BOOK REVIEW
DUTCH FEAST
40 MARCH 2018
P R O C E S S I N G
ROBOTS
RESEARCHED
UK university researchers and two major food industry firms
have teamed up on a project aimed at revolutionising food
preparation by automating the handling of raw materials.
OAL (Olympus Automation Ltd), a supplier of
engineering solutions to the food industry, is leading
the new industrial R&D project in collaboration with
researchers from the University of Lincoln and English
Provender Company, an award-winning producer
of condiments, dressings and marinades. The
collaboration is part-funded by a Government grant of
almost £900,000 (NZ$1.71 million) from Innovate UK
through its Materials & Manufacturing research fund
funding stream. The project aims to address the unique
complexity of food manufacturing ingredient variability.
In any given day, food manufacturers can deal with
more than 200 different raw materials with different
states (solid, liquid, frozen, ambient and chilled),
packaging format (bag, sack, box and drum), allergens
and handling difficulties. It’s this complexity that to date
has led to high manning levels, waste and inefficiencies
in the industry. Using OAL’s APRIL Robotics Material
Handling modules as its toolset at the University of
Lincoln’s National Centre for Food Manufacturing, the
research team is exploring how to integrate robotics
and automation at each step of the production process.
The research will examine how processes such as
product handling and weighing can be streamlined and
made more efficient through new robotic technologies.
Billington Group operations projects director Andy
Riches says the ability to accurately and efficiently
prepare, weigh and batch the complex combination of
ingredients within his company’s product portfolio is
the engine room of its production environments. “The
processes involved have a direct effect on food safety,
product quality and factory efficiency. We believe that
the use of increased automation and technology to
provide enhanced control, accuracy and repeatability
will have a massive positive effect on all three of these
critical factors within this core business function.” One
of the APRIL Robotics technologies that will be used
in the project is a micro-ingredient weighing station
that uses a collaborative robot to weigh out freeflowing
and non-free-flowing powdered ingredients
to an accuracy of 1g. This technology was developed
under a separate Innovate UK project between OAL
and the University of Lincoln. OAL head of innovation
Jake Norman says weighing out powders is a common
task across the industry that presents accuracy, health
and safety challenges when undertaken by people.
“By using a collaborative robot and smart algorithms
from the university, we can quickly weigh out powders
to a recipe, to an accuracy of 1g with zero crosscontamination.
In this project, we’re working with
EPC to map out their processes and crunch a year’s
production data to analyse what the best solution
is, looking at the potential for optimisation at each
step.” Lincoln’s Mark Swainson says his research
team will aim to unlock improved value, quality
and sustainability. “The food manufacturing sector
needs a game-changing, innovative reinvention of its
production processes. We want to push the practical
and scientific boundaries of food process technologies,
robotic materials’ handling, machine learning and
computer vision systems. The goal is to produce a
full technological solution which provides proof that
robotics and automation can be the catalyst for muchneeded
productivity gains in the food manufacturing
industry. The industry needs a step change. All the
low hanging fruit has gone. This project is not about
marginal gains, it is about identifying a game-changer
that can turbocharge productivity in food manufacturing
processes.”
By Emily Wight (Newsouth Books,
$47.99, available now)
Canadian writer and recipe developer
Emily Wight doesn’t mince words
when it comes to her new cookbook’s
dedication to her two little sons Hunter
and Hudson. “Never turn down an offer
of food or the opportunity to travel,”
she tells them. “You’ll never regret
wandering off in search of snacks and
adventure, though you may regret
inviting me to go with you.” Given the
everyday delicacies within the more
than 260 pages of this remarkable
book, I reckon cutting the apron strings
from their clever mum will be almost
physically painful when it happens down
the track. Combining loads of recipes
with interesting discussions on topics
like the best mashed potato and Dutch
tapas, Wight encapsulates the essence
of Dutch food…one that is generally
overlooked in the face of more dominant
European cuisines. There’s not an
indication anywhere as to why she has
such an affinity with Dutch food, but
there’s a clue in her writings. “I am a
little defensive about Dutch food, partly
because, for whatever reason, it has
not been given its due internationally.
There is more to Dutch cuisine than
meets the eye. A nation of tall, healthy,
happy people does not spring from a
gastronomic wasteland.” Dutch food is
wholesome, economical and stubbornly
delicious, Wight says, and on a par with
what we consider modern western food
– but suffers from tourism that focuses
on getting high and motorboating a
hooker more than eating new food. “But
the trains run well, and the cities are
well connected, and leaving downtown
Amsterdam to eat beyond tourist fare is
something that I think people would find
real value in.”
Bob Hardie of RMF Marketing
has won this book.