Built for the Speed and Complexity of Modern Food & Beverage Manufacturing
From individual line components to complete end-to-end systems, we at Edge Automation deliver automation that’s engineered specifically for the physical, regulatory, and operational demands of food and beverage manufacturing.
Why Food & Beverage Manufacturers Choose Edge
- Modular Design Built for What Comes Next
Every system we build is designed to grow with you. Our modular architecture supports phased implementation. - Hygienic Design, Full Compliance Coverage
Our systems meet FDA, EC, CFIA, 3-A Sanitary Standards, EHEDG, and NSF/ANSI 14159 requirements across materials of construction, geometry and fabrication, and compatibility. - High Reliability at High Speed
Our systems are engineered for demanding duty cycles, with a focus on minimizing downtime across the entire line. - Engineered for Harsh F&B Environments
Temperature extremes, condensation, daily wash-down, and chemical exposure: We account for all of it during system design. The result is equipment that performs consistently in the environment it actually lives in.
Automation Solutions Designed for Food & Beverage
- End-of-Line Packaging
Case packing, wrapping, and bundling solutions. - Conveying Systems
Hygienic, high-throughput conveying systems. - Pick-and-Place
Precision automation for placing, orienting, and transferring products at speed — validated across product types including fresh produce, bakery items, bottles, and portioned meats. - Palletizing
Automated systems that build stable, consistent pallet patterns at the end of your line. - Filling & Sealing
Accurate systems designed for food-grade materials and cleanroom compatibility. - Vision Inspection
Inline systems that detect defects, verify labels, check fill levels, and confirm packaging integrity. - Custom Automation
No two facilities are the same. When a standard solution doesn’t fit your space, your product, or your process.
Examples of Our Solutions
Designing food and beverage machinery requires complying with strict regulatory and sanitary standards, ensuring equipment is “cleanable to a microbiological level” and prevents contamination, beyond traditional machine design methods.
Case Packing System — Breaded Chicken Shapes
Bagged products (nuggets, strips, patties, drumsticks) arrive in random orientations at high throughput, requiring vision-guided picking on moving conveyors. Cases vary in size and require precise bag arrangement patterns — demanding a flexible, scalable system capable of matching live production speeds across three separate lines.
We engineered a three-modular stainless-steel system, one per production line, each using high-speed 7kg robots with custom universal end-of-arm tooling featuring zoned vacuum for reliable bag handling. Vision guidance identifies bag position and orientation in real time with full conveyor tracking — eliminating line stoppages. Networked PLC and robot controllers are housed in integrated stainless enclosures.
- Achieved 140 bags/min across three lines with seven robots per system; scalable to 180 bags/min.
- Modular expansion validated — additional modules successfully added to the original installation to meet increased production targets.
- System design adopted for rollout to multiple processing facilities for the same customer.
Bagged products (nuggets, strips, patties, drumsticks) arrive in random orientations at high throughput, requiring vision-guided picking on moving conveyors. Cases vary in size and require precise bag arrangement patterns — demanding a flexible, scalable system capable of matching live production speeds across three separate lines.
We engineered a three-modular stainless-steel system, one per production line, each using high-speed 7kg robots with custom universal end-of-arm tooling featuring zoned vacuum for reliable bag handling. Vision guidance identifies bag position and orientation in real time with full conveyor tracking — eliminating line stoppages. Networked PLC and robot controllers are housed in integrated stainless enclosures.
- Achieved 140 bags/min across three lines with seven robots per system; scalable to 180 bags/min.
- Modular expansion validated — additional modules successfully added to the original installation to meet increased production targets.
- System design adopted for rollout to multiple processing facilities for the same customer.
Label Application & Printing System — Glass Bottles
Upgrading a glass bottle filling line to precisely orient bottles for wrap label application and cap printing across multiple product SKUs — while minimizing production downtime during retrofit. Bottles required exact rotational alignment, so wrap labels matched cap thread positions, and marketing shapes aligned with plastic lids. Cap surfaces also required treatment to accept high-quality ink printing, and there was no reliable way to verify that printed SKUs matched the product being filled.
We designed a full-line retrofit featuring servo feed screws for bottle spacing, vision-guided dual belt servo rotators for precise bottle “clocking,” and integrated plasma treatment on caps to promote ink adhesion. AI-powered OCR vision inspection confirms printed cap SKUs match the filled product. System controlled via PLC/HMI/Servo/VFD architecture.
- Reached 90 bottles/min; second system in testing at 180 bottles/min.
- Long-term quality validation visible at retail — label alignment verified on store shelves years post-installation.
- Commissioned on an existing production line with only one week of downtime.
Upgrading a glass bottle filling line to precisely orient bottles for wrap label application and cap printing across multiple product SKUs — while minimizing production downtime during retrofit. Bottles required exact rotational alignment, so wrap labels matched cap thread positions, and marketing shapes aligned with plastic lids. Cap surfaces also required treatment to accept high-quality ink printing, and there was no reliable way to verify that printed SKUs matched the product being filled.
We designed a full-line retrofit featuring servo feed screws for bottle spacing, vision-guided dual belt servo rotators for precise bottle “clocking,” and integrated plasma treatment on caps to promote ink adhesion. AI-powered OCR vision inspection confirms printed cap SKUs match the filled product. System controlled via PLC/HMI/Servo/VFD architecture.
- Reached 90 bottles/min; second system in testing at 180 bottles/min.
- Long-term quality validation visible at retail — label alignment verified on store shelves years post-installation.
- Commissioned on an existing production line with only one week of downtime.
Pharma-Food Application — Gel Capsules Handling and Curing
Developing a pharma-food compliant handling and pre-curing system for a new gel capsule supplement recipe that required strict FIFO curing time, high-throughput processing, and full washdown capability in a clean-room environment.
Our team designed and integrated a high-speed transfer conveyor that elevates single capsules from the encapsulation machine and drops them onto a servo-driven oscillating distribution conveyor. A four-conveyor “waterfall” cascade system spaces and pre-cures capsules. The full stainless steel enclosure provides filtered, directed airflow to support curing. Cascading conveyors pull out like drawers for daily cleaning.
- Fully fulfilled processing of 720 capsules/min (12/sec) with guaranteed 15-minute FIFO cure time.
- Validated for high-pressure (1500 psi) washdown and caustic cleaning in clean-room conditions.
- Shop-tested using gummy bears to simulate product prior to site integration — performed as specified upon clean-room commissioning.
Developing a pharma-food compliant handling and pre-curing system for a new gel capsule supplement recipe that required strict FIFO curing time, high-throughput processing, and full washdown capability in a clean-room environment.
Our team designed and integrated a high-speed transfer conveyor that elevates single capsules from the encapsulation machine and drops them onto a servo-driven oscillating distribution conveyor. A four-conveyor “waterfall” cascade system spaces and pre-cures capsules. The full stainless steel enclosure provides filtered, directed airflow to support curing. Cascading conveyors pull out like drawers for daily cleaning.
- Fully fulfilled processing of 720 capsules/min (12/sec) with guaranteed 15-minute FIFO cure time.
- Validated for high-pressure (1500 psi) washdown and caustic cleaning in clean-room conditions.
- Shop-tested using gummy bears to simulate product prior to site integration — performed as specified upon clean-room commissioning.
You Know the Problems. We Know How to Fix Them.
Whether you’re running a high-speed bottling line or a fresh produce operation, we design solutions that are built to keep running.
