My time as a work experience student at OAL
Heading into my final year of Sixth Form, trying to determine what career path I want to go down is vital in helping me decide what my next steps are going to be, which is why finding a relevant work experience opportunity was very important to me.
Why I chose to do work experience at OAL
Heading into my final year of sixth form, trying to determine what career path I want to go down is vital in helping me decide what my next steps are going to be, which is why finding a relevant work experience opportunity was very important to me. I chose to do my week of work experience at OAL as I am currently studying maths, chemistry and art at A-level and I wanted to look into careers that combine both maths and science. Engineering was a key area of interest for me and so when OAL came to my school to talk about what engineering involves, I was immediately drawn in.
Who is OAL?
OAL uses engineering to deliver solutions to key problems within the food manufacturing industry. They offer robotics, Steam Infusion technology and label and date code verification to help improve efficiency of production and to ensure compliance with codes of practice. OAL works with customers such as Bakkavor, Diageo and Heinz to help their factories run as smoothly as possible.
A week in the life of a work experience student at OAL
On the first day of my work experience, I was introduced to everyone and taken on a tour of the premises. I also spent time with the innovation department which was extremely interesting as I had the opportunity to see one of the robots in action and learn about the testing that goes into making these robots work. The following day I was taken on a trip to the National Centre for Food Manufacturing, where I saw an APRIL robot and was shown how this technology is used in the food industry.
“It was eye-opening to see how the topics I have learnt about at school are applied to real life situations.”
Seeing projects come to life
Project design was where I spent the day on Wednesday, learning about how mechanical and electrical drawings are produced and how vital these are in the running of factories. I took a particular interest in this department as I think it is fascinating that you can go from designing a part on your screen to seeing it be manufactured and used in real life.
An opportunity to delve into something new
The following days of my work experience were spent in project software, marketing and the OAL Connected department of the company, helping expose me to areas I didn’t know anything about and wouldn’t have found out about if it weren’t for this opportunity.
Why should you choose OAL for your work experience?
I would definitely recommend work experience at OAL to anyone who has an interest in engineering or doesn’t know what path to go down with their interest in science and maths. They provide an insight into engineering that you would never get to experience at school. Getting into contact with OAL was incredibly easy and they were very keen to have me for work experience, which I found extremely refreshing after struggling to find work experience in the past.
The people I met during my time at OAL were very helpful and knowledgeable, talking me through and explaining what they were doing even if they had important jobs to get on with themselves, which I greatly appreciated. I’d like to thank OAL for the experience they gave me and in helping me gain a clearer vision of what I would like to do with my future.
If this sounds like something you'd like to do, then get in touch by clicking below and they'd be more than willing to help.
OAL’s Jake Norman keynote speaker at Cambridge University's Open Innovation Forum
We’re pleased to announce we'll be sharing insights on "Flexible Food Manufacturing" at the University of Cambridge’s Open Innovation Forum. The event, hosted by Siemens, takes place on Wednesday 11th July 2018.
We’re pleased to announce we'll be sharing insights on "Flexible Food Manufacturing" at the University of Cambridge’s Open Innovation Forum. The event, hosted by Siemens, takes place on Wednesday 11th July 2018 and will be attended by industry experts from some of the largest food manufacturers in the world.
With rising labour costs, food manufacturers ability to adopt and successfully implement robotics and automation is critical to remaining flexible. Jake Norman, Head of Innovation at OAL will share how foodtech can offer food companies affordable flexibility.
The University of Cambridge’s Open Innovation Forum is a membership group where members share best practice, exploring key topics within the food and FMCG industry, collaborating ideas and networking at regular events. The idea of a collaborative approach allows the industry to share ideas, research and experiences to help the UK’s food manufacturing industry to become number 1 in the world for flexible and innovative manufacturing.
Current members of the forum include Mars, Pepsico, Moy Park and Samworth Brothers.
“It is a pleasure for OAL to be asked to speak at this event. We won the Open Innovation Food and FMCG Innovation Pitch back in 2015 and I’m excited to share our rapid progress. Our APRIL Robotics Ingredient Handling System is a great place to start as it ensures your putting the right ingredients in the right quantities into your processes.”
