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Market survey about the robots' use for F&B industries

Ever more robots at food and packaging machines until 2014

Which use of robots at food and packaging machines do the manufacturers of these machines plan until 2014? And for which applications at the machines the robots are to be mainly implemented until 2014? The new Quest study „The future of the robots use until 2014 in the German machinery industry“ provides some interesting results for the food industry.

53% of these machine-builders already use robots

April 2nd, 2012 - The use of robots is far common with the manufacturers of food and packaging machines. With 53% more than each second of these machine-builders are already implementing robots at the machines.

And this will also remain until 2014 because machine-builders, intending to implement robots at food and packaging machines for the first time until 2014, are hardly in view.

By 51% more machines with robots until 2014

The machine-builders plan to equip by 51% more food and packaging machines with robots until 2014.

This increase is very dynamic and outshines the intended expansion of the production of food and packaging machines.

So food and packaging machines with robots will increase their portion of all food and packaging machines above average.

How large is this portion, how will it change? Today 4% of the food and packaging machines are equipped with robots, this portion will rise to 6% until 2014.

Robots in the German food & beverage industry to 2014.
Source: Market survey by Quest TechnoMarketing "The future of the use of robots until 2014" at food machines and packagae machines.

Applications of robots with above average growth

Among the many investigated applications of robots at the food and packaging machines by the study, three applications emerge with above average growth.

  • Pick & Place will double to 2014 (+95%)
  • Palletizing will increase by 35% to 2014
  • Material Handling will spread by 18% to 2014.

 

The knowledge of these planning sizes of the manufacturers of food and packaging machines may serve as orientation for the decision-makers in the food industry.

Robots for palletizing, material handling, pick & place in the German food industry.
Source: Market survey by Quest TechnoMarketing "The future of the use of robots until 2014" about the applications of robots at food machines and packagae machines.

Robots open up „high flexibility “for the food industry

In such a way many manufacturers of food and packaging machines justify the use of robots and that they realize the related engineering by their own:

  • „The flexibility to be able to deal with customer requirements.“ (Packaging machines)
  • „We can exactly build and program that what we also need for the customer requirement. “ (Food processing machines)
  • „To use very high flexibility, the machines have life cycles of 10-12 years but the shapes of products and variety changes continuously with the marketing. Therefore one would like to offer a high flexibility to the customer.“ (Packaging machines)
  • „Flexibility in regard to products, handling.“ (Food processing machines)
  • „We are flexible and know our requirements. There, where we wanted to engage external system integrators for robots, it turned out that they indeed controlled the robot, but not the surrounding field of the food industry.“ (Food processing machines)

Representative study

In the context of this study Quest TechnoMarketing interviewed 40% of the manufacturers of food and packaging machines at the end of 2011. (Packaging machines are supplied to the food industry, pharmacy or cosmetics). The study investigated 10 machine-building industry sectors.