Automation, artificial intelligence and robotics are becoming a staple of food and beverage processing, and the pet food market is no different. Processors are exploring ways to integrate these technologies throughout the process, from the time ingredients come in the door until the time finished product is loaded on a truck.

But one of the challenges of automating food production is that ingredients and products aren’t always a consistent size and shape. That adds a degree of difficulty to automating the entire production process as opposed to one aspect of it such as palletizing.