Page 56 - Food&Drink magazine July 2021

MEMBER NEWS
To cater for the growing demand for its expertise, Automation Systems & Controls (ASC), has brought in an expert engineer from offshore to help expand on its knowledge and services across Australia.
ASC specialises in vision inspection systems, 1D and 2D code reading solutions, electrical automation engineering services, and automation equipment sales.
“A large part of what we do is design, integration and implementation of turnkey solutions packages for industrial automation, along with the commissioning, servicing and training of said solutions,” said Darren Lee, previous general manager of ASC, and current creative lead at Creative Concepts.
“We service a very broad client base across all sectors – basically, any sector where there’s a need to identify products, where there needs to be some kind of camera work for visual identification and verification,” Lee explains.
OMRON ROBOTS DELIVER SPEED AND PRECISION
Currently, the Australian-owned company employs 15 full-time engineers and four part-timers. The company’s head office, warehouse and training facility is located in Bayswater, Victoria.
Despite being located in Victoria, ASC services the country by sending out its team of experts interstate on a co-ordinated needs basis.
Two years ago, Ryan Hart, a Cognex expert from Canada, was employed with the sole focus to add service and support to the company’s NSW operation. And, this year, Rick Colling, a co-founder of ASC, has made the transition to support the Queensland region in a permanent capacity for over half of the calendar year.
“Moving forward, we intend to further expand on our talents for NSW, as well as work to gain a greater presence in Western Australia, as currently it is the hardest locale for us to service strictly based on geography, so we intend to get a direct representative there at some point,” Lee says. ■
FOODMACH APPOINTS ALAN BROOKE Packaging automation integrator Foodmach has appointed Alan Brooke as national sales engineer.
Brooke will join Foodmach’s
Australia-wide team of sales
and technical support
engineers – a team focused on
the company’s core offerings of conveying, palletising and Industry 4.0 integration, and works closely with the Technology Products and International Sales teams to provide turnkey packaging lines.
“Alan brings with him 30 years of experience through his many roles in FMCG. He’s well known, liked and respected in the industry, and we’re delighted he’s chosen Foodmach,” says Chris Yule, national sales manager, Foodmach.
Brooke was previously the sales manager at Prime Engineering Services for 16 years and sales project manager at KHS Pacific for seven. Recently, he project-managed a can filler and conveyor upgrade for Campari Group, increasing production speeds on that line by 30 per cent.
“I’m looking forward to some exciting challenges with Foodmach’s customer portfolio, which includes some of the biggest names in food and beverage,” Brooke said.
Earle Roberts, Foodmach CEO, said he is pleased to have Brooke on board, having known him for decades prior to his appointment.
“He’s acknowledged in the industry as one of the best engineers in complex line design and brings further strength to our already formidable team. And it’s great to have Alan on our side, rather than trying to outsmart him, which has always proven difficult.” ■
ASC EXPANDS NATIONAL FOOTPRINT
Omron, global provider of automation-based industrial technology, has introduced its new iX3 and iX4 parallel robots, which the company says delivers higher payloads and speeds
for faster and more flexible picking and packaging applications.
The new iX3-565 boasts a payload of 8kg, and is made for high-speed applications in packaging, food and beverage, manufacturing and pharmaceutical industries.
Omron describes it as a “powerful robot that supports integrated high-speed conveyor tracking, vision guidance, and easy-to-use application software, and is created specifically for the packaging market”.
According to Omron the iX3 is designed with a high payload, to be used for multi-picking and for faster pick and place. It says it is the “complete solution” when it comes to
packaging both primary and secondary food. Omron says the iX3 provides a safe solution
for handling food and beverage products. Boasting a payload capacity of 15kg, the new iX4 four-axis parallel robot comes with
Omron’s patented four-arm rotational platform, which “delivers maximum speed, acceleration, and exceptional performance”.
According to Omron, the iX4 offers fast and flexible packaging and material handling applications, with its four arms helping to evenly distribute the load on the robot and support multi-picking.
The company claims it meets the sanitary standards of the US Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration
for prevention of product contamination, allowing the iX4 to be accepted for meat
and poultry processing. ■
4 JULY-AUGUST 2021 MACHINERY MATTERS