Baking & Snack - April 2023 - 90

ROBOTICS
consider automated-guided vehicles (AGVs) or laserguided
vehicles (LGVs), which can be used to automatically
move " load units " from one location to another.
" We apply our AGVs and LGVs to common logistical
bakery tasks, such as transporting baking pans between
storage and robotic stackers/unstackers, supporting
the robots through pan storage and retrieval of each
pan type as required, " he explained. " They can transport
troughs between mixers and the fermentation room or
baskets throughout the bakery - empty from the dock
to the unstackers and full from the production line back
to the shipping dock. "
With robotics being used throughout bakeries, be
sure to check their level of sanitation standards, especially
if a system is being used in food production that
had previously been used in the packaging department.
" You can buy many robots that are full washdown
models that were designed to be used in USDA or other
high sanitation areas, " Mr. Hoskins said. " However, the
industry is moving the target with respect to what is a
high sanitation area. So traditional packaging robots
that have been limited to no sanitary characteristics are
being implemented into areas that 10 years ago were not
considered sanitary areas, but they are today. "
He expects robotic suppliers will adapt to this new
sanitary standard and create opportunities for these robots
to meet the higher sanitary requirements.
Overall, Mr. Calorio said, companies are now looking
for robotics with a maximum ROI of two to three years.
However, it all depends on the application, the degree of
complexity and the tools involved to do the system right.
" In bakeries, we deal with products that are essentially
'alive' due to proofing and changing their shapes, even
during baking, " he said. " It is essential to have knowledge
of the products to avoid damaging them, especially
when they're running at high speeds. "
For bakeries that don't have the large capital budget
Top: Collaborative
robots are designed for
palletizing lightweight
cartons of baked
goods.
AAA20 Group
Bottom: End-of-arm
tooling can gently pick
up fragile products
and automatically
place them in various
packaging formats.
ABI Ltd.
" Cobots are designed to somewhat mimic the behavior
and speed of a human worker, " he said.
In addition, Mr. Bobyk said, the Baker-Bot comes
with toolless changeover of end effectors.
" If you have several cobots on a line, they can all be
performing different tasks and help with the labor crisis
we are dealing with in the baking industry, " he observed.
" They are also very easy to use, just like using a
smart phone. "
Cobots can decorate cupcakes, bars and cookies, or
move trays and pans from a rack or cart to a conveyor.
" They remove these physical tasks from your production
workers and perform them all day long without a
single complaint, " Mr. Bobyk said.
For heavier lifting, Mr. Mentch said, bakers might
90 Baking & Snack April 2023 / www.bakingbusiness.com
for a major investment, Ms. Mallouk suggested exploring
Robotics as a Service (RaaS) where companies can
essentially rent a robotic system to see if it fits their operations.
With RaaS, the robotic company sets up a system
and maintains it. The bakery just pays an hourly fee,
which can be expensive, but it frees up cash and takes
the risk out of investing in robotics. If bakers want to
purchase the system, they can do so after a trial period.
" There's no commitment, " Ms. Mallouk explained.
" It's like Amazon Prime. You can return it whenever you
want, buy it or keep paying rent. "
When it comes to baking, why not let the machines
do all of the heavy lifting and boring work? Using cobots
and robots will also make employees' jobs easier and
allow them to take on new tasks that bring back many
happy returns in more ways than one.
*
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Baking & Snack - April 2023

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