Robot and Cobot Technology Transform Food Operations
Large- and medium-sized food companies are struggling to find workers and this trend is not going away. So food manufactures are turning to robot/cobot applications to solve new and old problems on the plant floor, while increasing productivity in the post-covid workforce.
Small- and mid-size food businesses/manufacturers (SMBs) are in dire need of automated solutions for end-of-line packaging, primary packaging or processing. “Graybeards” have a considerable presence in manufacturing, and “10,000 boomers reach retirement age every day and represent 27% of the U.S. manufacturing workforce,” according to 2022 Bureau of Labor, Delottie and PEW Research. Plus, companies are experiencing a skills gap with the existing workforce, while also having challenges attracting younger workers to manufacturing jobs.
These workforce issues are minimized by food executives, too. “The interesting thing is if you watch the food segment, we've all been aware that labor's going to be an issue,” says Joe Campbell, senior manager of applications development and strategic marketing at Universal Robots. “However, there are still so many senior people who believe it's a short-term problem.”