Automation and robotisation in food and beverage production

The food industry combines the highest production pace with strict hygiene and food-safety requirements — takt time counted in seconds, HACCP as a legal duty, and every stop of a packing line as a direct, measurable loss.

At MDP Engineering we design and build turnkey automated packing, sorting and palletising stations for food & beverage — in hygienic design aligned with EHEDG and IP69K. We integrate robotics with quality control and batch traceability, and Virtual Commissioning means the line enters production with a tested program — not a program that will be tested on live output.

W ogrodzonej strefie roboczej działa duże przemysłowe ramię robota, które zapewnia automatyzację produkcji wśród paneli sterowania, kabli i maszyn w środowisku fabrycznym. W całym obszarze widać jasne oświetlenie i uporządkowany sprzęt.
Zbliżenie na maszyny przemysłowe w fabryce, na którym widać pomarańczowe i czarne elementy, kable oraz części metalowe — podkreślające rolę automatyzacji produkcji — a w tle widoczne są urządzenia i ogrodzenia zabezpieczające.

Production challenges in food and beverage

Automation in food & beverage does not tolerate a trade-off between throughput and hygiene:

Strict machine hygiene:

EHEDG, HACCP, GMP — the machine must be easy to wash and disinfect, with no bacteria pockets. IP69K means resistance to 80 bar steam wash-down. A standard industrial machine will not survive this or pass an IFS/BRC audit.

Extreme takt time and OEE:

A packing line at 200–300 units per minute does not forgive downtime. Each hour of failure is hundreds of thousands of units, retailer claims and real penalties from distribution networks.

Fast changeovers (SMED) for pack formats:

A food producer often runs a dozen formats on one line. Manual changeover takes hours and generates start-up losses — automated or quick-change format systems cut that to minutes.

Batch traceability:

Regulation (EC) 178/2002 requires reconstructing the full batch history — from raw material to dispatch date. Without traceability, a recall is a logistical and financial disaster.

ERP and MES integration:

The new machine must talk to SAP, Oracle or the in-house MES — pull production orders, report execution, log raw-material consumption.

Tell us about your needs

Our engineering services are aimed at industrial sectors where build quality and structural durability are of critical importance.

Our engineering solutions:
why MDP Engineering for Food & Beverage?

01

Food-grade packing and palletising robotics

Manual packing at high takt is a bottleneck and a chronic labour problem. Robots work without fatigue, in cold-store temperatures, with constant force and precision — in a space designed for wash-down.

How it helps:

Complete palletising and packing cells with robot, infeed conveyor, layer forming and stretch wrapping. Pick-and-place into trays, cases and wraparound. Format change via quick couplings and HMI parameters — no tools.

What we can do:

We integrate Fanuc (M-2iA delta, M-3iA) and KUKA robots with food-grade certificates. Vision locates products on the belt without markers. Programming on Siemens TIA Portal and Beckhoff TwinCAT with OPC-UA to the client MES.

02

Inline vision inspection and quality control

On a food line every nonconforming product must be caught before shipment — missing caps, wrong labels, incomplete packs. Manual inspection at high takt is statistically ineffective.

How it helps:

Inspection cameras integrated with line control perform 100% visual check of every piece in real time. NOK product is rejected automatically and logged with the reject reason.

What we can do

Label presence, content and orientation. Pack completeness (fill level, cap, crown). Expiry date and barcode/DataMatrix. Inline checkweighers with automatic reject and per-batch logging. Foreign-body detection: metal detector and X-ray.

03

Hygienic Design: maszyny i stanowiska zaprojektowane do mycia

A machine built without hygiene in mind is a permanent disinfection cost, a contamination risk and trouble at IFS/BRC audits. Hygienic design is engineering that shortens wash time and removes risk.

How it helps:

Open structure without dirt pockets. Free water drainage. Surfaces easy to inspect after washing. Machine ready for an IFS Food audit minutes after wash-down.

What we can do:

Stations from round AISI 304/316 stainless tube with no dead corners. FDA-compliant seals and contact materials. IP69K motors and drives. Sanitary enclosures (radius corners, no external threads). CIP integration for wash without dismantling.

04

Virtual Commissioning and MES/ERP: the line arrives ready

A food line cannot sit idle for weeks during start-up of a new machine. Virtual commissioning shortens that time and removes classic first-start problems.

How it works:

We build a digital model of the line in Siemens Process Simulate or RoboDK. TIA Portal or TwinCAT code is tested on the simulation — including the MES/ERP interface (OPC-UA, MQTT, REST API). We validate production sequences, changeover procedures and alarm scenarios.

What we verify digitally:

Sequences for all pack formats, changeover logic, MES communication (orders, execution, traceability), emergency scenarios and E-Stop.

Benefit:

SAT on the client line is 40–60% shorter. SAP or in-house MES integration is proven digitally — not on live production with a plan to meet.

Example scope: palletising cell for a food-processing plant

A typical MDP Engineering food & beverage project includes:

  • Process analysis and robot selection — takt time, pack formats and hygiene of the production zone

  • Mechanical design of the cell (SolidWorks) with infeed conveyor, robot station and stretch wrapping — EHEDG hygienic design

  • Electrical design and control cabinets (EPLAN P8) with Siemens TIA Portal and safety modules

  • Virtual Commissioning — simulation of all formats and changeovers, MES integration test via OPC-UA

  • Build and FAT at MDP Engineering — tests of all formats and cleaning procedures

  • SAT and commissioning at the client plant — operator training and technical plus sanitary documentation

We also offer service and modernization of existing machines.

Turnkey process: from concept to a running production line

  • Process analysis and concept:
    Takt time, hall layout, product formats and zone hygiene. Technology and line configuration

  • 3D CAD and EPLAN:
    Mechanical documentation in hygienic design and full electrical documentation.

  • Virtual Commissioning (Digital Twin):
    Production sequences, changeover and MES integration on the digital model — before the first robot is ordered.

  • Build and FAT:
    Station assembly, vision and measurement integration, tests of all formats and emergency scenarios.

  • SAT:
    Installation in the plant, production launch, training of operators and maintenanc

  • Maintenance service:
    Optional contract with guaranteed response time and spare-part availability.

Discuss your food line with an MDP Engineering engineer

Food & beverage automation needs a partner who understands EHEDG, high-speed packaging and will not stop your production during start-up.