If you’re interested in the technology and are ready to get started, get in touch with our experts!
OAL to speak at Lincoln International Business School Industry 4.0 Event
The Fourth Industrial Revolution: Robotics, Productivity and Skills: Are you Industry 4.0 ready?
We’re very excited to announce we'll be speaking at the Lincoln International Business School’s event in partnership with InvestSK. The event is taking place on Thursday 28th June at the Council Chambers, Grantham and will focus on the impact of Industry 4.0.
“The Fourth Industrial Revolution: Robotics, Productivity and Skills: Are you Industry 4.0 ready?”
Samantha Norman speaking about robotics
The event brings together business leaders from the engineering, manufacturing and technology sectors to give greater insight into how Industry 4.0 will impact performance, business growth and the types of skills requirements in the industry today.
Sam Norman, HR Director and Jake Norman, Head of Innovation at OAL will be focusing specifically on the food manufacturing industry and how APRIL Robotics can help overcome manufacturing challenges including the increase in labour costs, decrease in productivity, lack of flexibility and the increasing cost of raw materials. You'll also get to find out more from Sam and Jake how we are working with our partners to lead the robotic revolution in ingredient handling and processing to help make the UK the global market leader for robotic food processing.
Alongside our presentation, the day will investigate the following questions:
HOW prepared are you and your business for an uncertain and surprising future?
WHAT does it mean to be human in the context of the future of work?
HOW do we build and lead organisations in an Industry 4.0 world?
WHAT does firm success look like, how does it occur in South Kesteven today, and how will that change?
WHAT do leaders do in this emerging context — mindset, power and authority, collaboration, team?
APRIL™ Robotics inspires food revolution at FM2030
How many robots prepare and cook food in your factory? Food robotics in food manufacturing is an area set for major growth over the next few years as manufacturers tackle the perfect storm driven by the increase in labour costs and the decrease of productivity.
How many robots prepare and cook food in your facility? Robotics in food manufacturing is an area set for major growth over the next few years as manufacturers tackle the perfect storm driven by the increase in labour costs and the decrease of productivity.
At our Food Manufacturing 2030 conference last month, we inspired over 30 food businesses to start taking action by getting them to experience first-hand the future of food manufacturing. The day was held at the National Centre of Food Manufacturing, part of the University of Lincoln and in partnership with ABB Robotics.
Attendees learned how the use of robotics and automation can overcome their manufacturing challenges with the combination of expert guest speakers and live demonstrations of our technologies.
By adopting this approach, the UK will be leading the way in the food robotics revolution bringing with it higher skilled jobs, fantastic export opportunities and sustainability within the industry.
Breathtaking demonstrations
Our APRIL™ Robotics Flexible Food Manufacturing platform demonstrated the use of digital technologies putting robotics at the heart of food processing allowing end to end handling and processing of food ingredients with minimal human interventions. These applications included cooking, weighing and use of artificial intelligence systems for validation.
Expert guest speakers
On top of that, to inspire action and to reiterate the possibilities this revolution will bring about, we invited our guest speakers to present their success stories including:
Chris Brett from Ocado technology shared how they were transforming food retailing with digital technologies.
Steve Sanders explained how JSP Safety Products had transformed its manufacturing processes with over 30 robots, onshoring jobs to the UK.
Mike Wilson from ABB discussed robot adoption best practices.
“This is something that we need to do now! The day has opened our eyes to what is around and available.”
What's next?
We hold annual events and conferences so keep checking back at our events page for information about our next session. If you can’t wait until then, get in touch with our expert consultants today and we can arrange a demo day for you and your colleagues so you can start your robotic and automation journey today.
Thanks to everyone for coming - we look forward to starting you robotic and automation journey with you.
APRIL™ Robotics Features in BDO’s Food & Drink Industry Report 2018
We’re very proud to feature in BDO’s Food and Drink Industry Report 2018 published to encourage the industry to move towards a more productive, post-brexit world.
Our APRIL™ Robotics food manufacturing system is highlighted as a case study in BDO’s Food and Drink Industry Report 2018. The report is published to encourage the industry to move towards a more productive, post-Brexit world.
