Stay Informed. Stay Ahead.
Unmanned forklifts represent the new future choice for handling operations in food factories.
China’s food industry has evolved into a dynamic and developed economic sector. This growth, driven by national economic expansion, rising household income, and increased purchasing power, has led consumers to become more discerning about food quality. Green and safe food has become a prerequisite for purchasing decisions. Alongside this, another critical factor that cannot be overlooked is the management efficiency within food factories.
In recent years, food safety incidents have frequently emerged. Issues such as improper storage leading to spoilage and mold, combined with the vast volume of products, make it challenging to ensure both efficiency and quality when relying solely on manual management and transportation. Against the backdrop of labor shortages, this severely impacts the production efficiency and economic returns of the food industry.
Taking the high-impact incidents of “moldy ham sausages” and “foot-trodden pickled vegetables” as examples, these practices not only demonstrate irresponsibility towards consumers but also thrust the brands into the forefront of food safety controversies, causing significant economic losses to the enterprises. Therefore, the storage and transportation of food hold critical importance.
Currently, the most common handling methods include manual handling, semi-automated equipment handling (manual + traditional forklifts), and automated handling using unmanned forklift AGVs.
Technology Complements Labor Force | Capacity & Industrial Upgrade
In the past, factories consistently relied on manual labor for goods transfer. However, as the industry has evolved, this traditional approach has increasingly exposed numerous challenges.
No.1 Manual Handling Leads to Frequent Damage and Accumulation
Studies indicate that current manual handling primarily relies on general laborers operating traditional forklifts. This method suffers from significant limitations: traditional forklifts depend heavily on the operator’s perception and decision-making, exhibit poor motion control precision, and cannot achieve human-like speed and intelligence even with basic positioning/navigation modifications. Furthermore, as traditional forklifts lack designed full visibility for cameras, blind spots frequently occur during reversing and steering, making this crude combination highly likely to cause cargo damage.
This approach also heavily depends on the handlers’ stacking skills and sense of responsibility. Operating enterprises cannot fully manage or supervise the entire handling process, resulting in inconsistent stacking quality. Additionally, the extended duration and high time consumption of manual operations easily lead to material accumulation in the factory.
No.2 Persistently High Labor Costs
Due to the large footprint of factories and their generally remote locations, organizing large-scale manual handling operations presents increasing challenges in terms of both economic costs and personnel safety.
No.3 Hindrance to Digital and Intelligent Operational Upgrades
Achieving fully automated, unmanned operations across the entire plant is a key objective for the food industry’s transformation. Large-scale robotic dispatch systems enable real-time monitoring of intelligent unmanned forklifts, providing clear visibility of their positions. Task instructions issued through the dispatch system are accurately executed by the forklifts, significantly advancing enterprises toward digital and intelligent operations.
Technological Innovation in Factories | Enhancing Worker Well-being
AGV unmanned forklifts can perform handling tasks along pre-set routes without human intervention, operating continuously 24/7. This significantly enhances workflow efficiency and reduces labor requirements. According to relevant data, the implementation of AGV unmanned forklifts can reduce warehouse operational costs by 30% and increase gross profit by 7%. Furthermore, through the monitoring system, the location and status of each forklift are visible, and commands can be issued to direct their movement and tasks. A single operator can manage and deploy multiple AGV forklifts, substantially saving unnecessary labor costs.
Replication of Material Handling Cases in the Food Industry Pallet Truck (1.5T Capacity)
Project Overview: The intra-plant cross-floor unmanned delivery transformation project deployed five robotic handling AGV forklifts integrated with a central dispatch system.
Workflow: After completion of production on the second floor, AGVs retrieve the goods and transport them to the buffer storage area, organizing them by category. Second-floor AGVs then retrieve specified categories based on first-floor demands, deliver them to the elevator, and – through system integration – automatically dispatch the elevator to the first floor. First-floor AGVs subsequently pick up the goods from the elevator and deliver them to designated workstations.
In mixed human-robot environments, the position and orientation of goods are complex and variable. Equipped with 3D vision recognition, the unmanned forklift can achieve precise positioning of goods in natural settings. It features carrier detection and placement verification functions, accurately identifies carriers, and adaptively picks up materials with a repeat placement accuracy of ±5 mm.
Unmanned forklifts are not only capable of point-to-point material handling but can also interface with multiple production stages. Across diverse scenarios such as production lines, warehouses, stations, and airports, they fulfill various functions based on different requirements including import/export points, production lines, loading/unloading stations, assembly lines, conveyor lines, racks, automated storage, and operational points.
To date, AMRs have been deployed across various sectors including food, pharmaceuticals, automotive, and photovoltaics, providing fully flexible logistics solutions that address critical customer pain points. Customers receive complimentary training and comprehensive technical support services.