With robotics, it’s all about lightening the workload, especially in the packaging area where most bakeries typically employ the bulk of their personnel.

“When you're talking about labor, many companies are looking to end of line, especially with palletizing applications,” observed Jorge Izquierdo, vice president of market development, PMMI, the association for packaging and processing. “It requires a lot of hard work building those pallets. It’s one of a number of applications in terms of automation and where robotics are really shining.”

With wave after wave of workforce woes, food companies are also employing robots for loading cases, unloading pans and other arduous tasks.

Such heavy or repetitive lifting takes a toll on operators and heightens the risk for workers’ comp claims.

Amy Estrada, project manager at CRB Group, suggested the combination of labor savings and safety has made it easier to justify the expense of robots over the past few years.

“It’s important for bakeries to remember, though, that while robotics is automated, it certainly requires some level of skill to operate and service,” she pointed out. “Luckily, there are many companies that offer training programs for that purpose.”

Advances in technology, especially involving end effectors, enable robotics to handle a wider array of products, said Dave Watson, baking and snack subject matter expert and project manager with The Austin Co.

“The soft-grip technology now allows you to pick up very delicate products that maybe a suction cup in the past wasn't the right solution for,” he observed. “There’s also the ease of programming for robots. In the early days, it took a lot of effort to program a robot so that it could pick up a product and place it into the final container. With today’s technology, almost any operator can program a robot to appropriately pick up a piece and place it where necessary.”

Estrada said cobots also have become well known for their hybrid tooling that offers greater versatility to handle everything from cupcakes to pallets and safely work near employees across the bakery.

Jim Vortherms, senior director, control systems integration at CRB Group, added that today’s robotics and cobots are simpler to program and maintain.

“It is pretty easy actually to get those programmed these days versus what it was when they first came out,” he said. 

He added that more bakeries and snack producers will look into adopting the technology as robotics become more intuitive to start up and operate as well as more affordable.

This article is an excerpt from the March 2024 issue of Baking & Snack. To read the entire feature on Smart Manufacturing, click here.