Page 40 - Food & Drink Magazine April 2019

ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION
Cobot company boosts local leadership
Universal Robots has set its sights on business growth and uptake of collaborative robots (cobots) in Australia, helped along by a new local appointment.
UNIVERSAL Robots has created an ANZ country manager role to boost the uptake of collaborative robots (cobots) in Australia. Seasoned tech and automation professional Peter Hern has been appointed to the role.
Hern will lead customer support, sales and partner development in Australia and New Zealand to promote the benefits of Universal’s cobots for small-to-medium sized manufacturers (SMBs).
Prior to Universal, Hearn held regional management positions with ABB, Rockwell Automation and Baldor Electric.
In addition to customer support, lead generation, sales and marketing activities, Hern will be tasked with assisting with the commercial development of channel partners across the
region, and managing business planning and commercial results for the region.
Hern told Food & Drink Business Australia is one of Universal’s top-performing markets in the APAC region. As manufacturers embrace cobots to boost productivity and competitiveness, the company has seen an upswing in sales in Australia in the last six months, he says.
Unlike other robotics companies, he says, Universal Robots’ development efforts are focused solely on cobots, which are small, user-friendly, reasonably priced, flexible industrial robots that have been specially designed to work safely alongside humans.
The cobots, which come in a variety of sizes and configurations, can help SMBs improve productivity, efficiency
and consistency, Hern says. While most local customers currently
use them to automate end-of-line pick, place and palletising, many other uses are emerging.
✷ COBOT PICKS UP THE PACE
HAM PROCESSOR LOOKS TO THE FUTURE
Universal Robots general manager, Southeast Asia and Oceania, Sakari Kuikka described Hern’s wealth of experience and expertise in the automation industry as exceptional.
“As we look to grow our presence in Australia and New Zealand, his guidance will be essential. We’re very happy to welcome him aboard our team at Universal Robots and look forward to working with him to shape our vision for the region.” ✷
A ‘virtual safety barrier’, by limiting the speed and force of the robot’s movements, allows line workers to feel safe working alongside the robot in a relatively small space, Muñoz says.
COVAP says it chose the UR cobot because it can operate in clean room environments. For food safety all of its products are sliced in a clean room with positive pressure, to guarantee the environment is safe and product contamination cannot happen, a COVAP plant quality coordinator says.
COVAP’s profitability analysis indicated a return on investment in 16 months.
It is already planning to install three more UR10s in its production facilities.
“Any element that
involves a repetitive action
that is potentially dangerous or dirty or even dull is an ideal solution in a smaller business where space is a limitation and where people are working nearby,” Hern says.
“We believe the future is extremely bright for collaborative robots in Australia.
“We have a clear and well- defined sweet spot for small and medium enterprises with 20 to 100 staff that need a low-cost method to improve productivity and grow output.”
Universal Robots ANZ country manager Peter Hern
40 | Food&Drink business | April 2019 | www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au
A large livestock cooperative wanting to improve the workplace environment, while also increasing its output without sacrificing quality, found its solution by integrating cobots into its production process.
Cooperativa Andaluza Ganadera del Valle de los Pedroches (COVAP), in Cordoba, Spain, installed an UR10 cobot from Universal Robots in its cured meat products plant to work with line operators and speed up its packaging process.
COVAP was founded in 1959 and has more than 4500 members. It is one of Spain’s largest farming cooperatives with a sales turnover of over $A703 million.
A focus of its expansion plans is to enhance the sensory aspect of
their products by packaging improvements. COVAP contacted Universal after its intial production line changes negatively impacted production cycles.
By installing a cobot with a pick-and-place application on the packaging line, COVAP was able to restore production levels and improve consistency without negatively affecting the product’s quality or the workplace.
Neobotik’s (Universal’s integrator in the region) manager David Muñoz, says the UR10 was easily integrated into the line. It operates safely, without barriers, alongside line workers.
It also speeds up the packaging process, improves consistency and reduces wastage, he says.