A Shift Beyond Traditional Fixed Automation
Automation is nothing new to Australian bottling and canning lines, PLC controlled conveyors, fillers, labellers, and seamers have been standard equipment for decades. What is changing is the growing accessibility of robotics and collaborative robots, commonly known as cobots, for tasks that were previously either manual or handled by expensive, custom fixed automation. For FMCG manufacturers evaluating where robotics genuinely make sense on their production lines, understanding the practical differences between traditional industrial robots and cobots, and where each fits, is an increasingly relevant question.
Traditional Industrial Robots: Speed and Payload
Traditional industrial robots, the kind used for high speed palletising, case packing, and pick and place applications on large scale bottling and canning lines, are built for speed, precision, and continuous duty cycles at significant payload. These systems typically operate within dedicated safety enclosures, physically separated from human workers during operation, because their speed and force make unguarded operation unsafe. They remain the right choice where genuine high speed, high volume throughput is required, such as end of line palletising on a large canning operation running continuously across multiple shifts.
The trade off is cost and flexibility. Traditional industrial robotic systems typically require significant capital investment, dedicated safety guarding, and a longer design and commissioning timeframe, making them most justifiable where production volume genuinely warrants the investment and where the task is well defined and unlikely to change significantly over the equipment’s service life.
Collaborative Robots: Flexibility at Lower Volume
Cobots are designed specifically to operate safely alongside human workers without the extensive guarding traditional industrial robots require, using built in force and speed limiting to stop or slow down if they encounter unexpected contact. This fundamentally changes the economics and practicality of robotic automation for many FMCG applications. A cobot can often be deployed on a section of an existing line without a major layout redesign, redeployed to a different task relatively easily if production needs change, and programmed by production staff with moderate technical training rather than requiring specialist robotics programming expertise for every adjustment.
This makes cobots particularly well suited to mid volume production lines, tasks with some variability, such as handling multiple product formats, and applications where the capital and complexity of a traditional robotic cell simply cannot be justified. Common applications on Australian bottling and canning lines include secondary packaging tasks, quality inspection handling, and repetitive pick and place tasks that are physically demanding or repetitive for human operators, without requiring the extreme speed of a dedicated high volume robotic cell.
Integration With Existing Control Systems
A significant practical consideration for any robotics or cobot deployment is integration with existing line control systems. A robotic cell or cobot installation does not operate in isolation, it needs to communicate reliably with the broader line PLC, whether that is an Allen Bradley or Siemens platform, to coordinate timing with upstream and downstream equipment, respond correctly to line stoppages, and integrate with existing safety systems. Poorly integrated robotics can become a bottleneck or a new source of downtime rather than a genuine efficiency improvement, if the communication and safety integration with the existing line is not properly engineered.
This is where combined mechanical and electrical automation expertise matters. Selecting and mechanically installing a robotic or cobot system is only part of the project, the control system integration, safety interlocking, and communication with existing PLC infrastructure is equally critical to a successful deployment.
Making the Business Case
The business case for robotics or cobot deployment on a bottling or canning line typically rests on a combination of factors: labour cost and availability for the specific task, the physical demands or injury risk of the manual task being replaced, and the production volume and consistency the automation needs to support. Given the skilled trades and general labour shortage affecting food and beverage manufacturing, automating physically repetitive tasks can also help manufacturers redeploy existing staff toward higher value, more skilled roles rather than simply reducing headcount.
For lower volume or highly variable production, cobots frequently offer a more sensible entry point into robotic automation than traditional industrial robotic cells, given their lower capital cost, reduced guarding requirements, and greater flexibility to be redeployed or reprogrammed as production needs evolve.
A Practical, Staged Approach
Manufacturers considering robotics or cobots on their bottling or canning lines are generally best served by a staged approach: identifying a specific, well defined task where automation offers clear value, whether reducing a repetitive manual handling task or addressing a genuine production bottleneck, and piloting a solution on that task before considering broader deployment. This allows the organisation to build genuine operational experience with robotic automation, and to validate integration with existing control systems and workflows, before committing to a larger scale investment.
Maintenance Considerations for Robotic Systems
Robotics and cobots introduce a maintenance profile that differs from traditional fixed automation, and this is worth genuine consideration before committing to a deployment. While cobots are generally designed for straightforward maintenance and typically require less specialised servicing than large traditional robotic cells, both categories of equipment still require staff with the skills to diagnose faults, whether mechanical, electrical, or software related, and to safely carry out repairs or recalibration when required. Manufacturers considering a first robotics deployment need to plan not just for the initial installation, but for the ongoing servicing and technical support the equipment will require across its operating life, including access to spare parts and manufacturer technical support where in house capability is not sufficient.
This is another area where an engineering partner with broad automation experience across multiple platforms and applications adds genuine value, providing a single point of contact for robotics maintenance and troubleshooting alongside the broader control system and mechanical support already in place for the rest of a production line.
Safety Certification and Standards Compliance
Regardless of whether a traditional industrial robot or a cobot is selected, safety certification and standards compliance remain essential, covering aspects such as risk assessment specific to the application, verification of any safety rated force and speed limiting functions on cobots, and appropriate integration with existing machine safety systems on the broader line. This is not an area where shortcuts are acceptable, and working with an engineering partner who understands both robotics integration and broader machine safety compliance requirements ensures a deployment is genuinely safe, not just operationally functional.
Engineering Support for Robotics Integration
With combined mechanical, electrical, and automation capability under one team, BevTech supports FMCG manufacturers evaluating and implementing robotics and cobot solutions on their production lines, from initial feasibility assessment through mechanical installation and full integration with existing Allen Bradley or Siemens control systems. To discuss whether robotics or cobot automation makes sense for a specific task on your line, contact BevTech at 25 Silvio St, Richlands QLD 4077, or admin@bevtech.com.au.