With robotics becoming a more viable alternative for food and beverage applications, the number of plug-and-play robotic solutions that are supported by industrial automation company Omron’s latest machine automation platform, Sysmac, is increasing, says Omron GM South Africa Victor Marques.

Omron motion specialist Evert Janse van Vuuren explains that greater integration between Omron’s Sysmac platform, robotics systems and computer numerically controlled systems is continuously taking place. In machine vision, Marques states, algorithms are advancing to become faster and more precise. Subsequently, this enables customers to produce at a much greater pace without sacrificing quality.

Janse van Vuuren says these technological advancements in the food and beverage industry have led to greater accuracy and response times from motion controllers. Further, Marques adds, highly precise and accurate solutions reduce waste, improve quality and ultimately help increase production output.

He notes that the company has developed and released a range of innovative technologies, known as Omron Adept Robotic Solutions, which include SCARA, a flexible picking system; Delta, a speed-picking system; articulated robots for machining, assembly and materials handling; and the company’s high-end vision controllers.

Commenting on the industrial food and beverage solutions market in South Africa, Marques states that, as the population increases, along with the middle class, so will the demand for food production and packaging solutions. He adds that, it is important to many customers that their purchased goods are packaged and labelled in a specific way.

He says the adoption of new technology in the local food and beverage industrial automation market can sometimes be a challenge, as clients do not always have a complete understanding of the technology. Thus, it is a continuing challenge for the company to enable its clients to realise the potential benefits of Omron’s advanced systems before implementation.

It is often difficult to convince a traditional production manager that machine vision or robots can add significant value, but, once clients have adopted Omron’s technology solutions, the results speak for themselves, he adds.

The company provides technical support for local original-equipment manufacturers and system integration companies in the food and beverage sector, and has a strong distribution and system integration network which is actively working to support the industry as a whole, says Marques.

Other Products
In June, Omron introduced the Colour Mark Photoelectric Sensor E3S-DC Series and Colour Fibre Amplifier Unit E3NX-CA Series that are targeted to service food and beverage makers faced with increasing difficulty in detecting colour marks printed on diverse product packages.

Faced with increasingly diversified consumer needs, the food and beverage industry is developing new products almost on a daily basis, diversifying packaging materials and designs in the process. Given such circumstances, manufacturers have been looking for a sensor capable of detecting, stably and simply, colour marks printed on all sorts of materials in order to keep their plant running stably.

The E3S-DC and E3NX-CA can stably detect colour marks that are printed on glossy or colourful materials with subtle differences in colours that were previously difficult to detect, cutting back on the time necessary to start production and do maintenance work, contributing to an overall productivity increase in the packaging process.