It also explains how over the next few years food manufacturers need to make a pivotal point decision:
Option 1 - stick with the status quo & absorb costs
Effectively, ride out the storm (increasing labour and ingredient costs) with existing technologies. Maintain competitive whilst absorbing potential cost increases.
Option 2 - automate & proactively future-proof factories
Invest in automation and create a step change in food manufacturing capabilities to overcome rising labour costs.
The report highlights that for businesses who rise to the automation challenge, the falling cost and increased functionality of robotics offer quick productivity gains and an ability to exploit new market opportunities.
At OAL, we firmly believe in Option 2 and would love to help you on your journey towards a fully automated, robotic factory to boost productivity and profitability.
How to become the global leader in robotic food processing - Roythornes Food Business Breakfast
The UK will be the global market leader for robotic food processing. At the recent Roythornes Food Business Breakfast, Samantha Norman (BEng) shared how OAL is working with academia, our customers and the supply chain to make this vision a reality.
The UK will be the global market leader for robotic food processing. At the recent Roythornes' Food Business Breakfast, Samantha Norman shared how OAL is working with academia, customers and the supply chain to make this vision a reality.
Number 1 in robotic food processing
It sounds good, doesn’t it?
The UK food industry is widely recognised as the global leader in convenience food and innovation but our ability to embrace automation, digital and robotics is critical to ensuring our leadership. It's this leadership that will ensure strong exports and create new jobs in the largest UK manufacturing industry.
We must work together as a supply chain to realise this vision.
Samantha shared how OAL are working with our partners to lead the robotic revolution in ingredient handling and processing. Over 150 delegates from across the supply chain caught a glimpse of this future with a live demonstration of our APRIL Robotics Ingredient Handling System.
Rather than a person handling and weighing out ingredients by hand, APRIL automates the task!
Roythornes Food Business Breakfast
Roythornes Solicitors’ bi-annual business breakfasts invites food and drink industry professionals from a multitude of backgrounds to network; sparking discussion, debate and a collaborative approach to driving improvements in the food and drink industry.
“Our Food Business Breakfast has become a key staple in the networking calendar for business professionals based in both Peterborough and other areas of the UK.
Improved efficiency, reduced labour costs and reliability are all potential benefits to implementing robotics, and Sam offered an interesting perspective on what this actually means in practice, exploring the use of robots in the sector and how the industry needs to work collaboratively in order to stay flexible and compete with organisations within Europe and across the world.”
Join the robotics revolution!
New racing season dates released
With the 2018 racing season nearly upon us, OAL is excited to be sponsoring their very own Dan Nemati once again in his No Limits Racing competition!
With the 2018 racing season nearly upon us, OAL is excited to be sponsoring their very own Dan Nemati once again in his No Limits Racing competition! After coming third in the 2017 season in his Pre Injection 600, we're hoping that 2018 will be his winning year!
Dan, a Support Engineer for OAL Connected has been committed to racing for three years and is now in the No Limits Pre Injection 600 category racing with a Yamaha R6.
The races he will be competing in are as follows:
March 24-25 – Round 1: Snetterton 300.
April 21-22 – Round 2: Cadwell Park.
May 19-20 – Round 3: Donnington Park.
July 14-15 – Round 5: Croft.
July 28 – 8 Hour Endurance.
August 10-11 – Round 6: Oulton Park (Friday and Saturday event).
September 1-2 – Round 7: Cadwell Park.
October 6-7 – Round 8: Donnington Park.
If you or your colleagues wish to attend to support Dan in his racing, please get in touch here. It would be great to see as many people there as possible.
Dan would also like to take this opportunity to thank all who supported him in 2017.
APRIL™ Robotic Weighing shortlisted for World Food Innovation Award
We are pleased to announce that our APRIL Robotics Weighing Station has been shortlisted for “Best Technology Innovation” in the World Food Innovations Award 2018.
We are pleased to announce that our APRIL™ Robotics Ingredient Handling system has been shortlisted for Best Technology Innovation in the World Food Innovations Award 2018.
It’s fantastic recognition of how much of an impact our highly innovative APRIL™ Robotic Ingredient Handling system has on the way the food industry handles and processes ingredients.
