Manufacturers News
Cenfra Empowering Food Manufacturers
Tuesday, 09, March 2010
As the UK starts to recover from recession, food automation plans are firmly back on the agenda as manufacturers strive to keep production costs down, in the knowledge that cheap labour is not a long term option.The smarter food companies are looking to grow out of the recession using the latest technologies and equipment, according to CenFRA, Europe’s leading centre of excellence for food robotics and automation, which has recently recruited more engineers thanks to a surge in new enquiries.
However, CenFRA, ‘a not for profit company’, believes one of the biggest barriers to automation is a shortage of food manufacturing experience in the automation suppliers and automation experience within the food manufacturers. This lack of experience coupled with a lack of confidence in food companies means that many producers are unable to access the engineering resources needed to recognise automation opportunities and then specify, buy and install the optimum solutions.