The growing adoption of robotics, coupled with breakthroughs in AI technology, are providing manufacturers with the packaging flexibility and efficiency they need.

“Many of the OEMs are addressing flexibility by integrating robotics on their equipment, mainly in primary packaging where robotics must handle delicate and sometimes un-uniform products, like in many cases with bakery, but for sure there are also many applications in secondary packaging and end of the line,” Jorge Izquierdo, vice president of marketing development, PMMI. 

Today’s robotics in combination with vision systems can more easily identify and account for these variations in baked goods when picking and placing them on a packaging line. Izquierdo expects to see many technologies like these out on the floor at Pack Expo.

“It’s a very popular solution, and we are finding a lot of that,” he said. 

In addition to increased flexibility, Michael King, director of packaging solutions, Weber, observed that robotics are enhancing packaging precision and reliability, reducing the variability associated with manual product handling, sorting and packaging.

Lenexa Manufacturing’s AL19 Bun Autoloader, for example, features improved sensor technology and smarter software integration, allowing for more consistent packaging with reduced error and downtime, said Anthony Dailey, engineering manager, Lenexa Manufacturing Co. 

“These technological upgrades not only improve the efficiency and speed of the packaging process but also contribute to lower operational costs and higher overall product quality,” he said.

King echoed this, noting vision systems have improved quality control of baked goods.

“AI-driven vision systems can inspect products for defects or inconsistencies at high speeds and with great accuracy,” King said. “This real-time quality control helps maintain high standards and reduces the likelihood of defective products reaching consumers.”

As vision-guided robotics continue to embed AI into their software, Becker said this technology will improve exponentially. 

“We are getting close to moving away from an exact black/white specification to one guided by AI when determining the characteristics of incoming product to a robotic system and how that system will inspect and package the product,” he explained.

Peet Geerlings, sales manager, Verhoeven Bakery Equipment Family, agreed that vision systems will only become smarter through all the data collected by AI.

“Quality and process controls are now easier to keep up with the changes,” he said.

For example, inspection, rejection, orientation and singulation can now be achieved in a single image with the latest vision systems, observed Hunter Schultheis, North Central sales manager, BluePrint Automation.

“This leads to smaller layouts with larger capabilities,” he said. 

AI is also helping address the skill gap by making robotics significantly easier to program, Izquierdo said. 

“You don’t need a highly qualified engineer to program a robot these days,” he said. “You’re able to manually drive the robot in terms of what it needs to do. Start here, end here, move here and then the robot will calculate the most efficient ways to do it. [AI] is learning what you want the robot to do and optimizing the way it does it.”

Still, AI is in its infancy, especially in the baking and snack industries, Dennis Gunnell, president of Formost Fuji, pointed out. Because of this, he recommended bakers at Pack Expo, to be held Nov. 3-6 in Chicago, study how other industries are using the technology. 

“How is it helping their business?” he said. “Making bread and making tortillas in a lot of ways isn’t exponentially different from making anything else. If you’re going out on the floor at Pack Expo, that’s what you’re trying to do: Open your eyes to things that you might not see elsewhere.”

Going forward, Gunnell said one of the biggest advancements the industry must make with robotics is the handling of variety packs. This would allow producers to package different product varieties at the same time. 

“If you’ve got to store 60,000 poppy seed muffins until you make 60,000 blueberry muffins, for example, that’s huge,” he said. “So how do we develop the technology and the ability to do all of those at once? That’s where I think you’re going to see some innovation. ‘How are we going to do variety packs and multipacks all within a small footprint?’ ”   

For producers looking to incorporate robotics onto their lines but at a lower capital investment, Geerlings recommended end-of-line cobots, which still offer those labor savings and flexibility but at a more affordable price point.

“Using cobots reduces investment costs and has a user-friendly HMI to flexibly respond to new requirements for packaging patterns,” Geerlings said.

This article is an excerpt from the October 2024 issue of Baking & Snack. To read the entire feature on Packaging Innovation, click here.