Success in the packaging industry during the next 10 years will hinge upon building a deep understanding of and connection to the empowered consumer. As consumers place an increasing value on choice, control, convenience and experience, retailers will need to embrace disruptive technologies and novel approaches to manufacturing.

Today's manufacturing is different than the past – that is an obvious statement. What's referred to as Industry 4.o and the smart factory is the wave of the future, and really the present. It is defined as the current trend of automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies.

How many businesses require a stationary packaging robot that repeats a single process for its entire usable life? Not many in today’s market, where high-mix/low-volume has become the norm.

At Cascina Italia S.p.A., automated egg handling helps the company to speed up production while eliminating errors. Universal Robots' collaborative UR5 robot equipped with a pneumatic gripper gently picks and places trays of eggs to load corrugated cases with up to nine layers.

New user-friendly collaborative robots (“cobots”) help food and beverage processing and packaging companies dramatically boost production output, reduce waste, and cut downtime in line changeovers.

Three robot arms from Universal Robots (UR) work side-by-side with employees to prepare an average of 228 items per-hour, per-production line for round-the-clock, fresh delivery to retailers.

10 ways robots improve the food production process