Robotic Automation in Food & Beverage Industry

Robotic Food Handling Packaging Beef

Robotic Food Handling System

Automated Bottle Filling System Process

For companies in the food and beverage industry around the globe, JR Automation is a leader of innovation. As a key partner to the largest food and beverage manufacturers, we design and support fully customizable solutions from concept and validation to service and support.

How Automation Works in the Food and Beverage Industry

Food and beverage automation is the strategic integration of technology across many processes. Food companies can streamline and optimize their processes using vision-guided robotic arms, automated guided vehicles, delta robots, and advanced inspection systems to guarantee rigorous food safety and quality standards, save labor costs and meet an ever-growing demand.

Today’s modern food plants have a tough challenge. They need to produce high-quality products at high volume while containing costs. Thankfully, automation can help companies reach those goals and scale with companies as the industry grows. Food companies can integrate factory automation equipment for primary packaging, secondary packaging like case packers and tray packers, and material handling robotics for shipping. Now, almost every stage of food packaging can be improved with automation.

Random Mixed Depalletization with 3D Vision

Improving Sanitation with Automation

The more human contact with food products, the more the risk of contamination. Automated equipment limits the amount of human contact on food and beverages during packaging. Further, as technology advances to become more flexible and configurable, companies can improve logistics and quality.

Benefits of Using Automation in Food and Beverage

Automation will continue to transform food and beverage manufacturing companies throughout the supply chain and to their customer’s door. To fulfill their promises to customers, companies need to be agile, efficient, and safe. Integrating automated equipment in critical areas of production improves quality, efficiency, ergonomics, and sanitation.

Benefits of Automated Food Packaging Processes

Consumer packaged goods companies need accurate and repeatable packaging processes. Individual packaging at high-cycle rates can be challenging, so companies that use robotics in their packaging lines can improve their throughput, efficiency, and quality. From raw product handling to primary packaging, secondary packaging, and palletizing, robotics has proven a high return on investment.

Companies have successfully deployed delta, or six-axis robots and advanced sensors to complete material handling, sealing, packaging, and palletizing in compact footprints. Vision-guided robotics are ideal for completing repetitive tasks such as bottle handling, bin picking, and tray loading quickly and efficiently. With the ecommerce boom, demand for varied pack counts and elaborate packaging is only increasing. Robotics are flexible, and planners can reconfigure the line at the computer to meet your goals. Opportunities for robotics in food packaging grow every year. The food industry has robust requirements for quality, speed, and profitability. Automation is not only an advantage anymore, it’s becoming a necessity.

Why Choose JR Automation

JR Automation has the size and experience you need for large production lines. Whether you want to explore automation in material handling, assembly, or packaging, our engineers can build on our existing designs or create a custom solution. Our experience includes automating processes like flex feeding, sealing, case packing, palletizing, and more. We have the capacity and size to complete projects quickly. We’re available for consulting, designing, and deploying automated solutions for big and small food and beverage applications.

JR Automation delivers safety in a hurry for global food manufacturer

JR Automation was honored to partner with another customer in the fight against Covid-19. After hearing of our work with General Motors on their mask line, Hershey approached us to build a mask line for them as well. We were able to use the same design, which helped ensure another rapid deployment.

Read more about our rapid solution

Hershey Mask Production Line - Powered by JR Automation

PRODUCT EXPERTISE

Whether you want to make pies, sort fruit, package a perishable product, or more, we have the solution for you. Our expertise includes providing equipment, facilities expertise, and products to ensure our customers follow good manufacturing practices, safeguarding consumers, and providing high-quality products. Our food packaging and processing environment expertise includes high-pressure, high-temperature, and caustic washdown.

We meet hygienic requirements, controlling environmental conditions to prevent cross-contamination, and create a validation process to ensure consistency and compliance with specifications. Our improved traceability means better batch control and recall procedures.

Our machines and equipment expertise include:

Delta robots

Case packers

Cartoners

Sleevers

Palletizers

Ready-to-eat food packaging

Retail ready

Aseptic packaging

Primary packaging

Secondary packaging

Mechanical palletizing

Robotic palletizing

Collaborative robots

Food quality inspection

Traceability

Metal detectors and X-ray inspection

Seal inspection and seal checkers

Scales and checkweighers

Cartoning

Labeling

Autonomous mobile robot (AMR)

Form fill seal (vertical and horizontal)

Conveyance

Dispensing

Experience By product

Coffee

Poultry

Beef and pork

Dairy packaging

Snack

Raw meat processing

Bottling and filling

Confectionary

Prepared foods

Co-packaging

Powder Fill

Pillow and stick pack

Sachet

Condiment packaging

Soup can processing

Bottle sterilization

Baked goods packaging

Egg pasteurization

Fast food products

Food freshness sensor systems

Validation

Validating performance

In a fast-paced and heavily-regulated environment, validation ensures the performance of critical processes and systems. We design our services based on industry standards and regulations. Our validation procedures use a risk-based approach, eliminating redundant testing to focus on functionalities that could damage the quality of your finished product. We can approach the validation process using our own documented procedures or yours. As a result, you get customized solutions designed and tested to meet all your needs, your way.

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Regulatory Manufacturing for Food & Beverage

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Global Engineering Facilities

People on our team

Industry 4.0

Adapt to Industry 4.0

Industry is evolving again. We're in the age of intelligent production, where system integrations and data analysis drive innovation. We call this Industry 4.0. Today, automated production alone is no longer enough to stay competitive. Leading manufacturers are upgrading obsolete systems to collect and analyze data to optimize production, minimize risk, and reduce downtime. Our Advanced Applications team will help you understand and deploy the newest technologies into your solutions, so you're ready for the future, today.

Freshness Indicator Tag Production System

CASE STUDY

Assembly System is "Certified Fresh"

A customer required a system to make freshness indicator tags. The challenge was to design and build a solution that was able to continuously and ultrasonically weld together polypropylene webs, while simultaneously forming, filling, and sealing a pair of liquid pouches. The seal in the web pouches was required to be both hermetical and frangible.

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Technical Capabilities Involed:

welding applications
plastics processing
dispense applications
assembly solutions

View Full Case Study|Freshness Indicator Tag Production System

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Our Approach

How we work

We know solutions aren't an individual effort. Innovation is a team sport. Our project teams include engineers, builders, electricians, program managers, and—most importantly—you. Through thoughtful and dynamic collaboration, we create custom solutions and never give up on delivering results.

come see for yourself

Visit one of our global facilities to meet our team and see what our engineers are working on.

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Diverse Industry Experience

A world of experience

We're always learning new and better ways to meet our customers' evolving needs. Sharing knowledge across industries gives our cross-functional teams broader, more creative problem-solving skills. We apply the latest technology, innovative thinking, and decades of specialized experience to our work designing custom automation solutions for leaders in nearly every global industry.

Certified excellence

ISO 9001:2015 certified

ITAR certified facility

RIA certified robot integrator

Authorized FANUC system integrator

Authorized ABB robotics integrator

Yaskawa Premier Partner

Qmed Qualified Supplier

MEET OUR TEAM

Jim and his team advocate for our customers

Our global sales force is dedicated to making sure that the customer comes first and that we remain as their advocates every step of the way, from initial concept through installation and beyond.

Let’s start a conversation

JR Automation partners with the world's leading manufacturers to design, build, and integrate custom automation solutions. Time and again, we've proven that hard work and creativity can uncover opportunities others never thought possible.

Email us: [email protected]

Call us: (833) 800-7630