The key to future-proofing your business?

Food manufacturers are always looking to maximise their investment – getting the most out of your automated machinery has never been more important, as short production runs, ever-shorter contracts and new product development all become increasingly prevalent.

So, what do we mean by flexible automation? Well, fundamentally for us at Newtech it means supplying automated robotic and ultrasonic cutting equipment to you, our customer, which doesn’t limit what you can produce for your customer. That’s a tall order of course, but it’s a fundamental concept to which we try to adhere.

You may still see suppliers that market effective, but inflexible equipment which is rigid in its application. For example, a cutting machine which is great for a round product, but can’t handle squares, or where modifying the equipment comes at an overbearing cost – mechanical design, assembly and software programming with changes of parts don’t come cheap.

At Newtech we look at the concept of flexible automation in two ways.

Firstly, it drives the design concept of our standard (and most popular) robot machines. Our philosophy is to harness the power of industrial ABB robots where we need multiple axes of movement in our cutting machines. And the multi-axis capability and programmability of these machines means that catering for multi-product and varied processes comes easily.

Secondly, when we are developing a bespoke automation or cutting solution, the devil is in the detail. It’s all about asking the right questions: how fast, how many variants, understanding the philosophy about future product developments etc. We factor in easy man-machine interaction for quick product and program changeovers and always enough capacity to cater for increased run-rates and ramped-up output.

The food manufacturing business is now more competitive than ever, so plan for flexibility and stay ahead of your competitors: get future-proof!