High fat + high sugar = low sales

This letter was sent by Nigel Smith, MD of TM Robotics, to the editors of selected food and engineering magazines. It was in response to several articles about a survey conducted by RTS Flexible Systems:

Dear Editor,

A recent survey on adoption of robotics in the food industry, by RTS Flexible Systems, highlighted some interesting issues. However, one factor this otherwise excellent research didn’t consider was the current state of the food market. With sales of traditional food items and highly processed food falling in the last quarter, and sales of health food rising, we can now see real evidence that the British publics’ eating habits are changing. UK food manufacturers need to change or extend their product ranges to include more health food and alternative food products. Unless you are a manufacturer that has found a profitable niche market, high fat and high sugar now equal low sales.

Without recognition of this, in the shape of greater flexibility on the factory floor, I doubt whether the long term contracts between manufacturer and retailer, called for in the survey, will be forthcoming.

As RTS rightly points out, robotics can help manufacturers achieve the required innovation. Automation provides the flexibility required to switch a line from making high fat foods to more saleable items very quickly. And when another factor, such as seasonal demand for instance, results in the public and thus the supermarket buyers craving less healthy products once more, robotics offers the flexibility to change back almost overnight. When more food manufacturers start to take their own advice and automate, they may well find that the long term contracts they are looking for become a little easier to get signed.

Best regards,

Nigel Smith
Managing director
TM Robotics (Europe) Ltd
Unit 15
The Weltech Centre
Ridgeway
Welwyn Garden City
Herts
AL7 2AA
Tel: ++44 (0) 1707 871535

All eyes on Toshiba Machines’ conveyor tracking vision system at Automatica

TM Robotics, the firm responsible for the sales, marketing and support of Toshiba Machine's industrial robots throughout Europe, is launching an innovative conveyor and vision tracking system at Automatica this year. The system, based on two of the company’s TH450 SCARA Robots connected to a standard industrial vision system, demonstrates not only the function of tracking items as they move along a conveyor, but also the robot’s ability to determine the parts orientation and discriminate between different products.

With the new conveyor tracking system it is possible to construct an inexpensive and high speed line using existing industrial vision sensors, linked via industry-standard Ethernet. The robots’ movements can be interpolated to the conveyors direction and speed; therefore products can be picked without ever needing to stop the conveyor.

The vision sensor which provides the part coordinate data, can be positioned anywhere on the conveyor, upstream of the robots. Parts are then picked as they enter the robots’ working area. The system automatically identifies each work piece and can also perform part sharing or discriminative handling of the items between several robots on the same conveyor. The system has also been designed for multiple conveyors – for example, the conveyor tracking synchronisation can be executed on one conveyor for picking a part and then synchronized to a second conveyor for placing the part.

Examples of the extensive Toshiba Machine TH SCARA range and other (Cartesian) robots are also on show at the stand. The TH series offers arm length from 250mm to 1050mm and can carry payloads from 3 to 20kg, with a positional accuracy of between 0.01mm and 0.03mm. These are extremely quick, accurate and cost effective, yet have extensive functionality. They are ideally suited to the handling and assembly of components and can position these with extremely high levels of precision.

The Automatica stand also demonstrates the integration abilities of TM Robotics Swiss partner company Lanco AG. This internationally acclaimed company provides flexible turnkey assembly machines and systems.

Words: 353

For further information contact:
Nigel Smith - TM Robotics (Europe) Ltd
Unit 15, The Weltech Centre, Ridgeway,
Welwyn Garden City, Herts. AL7 2AA
Telephone: +44 (0)1707 871535
Fax: +44 (0)1707 393959
www: www.tmrobotics.co.uk
e-mail: sales@tmrobotics.co.uk

Press enquiries: Richard Stone
Stone Junction, 24A Waldram Park Road,
Forest Hill, London, SE23 2PN
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 8699 7743
Fax: +44 (0) 20 8699 7743
www: www.stonejunction.co.uk
e-mail: richards@stonejunction.co.uk

Ref: TRE005/0506

Conveyor tracking with industry leading SCARA at Automatica

TM Robotics, Toshiba Machine’s European robot partner, will be showing an advanced conveyor tracking system at Automatica, Munich, from May 16-19. The system uses two TH450 SCARA robots and an advanced vision system, to track, recognise and pick items as they move along a conveyor. Fast, flexible and cost effective Toshiba Machine’s TH robot series finds homes in a host of pick and place applications. http://www.tmrobotics.co.uk

(Produced for Engineeringtalk and Manufacturingtalk Extra)

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