Automation and robotics are slowly taking their place in the food, beverage and packaging industries in South Africa, said Yaskawa Motoman sales director Kurt Rosenberg, speaking at a demonstration day at the Yaskawa offices in Moddersfontein, Johannesburg.

Increasingly, the food, beverage and packaging industries had become key markets as manual packaging made way for faster “machine-led” solutions.




Rosenberg noted there had been an increase in the number of manufacturing plants in the country: “We are finding that peripheral businesses are opening around the manu- facturing plants [and providing the company] with the opportunity to package their goods. “These peripheral business are looking to robotics and automation to keep up with the quick flow of goods from the manufacturing plants that need to be bottled, wrapped or packaged.”

Yaskawa currently has 1 500 machines operating in the country.




“We cater for a widespread market and the bulk of our business is welding related, but we are able to deliver a wide range of robotic solutions for virtually every industrial appli- cation, where customers demand lower production costs or improved quality, or need to address labour issues,” said Rosenberg.

With growing interest in the industry, Rosenberg further noted that demonstra- tion days, such as this one, were important because they exposed students to the environment they wanted to enter.

“We have students from the University of the Witwatersrand attending, who are currently studying engineering and mechatronics. Many students are looking to break into the industry, but have never seen a robot.

“We need to start looking at skills within the industry; there are few apprenticeships offered and Yaskawa feels that it is vital for the robotics and automation industry to be involved in educational institutions to give students a better understanding of the range of choices at their disposal before they enter the industry,” he concluded.