Unlike many of our European opposite number , the UK has been slow to automate . But a perfect tempest of Brexit and Covid-19 is set to tight - track our robotics rotation . Here , David Jahn , Director of Brillopak , explains how 2021 is poised to become the twelvemonth that robotlike arms in conclusion replace human hands at nutrient fabrication sites ’ end of line of reasoning wadding cognitive operation .
Loss of labourSince the other noughties , the UK has relied on a firm watercourse of cheap European workers to support our nutrient and agricultural sectors . But following the EU referendum in 2016 , these numbers have been dwindling ; in 2019 , the ONS reported that National Insurance numeral allocated to EU citizen send away by 28 % from 2015 , and arrivals of EU citizen be after to spend at least 12 months in the UK lessen by 34 % . The offer of a seasonal chore with gloomy pay , long hours and accommodation that take the applier aside from their homes and families for long full point of time does n’t quite swerve it for Brits and does n’t have themsigning up in droves . There is a reason why the sector is so reliant on migrant labor . To put it bluntly , the supplying of in effect - quality , affordable travail to support the requirement of our food sector is drying up .
The obvious solution is to automate , peculiarly for the more repetitive and physically necessitate destruction - of - melody chore , such as pick , packing and palletising . But despite the lying-in challenges face by the industry , The Engineerreported in 2019that 57 % of stage business were still unwilling to invest in mechanisation equipment and a further 27 % were unwilling to change production processes .
Reaching the tipping pointThen in 2020 , the full landscape shifted . The Covid-19 pandemic has forced companies to fall the number of employee on site and secure that social distancing can be keep for those that stay on . The lockdown has also made foreign change of location a near impossibility , further depleting the act of European worker available for hire . For proletariat - intensive packhouses , often comprising declamatory numbers of foreign employees within a nasty outer space , this presents an unprecedented challenge . There is without incertitude a restiveness about what looms for 2021 ’s picking season . Despite the government ’s best efforts with their Pick for Britain campaign to invoke the spirit of the Land Army amongst the British hoi polloi , masses working on farms will return to their original role and this pool of labour will no longer be available .
The benefits of supersede manual doer with robot are wide recognise – increase efficiency , consistent yield and a rise in productivity , to name a few . But automation now offers the voltage for nutrient manufacturing business to make a more Covid - favorable piece of work environment and redeploy the scarce childbed that remains to more business - critical tasks , such as nurture and collect crops in the field .
old concerns over size and price can also be neutralise . Today ’s last - of - bank line automaton systems can easily tally into a tight footprint and can return a getting even on investing within just a few years . Not only is this due to the fact that automation increases throughput , thereby boosting production levels , but also because it hit repetitious , operose tasks which lead to absenteeism . High spirit level of absence mean firms require to employ more stave to deliver the same turnout , as well as increase management operating cost to ensure resourcefulness .
Ensuring flexibilityThe grammatical case for mechanization is therefore more persuasive in 2021 than ever before , but there is a fundamental downside to a diminution in personnel – plenty of hoi polloi means plentitude of flexibility . If labor is to be successfully replaced by machines , then the machine must be able-bodied to reduplicate this flexibility . For deterrent example , can a robot gently handle multiple differently shaped product , without have legal injury , at a consistently high speed throughout a shift ?
For one of Tesco ’s top orchard apple tree provider , Adrian Scripps , this stress on flexibility was crucial and played a central role in its determination to automate . The company doubled its hectare productiveness over the last 15 eld and needed to upgrade its packing facility to accommodate the increase throughput . “ In 2013 , our facility treat approximately 30,000 boxes of apples and pears every week , ” says James Simpson , Managing Director . “ Now , typical weekly production is 80 - 100,000 boxes a calendar week . ”
Automation in actionAdrian Scripps pick out to partner with Brillopak and now employs four UniPAKer automated crate load cells , each housing two delta - type robots . While the childbed - preserve welfare of automatize were clean – productivity has increased three - fold – it was the UniPAKer ’s integral flexibility that seal the deal : “ We looked at mechanically skillful systems where the mob is turned to orientate it , but the flexibility of the UniPAKer acquire us over , ” explains James . “ It is infinitely programmable and allows you to make very small adjustments to get the pack to the exact target area location . Apples are not an easy yield to deal because they bruise very easily . This , combine with the need to fulfill a range of crate convention , made this project a challenge that could n’t be met by a mechanically skillful scheme . ”
It is clean-cut , therefore , that today ’s automated solutions are much more than just a robotic replacement for a manual prole . highly compendious , hygienic , and with the ability to pick and place systematically and accurately at high amphetamine , the good instance also pop the question food manufacturers make out production flexibility . While first Brexit and now Covid have presented our diligence with extraordinary challenges , they may also prove the catalysts for welcome change , prompting food producers to enjoy all the welfare that mechanisation has to bid .
For more information : David JahnBrillopakTel : +44 1622 872907www.brillopak.co.uk
