Robotic Flexible Food Manufacturing System (RFFMS). Innovate UK funded under the “Materials & Manufacturing” Competition 2017 – 2019.

Over the course of this project, NCFM and the Engineering School will work together with Industrial partners, OAL, plus selected industry end users, to develop a robotic flexible food manufacturing system for liquid based products covering large, medium and small scale volume manufacturing. The system will also be designed to process powder based food products and will be able to be applied to other food and non-food industries.

A key aspect of the initiative is that the large and complex food manufacturing sector needs a game changing innovative reinvention of the approach to its manufacturing processes, unlocking improved value, quality and sustainability in the sector. This research & development will address significant robotic control and technical process challenges, and in achieving this the production system developed will have high impact and major commercial value in both its flexible “bespoke” physical structure and just as vital, its underpinning digital technologies (which will unlock further robotics and automation approaches across the food manufacturing sector and also cut across many other industry sectors).

University of Lincoln Schools and staff involved in research:

NCFMMark Swainson, Dr Keith Brewood

School of Engineering
Dr Andrea Paoli