On 7-8 September 2023, a conference of the food industry organized by the Hahn Group was held at the Center for Research and Development of Modern Technologies in Września.
The conference was addressed to middle and senior staff of production companies: technical directors, production directors, maintenance managers, control inspectors and Lean manufacturing specialists.
During the conference, a wide range of topics was discussed: quality management methods, lean management, robotics and artificial intelligence, automation, maintenance, safety culture, optimization of energy resources, as well as the development of competences at various levels of the organization.
Wikpol’s presentation concerned the robotization of bulk packaging and palletizing in a large pasta production plant. It took the form of a case study presenting the effects achievable in the plant with the right approach of the integrator to robotic implementations. Wikpol speakers discussed the conditions for the effective implementation of robots, the most important of which is to discover the real needs of the customer and diagnose process bottlenecks, and then on this basis to design solutions that meet the criteria of the optimal system. To achieve this, the robotics company must have the appropriate amount of expert know-how, experience and the latest tools for designing, testing and manufacturing production lines.
In the presented case study, it was emphasized that thanks to the robotization of three processes, i.e. cardboard forming, collective packaging and palletizing, Wikpol managed to solve a significant problem faced by the customer. The problem was: how to step up production efficiency in a limited area and in conditions of dynamic change of the assortment and the specific packaging method, which proved difficult to automate.
During the conference, substantive support was provided by invited experts representing various areas of the economy: from research institutes to enterprises related to various sectors of industry.
The conference participants also visited the research and development laboratory, located at the Centre’s headquarters, where they had the chance to observe robots used in production applications and pick&place.
