OAL has announced the building of a new advanced facility to support its food manufacturing preparation and processing platform, APRIL.
The new site is expected to support OAL’s rapidly expanding order book as food manufacturer seek to avoid rising costs in the UK and Europe by realising significant productivity improvements.
According to OAL, more than 500,00 people around the world have roles associated with the common repetitive task of weighing dry ‘micro’ ingredients. Its APRIL Robotics Weighing System automates this task and, when linked with APRIL Logistics, fully automated the ingredient and material management within factories.
With automation and robotics synonymous with sectors such as automotive and pharmaceutical, OAL is looking to rapidly accelerate the adoption of robotics within less prevalent areas, i.e. food and beverage.
Owner/Managing director, Harry Norman explained: “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 and the APRIL developments complement these thriving parts of the business.”
The Peterborough factory is expected to open in January 2018, with the company intending to recruit upwards of 50 engineers to further support the roll out and development of its APRIL Robotics Systems.
The Manufacturer Smart Factory Expo
Nov 15-16, 2017 – Exhibition Centre Liverpool
The UK’s biggest showcase for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) – a revolution in manufacturng agility, innovation and thinking.
Highlighting the best solution providers and technology offerings, this unique FREE event is for manufacturing business leaders keen to adopt the relevant tools and knowledge to drive business growth.
New for 2017:
- Buyer Lounges – matching buyers and sellers
- Tech Zones – Industrial IoT, Automation & Robotics, Additive Manufacturing, Digital Transformation, and Big Data
- Solution Theatres – engaging expo attendees with case studies and cutting-edge developments
- Mentor Clinics – find the answers to your questions
- Innovation Alley – growing the expo ecosystem with hardware start-ups
