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.
Clemens Food Group’s Hatfield North facility was FE’s 2023 Plant of the Year Award winner for the project team’s vision and execution of improving business while focusing on human welfare.
Construction projects, like stories, tend to follow a regular, logical progression. Delivery systems vary, but they all typically start with a client’s need, selecting a project team, site visits, design meetings, groundbreaking and so on—but in the case of Hatfield North, the project began with the smokehouses.
You’ve automated your process and packaging and have computer-generated paper trails to show food safety and quality throughout your facility. Why wouldn’t you do the same with cleaning—wherever it’s practical? Granted, there are certain pieces of equipment you just have to take out of the process to clean manually, but for other components—like piping, some conveyor belting, certain pumps, mixers, tanks and other equipment—you can clean them in place (CIP) and have automated recordkeeping to show proof of cleaning and sanitation to regulating bodies when they ask.
Cannabis Products Insider recently spoke with Shar Puskala at Berlin Packaging and Charles Haverfield at U.S. Packaging and Wrapping, about different child resistance systems, the role of testing in compliance, and how to encourage child resistance without barring seniors from consuming cannabis products.