Fear factor, not cash, limits food factory automation

That’s the view of Mike Wilson, president of the British Automation & Robot Association and general industry sales and marketing manager, ABB Robotics.

Wilson took part in the Food Manufacture Group’s Big Video Debate Keeping lean and green​, focusing on lean thinking and eco-efficiency, held at the Foodex trade show at the Birmingham NEC.

‘Companies are worried’​

Speaking to FoodManufacture.co.uk after the event in this exclusive video, Wilson said: “I think the lack of skills does introduce something of a fear factor, so companies are worried about how they will keep these systems running once they have been installed …​

“We have done surveys recently that indicate that finance isn’t a challenge and certainly banks are making all the right noises in terms of saying they do want to support UK manufacturing … It’s more about having the resources and skills to come up with and implement the solutions.”​

The reason the food industry didn’t have enough engineers to effectively tackle automation was because other sectors attracted the lion’s share by commanding the best salaries, said Wilson.

‘Further down the pecking order’​

“We don’t have enough engineers in the UK and unfortunately the aerospace and automotive industries are able to pay more and they get the best engineers. I think the food industry is further down the pecking order in terms of where engineers would choose to go.”​

Coupled with that, he said engineers in the food industry faced greater time pressures, tougher hygiene standards and demand for shorter payback times for process innovation.

“The engineers that are in place are more worried about how they get today’s production out; they don’t have enough time to be thinking about how they can improve their facilities.​

“Because they don’t have that time to think about it, there isn’t the same push to develop solutions for those particular needs that we see in other industry sectors.”​

Look out for our video highlights of the Keeping lean and green​ debate soon.