Ben Rucker’s tips for picking an automation project

Ben Rucker offers tips for picking an automation project and ensuring success in Food Engineering’s August issue.

Automation affords many benefits, including the potential to increase throughput and efficiency, reduce machine footprints, offer flexibility to complete small runs and take full advantage of track and trace. It also brings food safety benefits.

“So much of evaluating whether to automate boils down to product safety,” Rucker says. “Automation is great for eliminating error and having repeatable measurements. It allows manufacturers to remove the human element.”

For example, if a facility automates bulk ingredient delivery, that upgrade could guarantee delivery at +/- 0.5%. The site would have batch records and could trace the ingredients throughout the process. “This level of documentation supports a product recall/product safety strategy,” Rucker says. “Information from an automated program can be invaluable in one of those situations.”

Read “Experts offer tips for picking an automation project and ensuring success” to learn more about your automation options and critical factor for success.