Robot helps bakery to rise and shine

Barnsley, UK - Centre for food robotics and automation CenFRA Ltd has helped Fosters Bakery celebrate half a century of food manufacturing by incorporating a new system for 'delivering' bread - a specially designed 'baking robot' for unloading and loading a bread oven.

The new robot is set to increase the capacity of the bakery's morning goods department by 50% - with an estimated two-year pay back - and eliminates the mundane and repetitive manual operation. The investment underpins Fosters' approach to ensuring its long term sustainability and competitiveness within Europe and worldwide.

Unlike many in the baking industry, Fosters has always embraced new technologies that have enhanced working efficiency, productivity and profits without compromising the quality of time-honoured production techniques, noted CenFRA, which guided the firm's integration of the 'baking robot'.

Fosters engaged CenFRA to evaluate the robot, following teething problems due to the sensitive nature of its heat sensors. CenFRA's R&D team came up with a new design and formulation solution for the robot and supported the re-evaluation and integration of the robot in the bakery.

Following the success of the 'baking robot' at Fosters, the company has approached CenFRA about another automation project. Audits and simulation designs are already being carried out, said the robotics centre.

Operations director at Fosters Michael Taylor, who is also the chairman of CenFRA, says that technological advances in robotics and automation offer viable, gainful alternatives for almost any function of the production line.

"We have always been forward thinking and our willingness to integrate new technologies into this artisan industry has resulted in a significant increase in our levels of productivity and clearly shows the value of investing in automation," said Taylor.