CenFRA targets brewing and soft drinks sectors

Citation

(2009), "CenFRA targets brewing and soft drinks sectors", Industrial Robot, Vol. 36 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.2009.04936cab.003

CenFRA targets brewing and soft drinks sectors

Article Type: News From: Industrial Robot: An International Journal, Volume 36, Issue 3

CenFRA Ltd’s launch of its new automation and robotics centre in Doncaster offers exciting opportunities for the UK’s brewing and soft drinks sectors.

The UK drinks industry is worth over £16 billion and growing according to figures from Improve Ltd (2006) – food and drinks sector skills council and its potential for automation in drinks production is enormous.

The aim of CenFRA, Europe’s only Centre for Food Robotics and Automation, is to help beverage companies maximise their productivity and profits, through impartial, quality advice.

A typical example of successful automation is the Black Sheep Brewery in North Yorkshire, where modern manufacturing techniques have been embraced with traditional processing methods.

Robotics transformed the way in which vast numbers of Black Sheep’s heavy casks are moved. Re-bunging, cask-filling, weighing and re-stacking are also areas which are now automated processes.

Automation at the brewery also helps protect employees from being exposed to repetitive strain injuries associated with manual handling, incidents which can put any company at a financial risk.

Improving the factory floor environment and ensuring the long-term sustainability of the UK beverage industry is all part of the impartial support and guidance CenFRA can offer drinks companies, including free audits.

This is to generate awareness, help stimulate ideas and highlight the positive impact innovative automation solutions can have for companies in the beverage industry.

As an unbiased single point of contact, CenFRA is able to create a complete bespoke technology roadmap for the future, which will identify opportunities where automation can improve a company’s productivity and competitiveness.

As part of CenFRA’s package to the beverage industry, the company will also be organising and hosting seminars, training days, best practice updates and providing information on the latest technologies, production processes and methods related to automation applicable to the drink manufacturing sector.

CenFRA also has its own team of qualified engineers to provide advice, undertake audits and if required help beverage processing companies with any automation changes. The company can also advise on available grants and is totally independent of robotic manufacturers. CenFRA can also call on a variety of academic institutions to assist, including the University of Salford.

For the further information, please visit the web site: www.cenfra.co.uk