OAL FoodTech Open Day global success
Thursday 30 January 2020 saw us hold our first FoodTech Open Day to demonstrate the latest in food technology and how it can transform the food and beverage industry. The sold-out event welcomed attendees from around the globe to our test centre at the National Centre for Food Manufacturing (part of the University of Lincoln) and offered an exclusive behind the scenes look at the latest in food tech. With live demonstrations and expert presentations, we certainly got our attendees thinking!
Take a look at the highlights from our latest event!
Unmanned flexible food manufacturing
The day began with a presentation detailing the vision of unmanned flexible food manufacturing with APRIL Robotics. Harry Norman, Managing Director of OAL, explained the development of our automated solutions designed to tackle today’s challenges including productivity, labour costs and consumer demand. Attendees were also introduced to Steam Infusion, the key to unlocking high speed processing to keep up with the production rate of these new robotic systems.
Perhaps the highlight of the day was witnessing Steam Infusion in action on our Robot Chef as it effortlessly created a sweet fruit sauce within minutes. Not only was the robot a real sight to behold, capturing the attention of all our visitors, but the sauce was extremely well received in the taste test!
Breakout sessions
The afternoon consisted of attendees being split into rotations for a more in-depth look at different challenges within the food industry that new technology can help to overcome. Andrea Paoli, Associate Professor in Food Robotics and Process Automation at the NCFM, demonstrated the University of Lincoln’s latest project; using cobots to replicate human operators in weighing out micro ingredients, while Jake Norman, Head of Sales, and Ian Beauchamp, Process Engineering Manager, offered a guide to food manufacturers looking to take the first step towards digital transformation.
Sustainability was the subject of the afternoon presentation led by Dr Wayne Martindale, who brought over 20 years’ experience to the captivated room. The attendees then got to experience a savoury cook with Steam Infusion led by Development Chef Chris Brooks that got the taste buds tingling. And finally, our visitors got to hear about the latest automation developments with OAL Connected, including LMS and the world’s first artificial intelligence-based solution for label and date code verification, APRIL™ Eye.
It truly was a varied day and we’re very grateful to all those attendees who came and participated so enthusiastically - we enjoyed every minute!