OAL, a specialist in robotics and automation, has successfully obtained a £5 million Innovation Loan from Innovate UK aimed at implementing over 1,000 robotic systems within the food manufacturing sector by 2030 to tackle workforce shortages.
This five-year initiative will facilitate the commercial introduction of fenceless robotics, which are compact robotic systems engineered to work safely alongside human employees on production lines without the need for traditional safety cages.
In the UK, the food manufacturing industry currently has a workforce of over 430,000, with many positions involving repetitive manual labor. Manufacturers are facing increasing challenges in hiring and retaining staff for these roles, with industry sources estimating that over 100,000 positions remain persistently unfilled.
Despite these challenges, automation levels in food factories are notably lower compared to other sectors. This can be attributed to the fact that conventional industrial robots are often too large, intricate, or difficult to integrate into production environments that are already constrained for space.
Jake Norman, the managing director of OAL, stated: “Labour remains one of the biggest structural challenges in food manufacturing, yet traditional automation is often too large or inflexible to adapt to changing demands – be they consumer- or retailer-led.”
He further emphasized, “Fenceless robotics addresses this head on. We can rapidly deploy robots into space-constrained environments to automate pick and place and palletising tasks. This transformational technology gives manufacturers a real competitive advantage and reduces their exposure to labour shortages. We’re thrilled to secure the support of Innovate UK to accelerate this vital project.”
Jonathan Walker, innovation lead at Innovate UK, commented: “In industries like food processing, robotics and automation can increase productivity by filling vacancies rather than replacing jobs. The conditions are generally unpleasant for people to work in due to temperature, hygiene requirements, and repetitive tasks but well suited to a properly designed robot. It is great to see UK companies innovating in this space and I’m pleased that Innovate UK is able to support.”
This initiative is expected to create over 100 new positions within OAL, spanning engineering, software development, systems integration, and technical sales.