Weighing out powders is a manual repetitive task that is highly susceptible to human error. The APRIL™ Robotics Ingredient Handling system automates this task offering unrivalled accuracy and efficiency. The advanced torque force sensors within the collaborative robot allow us to weigh out ingredients to an accuracy of +/- 1g or 1% by weight every time, a level of accuracy unachievable by humans.
At OAL, we are passionate about using the very latest in innovative technological solutions, processes and applications to help sustain and secure the UK’s largest food manufacturing industry.
Customers have guided us with distinct requirements for each sector allowing each team to work as a focused fast moving group dedicated to their specific market. The OAL tradition of trust, fairness and investment in our people bonds our teams. We strive to keep our customers ahead and future-proofed by leading multiple R&D projects currently valued at £3.5 million aimed at developing tomorrow's tried and trusted.
Shortlisted for two awards in the first round of the Made in the UK Awards
We are pleased to announce that our APRIL Robotics Cooking Cell has been shortlisted in the first round of the “Made in the UK Awards” in the categories ‘Digital Engineering/Technology’ and ‘Manufacturing Innovation’’.
We’re pleased to announce that our APRIL™ Robotics Cooking Cell has been shortlisted in the first round of the Made in the UK Awards in the categories Digital Engineering/Technology and Manufacturing Innovation.
The APRIL™ Cooking Cell developed with the University of Lincoln at their National Centre for Food Manufacturing revolutionises the way we manufacture food. By combining advanced materials handling and processing technologies, APRIL™ can consistently emulate how chefs cook in a professional kitchen bringing restaurant standard food to our supermarket shelves.
She effortlessly moves pans around the factory without pumps and pipework to combine and process ingredients; heating, mixing and pouring soups, sauces and ready meals on an industrial scale. Using a pre-programmed schedule, APRIL™ can process multiple recipes at the same time to a consistent and accurate standard, without contamination.
APRIL™ moves away from traditional linear continuous production set-ups where high volume and limited flexibility impedes quality and consistency (due to pumps, pipework and large vessels). With an 80% smaller factory footprint, intelligent scheduling and automated modular processing system, APRIL™ increases flexibility, optimises productivity and improves efficiency in a safer and more hygienic environment.
This opens up opportunities for manufacturers to research and develop new products and extend shelf-life of products contributing to reducing food wastage.
“We are excited by the new thinking involved in the APRIL™ robotic chef approach. Modular robotics cells may transform food manufacturing kitchens, by breaking up processes in a different way, in doing so providing a step change in performance.”
As a company, we are passionate about revolutionising the way we manufacture food, helping to secure the future of the UK’s largest manufacturing industry through innovative technological solutions, processes and applications.
New £900k Robotic Ingredient Handling project
Did you know as much as 5% of a food manufacturer’s turnover is associated with the costs of raw material handling, weighing and preparation? That number is set to drop as engineers, food technologists and computer scientists, drawn from UK industry and academia, collaborate to fully automate the preparation and handling of raw materials.
Did you know as much as 5% of a food manufacturer’s turnover is associated with the costs of raw material handling, weighing and preparation? That number is set to drop as engineers, food technologists and computer scientists drawn from UK industry and academia collaborate to fully automate the preparation and handling of raw materials.
We're leading a major new industrial R&D project in collaboration with researchers from the University of Lincoln, UK, and English Provender Company, an award-winning producer of condiments, dressings and marinades. The collaboration is part-funded by a UK Government grant of almost £900,000 from Innovate UK through its Materials & Manufacturing research fund funding stream.
The project aims to address the unique complexity of food manufacturing ingredient variability. In a given day, food manufacturers can deal with over 200 different raw materials with different states (solid, liquid, frozen, ambient and chilled), packaging format (bag, sack, box and drum), allergens and handling difficulties. It’s this complexity that to date has led to high manning levels, waste and inefficiencies in the industry.
Deploying our suite of APRIL Robotics Material Handling modules as our toolset at the University of Lincoln’s National Centre for Food Manufacturing, the research team is exploring how to integrate robotic and automation solutions at each step of the production process. The research will examine how processes such as product handling and weighing can be streamlined and made more efficient through new robotic technologies.
