OAL News
Double win for OAL at PPMA 2018
We’re very proud to announce that we took home two accolades at the PPMA Awards 2018. Our APRIL Eye system won the Innovative Vision Solution award, while Kyle Constable, Steam Infusion technical sales lead at OAL, was named Apprentice of the Year.
Innovative Vision Solution Award & Apprentice of the Year
PPMA awards
We’re very proud to announce that we took home two accolades at the PPMA Awards 2018. Our APRIL™ Eye system won the Innovative Vision Solution award, while Kyle Constable, Steam Infusion technical sales lead at OAL, was named Apprentice of the Year. We were also highly commended for our APRIL™ Robotics Ingredient Handling system! The awards recognise the finest examples of innovation, smart manufacturing and entrepreneurship in the UK food industry, and we’re delighted to have been acknowledged in three categories.
Eyes on the prize
APRIL™ Eye is the world’s first artificial intelligence vision solution. It fully automates the date code verification process to reduce the risk of product recalls and withdrawals caused by human error on packaging lines. The Innovative Vision Solution award celebrates equipment suppliers, system integrators or end users who have manufactured, designed or installed a clever, creative or innovative industrial solution. It’s fantastic that the PPMA appreciates how APRIL™ Eye can make a significant improvement to processes, safety, quality and efficiency and deliver cost savings to food manufacturers on their packaging lines.
By combining machine learning and artificial intelligence, APRIL™ Eye transforms the traditional date code verification process, which relies on operators to check the date code is printed correctly. APRIL™ Eye removes the human error inherent in these boring, repetitive tasks by reading back the date code, fully automating the date code verification process. The system can deal with variations such as lighting, positioning, print quality and placement to eliminate errors, protect consumers and the brand while at the same time reducing labour costs and waste - it’s the full package!
“You’re hired”
Acknowledging emerging talent within the food industry, the Apprentice of the Year award celebrates the most promising apprentice, and in particular their future leadership potential. Kyle Constable is a degree apprentice at OAL, helping UK and European food manufacturers adopt OAL’s Steam Infusion technology to ensure they maximise the benefits of the cooking process. With a strong background in the food industry having previously worked for Nestlé as a manufacturing apprentice, he is currently completing a degree in Food & Drink Manufacturing Operations Management at the University of Lincoln.
The award is designed to encourage more young people to take up careers in the industry, a cause that Kyle takes very seriously as he represents a success story of taking an apprenticeship route to gaining a degree qualification within the food industry and uses this experience to mentor students as part of the OAL CSR programme. It’s wonderful for Kyle to be recognised for such a prestigious award as it endorses his hard work combining studies with great performance at the company.
Harry Norman, owner of OAL, comments, “A double win at the PPMA awards - who could ask for more? We’re absolutely thrilled to win the Innovative Vision Solution PPMA Award and for Kyle to be recognised as the Apprentice of the Year. It really demonstrates to our peers the significance of the work that we’re doing and celebrates one of our team members and the valuable contribution that he makes, not just to our company but the industry as a whole.”
We’re really making a difference at OAL. Want to join us on this journey? Get in touch to find out more about our award-winning solutions or if you want to be part of a team that values training and development, have a look at our careers page today.
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.
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.