The Food Processing Awards are designed to acknowledge and recognize companies for their excellence and innovation within the food engineering sector.
From nominee to finalist
The entries weren’t limited to the meat industry but involved the entire British food market. Organizer Food Processing Magazine has been collecting nominations over the past few months to hand out awards in nine categories in total. A judging panel chose the finalists, after which voting could start. The prize winners were disclosed during the awards ceremony at the Hilton Hotel, Coventry UK, on October 19th. Product Marketing Manager Mikkel Hougaard Andersen represented Marel at the event to receive the award.
Impressive
When it’s about "Robotics and Automation" hardly any other concept in the food industry applies better to this qualification than the Robot with a Knife. For people not involved in the poultry industry, it is always impressive to see the fast robotic arms of the RoboBatcher at work, especially when multiple grippers are co-producing one tray of batched products.
The jury and internet voters were also keen on the ability of the Robot with a Knife to reduce product giveaway. Instead of cutting chicken fillets to one ideal average, the award winning concept focuses on assessing individual breast fillets and only cuts what is needed.
This allows for selective cutting, based on recipe requirements. Whenever a fillet enters the I-Cut 122, it is scanned and its weight is calculated. This information is sent to the RoboBatcher Flex, which decides what happens next, based on the recipes provided.