“The ability to accurately and efficiently prepare, weigh and batch the complex combination of ingredients within our product portfolio really is the engine room of our production environments. The processes involved have a direct effect on food safety, product quality and factory efficiency. We believe that the use of increased automation and technology to provide enhanced control, accuracy and repeatability will have a massive positive effect on all three of these critical factors within this core business function.”
One of the APRIL Robotics technologies that will be used in the project is a micro-ingredient weighing station that uses a collaborative robot to weigh out free flowing and non-free flowing powdered ingredients to an accuracy of 1g. This technology was developed under a separate Innovate UK project between OAL and the University of Lincoln.
“Weighing out powders is a common task across the industry that presents accuracy and health and safety challenges when undertaken by people. By using a collaborative robot and smart algorithms from the University of Lincoln, we can quickly weigh out powders, to a recipe, to an accuracy of 1g with zero cross contamination. In this project, we’re working with EPC to map out their processes and crunch a year’s production data to analyse what the best solution is, looking at the potential for optimisation at each step.”
Robotic micro weighing removes the health & safety challenges associated with manual weighing
Mark Swainson, Deputy Head at the University of Lincoln's National Centre for Food Manufacturing (NCFM) is an expert in the field of industrial food processing technology. He will lead the research team which also includes specialists in robotics, automation and process control from the University of Lincoln’s School of Engineering.
“To unlock improved value, quality and sustainability, the food manufacturing sector needs a game-changing, innovative reinvention of its production processes. We want to push the practical and scientific boundaries of food process technologies, robotic materials’ handling, machine learning, and computer vision systems. The goal is to produce a full technological solution which provides proof that robotics and automation can be the catalyst for much-needed productivity gains in the food manufacturing industry.
The industry needs a step change. All the low hanging fruit has gone. This project is not about marginal gains, it is about identifying a game-changer that can turbocharge productivity in food manufacturing processes.”
If you would like to learn more about ingredient handling and preparation automation, get in touch with our experts today!
OAL to support Deafblind UK in 2018
In 2018, we'll be working with and supporting national sight and hearing loss charity, Deafblind UK to raise awareness and donations for people that suffer from sight and hearing damage.
In 2018, we'll be working with and supporting national sight and hearing loss charity, Deafblind UK to raise awareness and donations for people that suffer from sight and hearing damage.
Deafblind UK support people with sight and hearing loss to live the lives they want and helps to ensure deafblind people have the same rights, access and opportunities as others. They provide a wide range of direct support services and also support and educate external organisations as to how to help their own staff and customers with the challenges being both deaf and blind presents. The charity will be organising an information day at OAL's Peterborough site where they will demonstrate the impact of sight and hearing loss on everyday life to help raise awareness and increase understanding.
Jake pictured in green at the Great North Run 2016
Jake Norman to run the London Marathon for Deafblind UK
Jake Norman, OAL's Head of Sales, will be taking to the streets of London this April to run the London Marathon raising money for Deafblind UK.
“Deafblind UK is a hugely worthwhile charity and we’re excited about the opportunity to support them in any way we can. Even shutting your eyes and ears for just five minutes gives you a sense of the challenges people face. Imagine trying to go shopping, or cook dinner; the world would be a very scary place! So I’m going to push myself to the absolute limits in London for Deafblind UK!”
Christmas celebrations at the University of Lincoln
This year, OAL celebrated Christmas at our long-time strategic partner, the University of Lincoln. The whole OAL team visited the university’s new Sir Isaac Newton building on Friday, 8th of December for a day of learning, reflection and refreshment.
This year, OAL celebrated Christmas at the University of Lincoln, our long-term strategic partner. The whole OAL team visited the university’s new Sir Isaac Newton building on Friday 8 December for a day of learning, reflection and refreshment. The team had the opportunity to see the latest computer science, maths, physics and engineering developments, giving them an insight into how these facilities, equipment and technologies are used in our collaborative research and development projects.
We’ve been working with the University of Lincoln for five years on a number of projects. During our partnership, we have invested over £4.5 million into developments aimed at future-proofing the food manufacturing industry, with support from UK government funding.
