Cabinplant wins engineering prize

The judges said, "Robots of this standard are rarely seen in the food industry, but they show perspectives beyond imagination.

“One of the fantastic features of this robot is that not only does it move the sardine from A to B. It actually picks up the sardine, processes it (cuts off its head and tail and guts it in 0.5 seconds), and finally places it in a can. That's cutting-edge technology."

Cabinplant’s winning product is its innovative robot handling system for fish and shellfish, which combines various processing steps and reduces give-away by 10-12%.

The company has taken a completely new approach by combining different processing and packing steps in a robot-supported handling system for fish and shrimp. The pick, process and place machine streamlines fish processing operations, replaces manual labour by an automated process, improves operation efficiency, and considerably reduces give-away.

“So far robot technology has focused on the pick and place principles only,” says Ralf Astrup, managing director of Cabinplant. “We thought, why not process the food between the two packing steps?”

Cabinplant believes that the pick, process and place line also has unlimited possibilities in other industries, e.g. for meat processing, other types of fish, or even cut vegetables. Depending on the product type, size and weight, the robot can process and pack between 40-50 pieces per minute. By combining multiple robot modules, the average system will be capable of handling 300 fish per minute.

“There is a great deal of interest worldwide in the pick, process and place line, as many fish processing facilities are dealing with a dual problem - finding adequate and skilled labour and facing increasing labour costs,” says Mr Astrup. “This forces many companies to outsource the work, which means they lose control. The pick, process and place line allows them to regain control and also reduces the risk of error since there is no manual handling.”