Bizerba, FANUC, KILIVATIONS, and Schmalz in partnership to promote automation in the food sector
From left to right: Oliver Deifel (Bizerba), Jaron Kilian (KILIVATIONS), Thomas Lichtenberger (Schmalz), Jonas Kilian (KILIVATIONS) and Ralf Winkelmann (FANUC) present their joint partnership to drive automation in the food industry at automatica 2025.
With the formal declaration of their strategic alliance, Bizerba, FANUC, KILIVATIONS, and Schmalz are advancing their partnership to propel the creation and application of practical automation solutions for the food sector.
The partnership wants to addresses challenges such as the market increasingly moving towards continuous line production, manual challenges in the end-of-line area, and labour shortages.
Each partner will contributes its specific know-how to the alliance, Bizerba is responsible for weighing, labelling, slicing and inspection technologies and takes on the role of system integrator. FANUC contributes cutting-edge robotics and control technologies. KILIVATIONS brings years of expertise in the development of robotic applications and automation solutions. Schmalz adds extensive knowledge in gripping and vacuum technology – tailored specifically to the requirements of delicate food products.
At automatica 2025, the four companies presented a first milestone of their partnership: a modular, fully automated sandwich station for hygienic, contact-free handling of fresh food. The system combines precise slicing technology with state-of-the-art robotics, advanced vacuum gripping systems and high-precision dosing – enabling pinpoint production of snacks “on demand”, contactless and efficient.
A wide range of promising projects is already underway – focusing on product handling, case loading and palletising in the end-of-Line area of the food industry. Bizerba acts as the central point of contact and integrator of the overall solution.
Oliver Deifel, director global customer solution center at Bizerba, emphasises: “This strategic partnership is a perfect match and a key element of our Bizerba strategy to deliver holistic solutions for the food market. Our goal is to transform the entire line process downstream of the packaging machine into continuous, scalable automation concepts. As the central integrator, we combine our own portfolio with the specialist knowledge of our partners – efficient, future-ready and customer-focused.”
