Scanning in the food industry increases in productivity gains

Digital technologies and connectivity are changing the world, the way we communicate, business models and consumer behavior. With the manufacturing processes the transformation could not be different. According to ABB's annual report, we have 26 billion industry connected equipment until 2020 and about 2.6 million industrial robots until 2019. 4.0 industry, which consists in the integration of equipment and robots to the Internet of things, opens up possibilities before ever devised by previous generations and allows for flexible manufacturing environment in order that companies follow and suit the trend of customization in the production.
The increase in the number of people who live alone in Brazil indicates that the trend of personalization of the industrial productions is here to stay. According to the Brazilian Institute of geography and statistics, between 2005 and 2015, the number increased from 10.4% to 14.6%. Allied to this, the expectation is to have 63% of the world's population living in urban areas until 2015. All this makes it all the more needs for processed foods and packaged, changing challenges and changing completely the processes of packaging and palletizing.
To meet this growing demand, the robotic automation is the solution, adding value to the segment of packaging in the food industry. With the entry of scanning in industrial sectors, or the fourth Industrial Revolution, the processes will be mechanical, static, being replaced by robots, which are easily programmable to meet the diverse needs of manufacturers and consumers. A robot can be programmed for a different application in virtual environment and ready for a new product in a few hours, expanding the possibilities of the factories and accelerating the release of new products in the market.
In this scenario we can still include the issue of competitiveness in the food and beverage industry. To achieve gains in productivity and efficiency the adoption of advanced technologies is more than urgent to ensure the sustainability of the business. In addition, we have the possibilities of Logistics Automation, which allows companies to package and deliver applications with more and more agility and range of products to consumers. The virtual commissioning of robots, such as the ABB RobotStudio, platform, allows the managers of plants and production engineers to ensure efficient and effective processes.