Our successes include Steam Infusion cooking, developed and available for testing at the University’s prestigious National Centre of Food Manufacturing. This unique method provides food manufacturers with a faster, more controlled heating and mixing technology, using steam as the motive force.
And more recently, leading professors and researchers have helped develop the APRIL Robotics Ingredient Handling system, emulating and outperforming human weighing of powders.
The day included several presentations from university staff, a tour of the new facilities, and festive refreshments in the university foyer. Hearing from prominent professors – including Professor Stefanos Kollias, the founding professor of machine learning – was very inspiring for our team. The unique expertise and the state-of-the-art facilities have been essential to helping us develop forward-thinking solutions to industry challenges.
Not everyone at OAL is directly involved with these disruptive innovation projects. By bringing the whole team together, we were able to see first-hand the step change that these projects represent for the UK’s largest manufacturing industry. In addition to nurturing relationships within our teams, we were able to see how they have contributed to these successes.
“I really enjoyed the day; it was good to spend time with my colleagues and see what we’ve been doing with the University. I now get how what I do fits into the bigger picture.”
“This was a great day and we’d love to do it again. It was the perfect opportunity to share the work that we’ve done with the University and get the whole business involved.”
The day was a fantastic way to end the year: strengthening our relationship with the University, reminiscing on the year’s achievements, and inspiring the OAL team for what promises to be an eventful – and extremely exciting – year ahead.
OAL speaking & exhibiting at the Smart Food Factory Summit
We're very excited to be speaking and exhibiting at Food & Drink Business Europe's Smart Factory Summit 2017. The event is taking place on Tuesday 7 November 2017 at the Ricoh Arena, Coventry and aims to bring together professionals from the UK's food and beverage industry to facilitate knowledge, sharing and collaboration.
Jake Norman, Head of Innovation at OAL will be speaking about how OAL are putting robotics and automation at the heart of food processing with our APRIL™ Robotics solutions. Hear how we have invested, researched and developed the very latest in advanced robotics and automation technology to help food manufacturers solve challenges driven by the increasing living wage, flat line productivity and food deflation.
Alongside Jake Norman's talk, visit our stand to see how we're using £4 million of Innovate UK research projects to bring about a step change in food manufacturing using technologies including collaborative robotics, advanced vision, machine learning and big data to tackle your productivity, food safety and traceability in your food factory.
Discover how you can turbocharge your cooking process with OAL's Steam Infusion heating and mixing technology scientifically proven to help food manufacturers overcome slow cooking times, burn on contamination and over-processing. How else can you cook 500kg of sauce in just 5 minutes?
Our experts will also be on hand to share best practice advice around stopping label and date code errors and retailer code of practice compliance with our IoT based software OAL Connected. Whilst you're on our stand, make sure you pick up our latest brochure discussing the five best practice steps for continuous improvement in food manufacturing and see how easily you can implement them into your factory.
So with lots to learn, see and discover, sign up today to join us at the Food & Drink Business Europe Smart Factory Summit 2017. We can't wait to meet and discuss how powerful new digital technologies can impact your food business and start you on your journey towards automation!
APRIL™ features in Made Smarter 2017 UK government review
We're very proud to feature in the UK Government Made Smarter Review 2017 launched today! The report sets out the aim for the UK to be a leader in Industrial Digitalisation, and APRIL™ Robotics was highlighted within the food section.
The report discusses the ‘perfect storm’ scenario food manufacturing faces because of an over-reliance on cheap labour:
Restriction on labour supply (due to Brexit).
Rapid above-inflation rises in labour cost (driven by the National Living Wage).
In certain sectors (e.g. fresh produce packing, sandwich manufacturing), up to 90% of the line workforce can be migrant ‘low skilled’ workers.
But for businesses which rise to this challenge, the falling cost and increased functionality of robotics offer quick productivity gains and an ability to exploit new market opportunities and grow exports. Digital technologies are at the heart of being able to exploit this opportunity which is multi-faceted and growing rapidly. Learn more in the video below where our team discuss the role of robotics in reducing capital expenditure.
You can download the full report and read more about the challenges and planned actions to enable digitalisation in food processing.
OAL's automation talent wins ‘Young Engineer of the Year’
We’re thrilled to announce that OAL's Software Engineer, Matt Ayre, won the Young Engineer of the Year award at the Food Processing Awards 2017.
