Electricity and Control February 2021

INDUSTRY 4.0 + IIOT : PRODUCTS + SERVICES

Robots in bakeries and breweries

and repetitive tasks: whether it be handling litres of burning-hot cooking oil or moving thousands of glass milk bottles. “Palletising in the beverages industry is another area where we’ve seen a significant uptake,” von Fintel says. “Due to the different sizes of bottles, cans or cartons, it is important to have robots that are easily adaptable to

New LoRaWAN resource site Mouser Electronics Inc., authorised global distributor of semiconductors and electronic components, has created a new resource site dedicated to the LoRaWAN ® standard and its capabilities, applications and related products. LoRaWAN is a low-power, wide-area (LPWA) network protocol designed to provide internet connections to battery-operated devices in regional, national and global networks. The high-performance protocol supports key Internet of Things (IoT) requirements, including end-to- end security, bi-directional communication, mobility and localisation services. The new resource site from Mouser offers engineers and designers a broad range of useful information on LoRaWAN technologies, strategies and devices, providing a single source for advice and insights. Through standardisation and an accredited certi­ fication scheme, the LoRa Alliance ® delivers the interoperability needed for LPWA networks to scale, As automation has become more widely implemented in manufacturing and materials handling, it has taken over many previously laborious manual processes, largely to the benefit of employees’ health and wellness. Across various industries, robotics have taken this one step fur- ther with robots designed for specific applications, such as handling, packaging and palletising. These new pick and place robots allow for more speed and consistency in throughput, and are customisable to meet production requirements. According to Yaskawa Southern Africa, sectors such as the automotive and pharmaceutical industries are already substantially invested in the use of industrial robots. More recently, the South African food manufac- turing sector has also embraced this technology. Yaskawa Southern Africa’s Durban Branch Manager, Rudi von Fintel says, “In KwaZulu-Natal we’ve seen an increase in the implementation of pick and place robots in food manufacturing, especially in the big bakeries. These bakeries produce over 8 000 loaves of bread an hour, 24 hours a day, so speed and consistency are absolutely es- sential to their operations. In terms of application, the ro- bots are responsible for taking the bread out of hot ovens and placing the loaves onto the conveyor belts.” Considering the quantity of loaves in production, as well as how hot the loaves are, it is a task that would be difficult to do, in the same time, without the assistance of robots. This illustrates one of the main benefits of pick and place robots, as they do the work that would prove too much for human workers. Although lifting heavy items or handling hazardous materials still present a risk in some industries, advances in technology generally ensure safer working environments and robots can take on these demanding

the products coming down the line. And because the volumes are so high, the robots are instrumental at the end of the production line.” A notable example is at Bavaria Brewery (when production is viable with- in Covid-19 restrictions). It now manag-

es to palletise 100 000 cans of beer per hour, after the business decided to revolutionise its picking, packing and palletising processes. It also boasts high process reliability. It is results like these that appeal to manufac- turers and other business owners looking for greater pro- cess efficiencies. Pick and place robots can operate in tight spaces with minimal hassle. The end-of-arm tooling is simple enough to swap out, and fewer components mean easier access for maintenance. Furthermore, as robots support a wide range of communication protocols and digital signals, they can be easily integrated into existing automation or production lines. As we move into a world where production needs to happen without ‘human touch’ or intervention, pick and place robots could be the solution to many industry con- cerns. At the same time, they could prove to be the pro- ductivity boost that so many businesses need. For more information contact Yaskawa Southern Africa. Email: brenda@yaskawa.za.com Visit: www.yaskawa.za.com

Robots are being used increasingly to achieve greater process efficiencies.

making LoRaWAN the premier solution for glob- al LPWAN deployments. Mouser, as part of the TTI family of companies, has partnered with the LoRa Alliance to deliver and pro- mote this new standard in networking solutions. With its low-power and security capabilities, the

Mouser Electronics’ new LoRaWAN resource site offers engineers and designers a range of useful related information.

LoRaWAN specification offers a wide range of use cases with specific nuances for each design. The new LoRaWAN resource site includes technical articles, videos, product descriptions and instructional flipbooks, providing information on how to leverage LoRaWAN connectivity in agriculture, smart cities, sensors, autonomous vehicles and other applications.

For more information visit: www.mouser.co.za

Electricity + Control FEBRUARY 2021

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