"There is a lot of catching up to do in the automation for processing and packaging"

Last week's Fruit Logistica in Berlin was a successful display of processing and packaging capability for the US company ProEx Food, LLC, with offices in the United States and an additional office in Germany. The team had its new full washdown, hygienic pick-and-place robot on the stand, which was the big hit with visitors to Hall 9: "You can clearly see a growing focus on automation, especially in the packaging sector - both primary and secondary packaging," says Director of Marketing Nick Maglio. "A robot like this naturally makes a strong impression."

The team at the exhibition stand

The delta robot showcased is made for orientation for processing tasks, as well as post-processing product placement for primary packaging, while other available robots transport to boxes, palletize the boxes, and even stretch-wrap the pallets. "These are precisely the repetitive tasks that in the long run lead to injuries due to repeated strain. Workers are already scare as is, and without ergonomic workplaces it will be even harder to find and keep employees," agrees CEO Ross Lund. "In many countries there are now even legal guidelines in place to prevent injuries of this kind. Automation technology can reduce direct and indirect labor needs and mitigate bottlenecks in production."

ProEx Food has always been active in fruit and vegetable processing, mainly in traditional manners, but the focus is now shifting more and more to automation technology and solutions for fresh fruit and vegetables. "We would like to expand our activities in this area even further in 2020," agrees CTO & President Daniel Ghadiri. For a long time, there was little investment in fresh market packaging, the company notes: "There were simply other issues that took priority. But slowly it is becoming necessary and that is exactly where we want to be at our customers' side."

"The intermediate step between the retail packaging of the product and its transport was ignored for a long time - we now want to fill this gap," says Maglio. "In doing so, we want to support each customer with complete, personalized solutions - that is our strength. But we don't limit ourselves to machines and lines that we already have in our portfolio. Thanks to our large network of partners, we can always find the right equipment and technology solution and engineer it according to your needs!"