Matthew Ayre at the Food Processing Awards 2017
Matt's story highlights how the food industry can attract the best and brightest; highly relevant given the well-documented engineering skills shortage in the industry. Having completed his degree in aircraft engineering, Matt changed his career path to becoming an automation engineer in the food industry because of the problem-solving challenges and variety of work involved in the UK’s largest manufacturing industry.
We nominated Matt because of the positive feedback received from our customers on his approach to work and skillset. The following references demonstrate the skills Matt has developed as an integral part of the OAL Connected team.
“I’ve been really impressed with Matt’s work ethic on site and his ability to communicate effectively with our team. He’s definitely one to watch for the future.”
“As always a difficult task to take forward the work started by others. Matt rose to the challenge of familiarising himself with the previous development allowing him to support existing engineering, expanding functionality and continuing the development to allow continued deployment to other sites.”
How will you make food tomorrow? We challenged delegates to imagine the digital food facotry of the future
The award's ceremony was held at the Doubletree Hilton, Coventry on Thursday 19 October 2017 as part of the Appetite for Engineering conference that took place earlier that day at the Manufacturing Technology Centre. Both events brought together industry professionals from all stages of their career journeys to inspire and educate, discuss and explore what the future holds for the UK’s largest manufacturing industry.
OAL was up for two other awards at the awards ceremony in addition to Matt’s entry. Our APRIL™ Cooking Cell was up for the Robotics & Automation award and our APRIL™ Robotic Ingredient Handling system up for the Future-Factory Enabling Technologies award. Both these categories were extremely competitive with the finalists from the most innovative companies the food manufacturing industry has to offer. And, although we didn’t win, it was still fantastic for us to be recognised as one of the best.
The awards season is not yet over for OAL. We’re flying the food industry flag at the cross-sector IET, Institue of Engineering and Technology Awards. APRIL™ Robotics is shortlisted for the Manufacturing Technology award in a highly competitive competition.
There were over 300 entries to the awards from 25 countries from industries including aerospace, automotive and pharmaceutical. We’ll find out if we’ve been successful on the 15th November at the ceremony at The Brewery, London.
The year then ends with the Food Matters Live awards where our unique cooking technology Steam Infusion has been shortlisted in the Best Food and Drink Process or Technology category.
OAL to speak at food robotics event at CAFRE, NI
Are you looking to introduce more automation and robotics into your food factory? Join OAL at the Robotic Automation in Food Processing seminar hosted by the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise. The event is taking place at the Food Innovation Centre, Loughry Campus, Cookstown, Northern Ireland on Wednesday 25th October 2017.
The one-day seminar brings food manufacturing and agricultural professionals together to answer these key questions:
What capabilities does robotic automation offer that could be utilised?
How easily can it be implemented and maintained?
Is robotic automation right for implementation into your processes?
How cost effective can it be?
And now robotics and automation are much more advanced and affordable, we will be discussing what new opportunities this presents the agriculture and food processing industry.
OAL's Jake Norman will be building on from this and talking about how OAL are putting robotics and automation at the heart of food processing with our APRIL Robotics solutions.
Hear how we have invested, researched and developed the very latest and advanced robotics and automation technology to help food manufacturers solve their challenges driven by the increasing living wage, flatline productivity and food deflation.
Start your journey towards increasing productivity and efficiency with robotics and automation.
APRIL™ Robotics finalist at the Institution of Engineering and Technology Awards 2017
We’re very pleased to announce that APRIL™ Robotics is shortlisted for the Best Manufacturing Technology category at the Institution of Engineering and Technology Innovation Awards 2017. It's fantastic to be flying the flag for the food industry in a very competitive category. The Best Manufacturing Technology competition received over 300 entries from 25 countries from industries including aerospace, automotive and pharmaceutical!
The esteemed judging panel including the Director of Innovate UK was looking for innovative uses of automation to improve aspects such as:
Quality / consistency
Cost reduction
Energy efficiency
Reduction in pollutants
Flexible / agile production
Market response / customisation
If you’ve seen the APRIL Cooking Cell in action, then you’ll know how different APRIL is and how the advanced the technology, engineering and design can improve the way we handle and process food products..
