has introduced some solutions, but none combine the algorithms of packing on fixed weight and then placing the products quite beautifully in the tray without damaging the products. Now, imagine that we bring vision technology into the equation. What we can see, we can solve, so we can identify various qualities and then make smart decisions to combine different products into a certain pack format. So today, that identification is normally done by humans, but we don’t always see quality the same way. So let's say we created software for that purpose. Just imagine when software can see things that humans are not able to see — or at least are not able to see at the speed and capacity we use. That's going to be a game changer.
FP: What's the biggest differentiator for a robotics solution that would be used in food processing versus those used maybe in other industries?
TD: Well, food protection is obviously atop the list, as we are using these mechanical devices to handle our food. The grippers that we are using within the food industry are probably a lot more sophisticated than compared to other industries. We need to create grippers that handle products similar to how humans would, because we don't want the robot to damage the products. At the same time, we want to present them in a way that looks good at the counter, because it is the eyes that buy.
FP: Considering the advancements in gripper technology, how do processors pack sensitive proteins at a very high speed in many cases, without damaging the product?
TD: Grippers need to be very low in weight because a lot of force is put on the robotic arms to move at a specific speed and keep up with the rest of the processing line. We also need to make sure that these grippers are made of traceable material. Therefore, we put metal dust into our 3D-printed grippers. Over the years, we've introduced a lot of different technologies, from mechanical grippers with small belts to vacuum grippers that use vacuum to grab the products. We want to ensure that we have enough options available to handle a specific product in a specific way and optimize product handling. The robots are not unique, but when you put them together with a unique gripper, unique software and a unique vision technology like we do, we can gain a competitive advantage.
FP: With technology all advancing to where it is today, what is the future of human beings on the production floor look like to you going forward?
TD: Our overall goal is not to reduce the amount of people in production. We have labor scarcity in many places of the world in these industries, and as our population is growing, we need to work smarter, not harder, to process the amount of food that we are going to need in the future. Personally, I see a great collaboration between humans and robots. It will create more efficient setups. It will allow humans to further educate ourselves and also be focused on optimizing and ensuring safe and affordable meals to all of us. Also, remember, we can and we are using robots for tasks that are very tough work in the factories.
FP: Innovation is not a standstill thing, so what can we expect to see from Marel in the near future?
TD: We will see more solutions in the future where we optimize a current process — not necessarily replacing a process with robots, but more robots in between current processes — instead of packing products into trays, we really want to optimize other equipment. Right now, we're actually launching the RoboOptimizer, which is a solution with a designated task to pick up a chicken breast fillet and place it in a certain angle before it is cut into strips or burgers. Improving yield is also a high focus of our processors, and it's also a high focus of consumers, who don't want food waste. Finally, there are a lot of possibilities for us out there in vision technology, AI, deep learning, to create even further applications.
