Utilising robotics in the brewing industry

ABB’s Food and Beverage division is exploring the application of robotics in a brewery setting.

With ever-increasing demand for craft and artisan brews – craft beer saw its biggest surge for 45 years in 2018, with a growth of 2.6% – ABB believes robotics are the answer to optimising the brewing process, as more and more breweries are turning to intelligent automation to increase productivity, flexibility and boost profits.

For smaller craft breweries, states ABB, robotics can offer the opportunity to scale up operations to reach a wider range of consumers. While some breweries may be reluctant to move away from traditional practices, automating select processes can achieve consistent high quality. It can also remove brewery staff from repetitive or labor-intensive tasks to focus on managing process efficiency.

Keg processing is a crucial area where robotics can help. An increasing number of keg types exist, so a system that can grasp all shapes and sizes, without the need to change the robot or the gripper, is a flexible solution that can adapt to future keg designs. This low maintenance and adaptable system can reduce business costs, mitigating the need for frequent equipment upgrades.

According to ABB, its is ideal for brewery applications. The robot features upper arm extenders and different wrist modules for easy customization and it can bend fully backwards, allowing it to fit into dense production lines. Once the stacked pallets arrive on a conventional stacker, the pallets are isolated and moved to the unloading station. The robot grasps each keg, with a maximum payload of 235kg, rotates it through 180 degrees and places it on a conveyor belt. Another robot then loads the kegs back on to empty pallets for distribution.

These robots can be used alongside , which checks the residue in the keg, capacity and pressure conditions as well as the correct temperature for cleaning and rinsing agents. The system can be used while the robot is operational and records data relating to the life cycle of kegs.

To explore how ABB’s robots have been integrated in a world-famous German brewery, .