While previous industrial revolutions were primarily driven by technological advancements, the emergence of Industry 5.0 is much more people focused. It's not defined by a single technological advancement but by a renewed focus on the human element. This era marks a crucial and overdue transition toward human-centric manufacturing operations, processes and businesses as a whole.

The JBS Principe facility is FOOD ENGINEERING’s 2024 Plant of the Year for its daring modern take on traditional Italian-style dried meat production.

Co-manufacturer Cascade Coffee adds automation to its secondary packaging operations by adding six cobot palletizing units.

The company’s UR30 is the second in its new series of cobots and is built on the same architecture as the UR20.

Niagara Bottling’s new 600,000-sq.-ft. production and distribution facility in Rialto, Calif., manufactures and distributes 120,000 bottles of water per hour. Supporting this throughput are 56 laser-guided vehicles, integrated with a 33,000-position robotic pallet shuttle storage system. Designed and built by E80 Group, the distribution automation operates 24/7/365.

Unable to attend Automate in Detroit this year? Here’s a roundup of some of the highlights that were on display.

It has a high palletization capacity and can palletize on different pallet sizes to accommodate cases up to 30 kg.

Small- and mid-size food businesses/manufacturers (SMBs) are in dire need of automated solutions for end-of-line packaging, primary packaging or processing. “Graybeards” have a considerable presence in manufacturing, and “10,000 boomers reach retirement age every day and represent 27% of the U.S. manufacturing workforce,” according to 2022 Bureau of Labor, Delottie and PEW Research. Plus, companies are experiencing a skills gap with the existing workforce, while also having challenges attracting younger workers to manufacturing jobs.

See the latest robotics equipment to help processors advance their operations.