Other finalists in the Manufacturing Technology category include:
Plastic Logic Germany
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
FliteTrak
Biohm Ltd.
APRIL™ Robotics wins PPMA Innovation Award
We're very pleased to announce that our APRIL™ Robotics Cooking Cell won the most Innovative Robotics System award at this year's PPMA awards.
It's fantastic recognition from the food industry for all the hard work our team, customers and suppliers are putting into changing the way we handle and process ingredients with robots.
The judges were looking for “creative solutions” and “smart use of robotics” that lead to significant productivity improvements and cost reductions. If you've had the chance to see APRIL™ cooking then you'll know the sight of an industrial robot picking up a 500l cooking kettle is definitely different (watch the video to get an idea). And it's the emulation of how a chef cooks in a kitchen, moving saucepans around, that offers cost reductions through labour, yield enhancement and a reduction in capital equipment from the improved utilisation of assets.
More awards to come
Get the champagne on ice, there could be a few more awards to come too! We're shortlisted in three categories at the Appetite for Engineering Food Processing Awards:
Matt Ayre, one of our talented software engineers is up for Young Engineer of the Year
Our APRIL™ Cooking Cell is also up for the Robotics & Automation award
And our APRIL™ Robotic Weighing Station is up for the Future-Factory Enabling Technologies award
And finally… we’re flying the food industry flag at the cross-sector IET, Institue of Engineering and Technology Awards. APRIL™ Robotics is shortlisted for the Manufacturing Technology award in a highly competitive competition. There were over 300 entries to the awards from 25 countries from industries including aerospace, automotive and pharmaceutical.
OAL inspires at Mission Possible Peterborough careers fair
On Friday 23 June 2017, OAL inspired students at the Mission Possible careers fair organised by the Skills Service at the East of England Showground in Peterborough. The event attracted more than 3,000 young students aged 14-24 to encourage them to explore future career options. With so many industries at the event, there was certainly a lot for them to learn about and consider.
OAL’s stand showcased our latest innovations in robotics and automation for food manufacturers to widen young people’s perception of engineering and the food manufacturing industry and to encourage more young people to continue with their STEM subjects and choose engineering as their career.
To get attendees involved and thinking more about the next 10-15 years of the food industry, we ran a competition asking them a key question.
What food will you be eating when you’re 30?
And, with a Kindle Fire tablet as a prize for the best answer, it was worth really thinking about their answers!
By the end of the event, we had more than 160 entries and it was clear that all of them knew that the food industry is dynamic and will be changing dramatically over the next 10 to 15 years.
We were really impressed with the scope of responses which considered current challenges in the world such as the growing population, rising obesity and people’s busier lifestyles. Many of the answers we received aimed to solve these issues using alternative proteins, dehydrated convenience foods and pills and potions full of all the nutrients an individual needs.
The winning answer recognised world hunger as a big issue and considered not just individual eating habits but the eating habits globally:
“A small pill that has all the right nutrients in it that fills you up. It would need to be affordable so it can help to end world hunger.”
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OAL to build new APRIL™ Robotics production facility
We’re very pleased to announce the development of our new state-of-the-art facility to support our APRIL™ Robotics Systems in Cambridgeshire, UK. The new facility supports a growing order book as food manufacturers seek to avoid rising costs in the UK and Europe through significant productivity improvements.
Currently, 529,800 people globally are associated with the common repetitive task of weighing dry ‘micro’ ingredients. The APRIL Robotics Ingredient Handling system automates this task and when linked with APRIL Logistics, fully automates the ingredient and material management within factories.
The OAL team is rapidly accelerating the adoption of robots in food manufacturing as they focus on increasing productivity and efficiency in food factories by automating manual handling tasks. Harry Norman, Owner/Managing Director at OAL, explains more:
“We’re committed to eliminating manual handling in the front end of food processing, and the new APRIL facility gives our team a great space to develop and demonstrate what that means for food manufacturers.
We have a strong reputation for building large scale material handling projects, and advanced manufacturing software (OAL Connected) and the APRIL developments complement these thriving parts of the business.”