AMSA Announces Symposium Speakers on Automation in the Global Meat Industry

Kearney, MO. April 20, 2022 – The American Meat Science Association (AMSA) is pleased to announce Dr. Lars Hinrichsen, Dr. Konrad Ahlin, and Chafik Barbar will be the featured speakers in the symposium entitled “Automation in the Global Meat Industry ” on Monday, June 13, 2022, during the 75th AMSA Reciprocal Meat Conference (RMC). The AMSA 75th 2022 RMC is co-hosted by Iowa State University, Kemin Food Technologies, the National Pork Board, and Hormel Foods Corporation. This session will be sponsored by Nestle Purina. ?

Dr. Lars Hinrichsen, Executive Vice President for the Danish Technological Institute, will start this session speaking about how robotic production cells will conquer the arena propelled by low cost, advanced sensor systems, and artificial intelligence in the near future in his talk entitled, “We Need to Rethink Production Technology for Meat Packers - The Old Cutting Table is Being Revived.” A leap is taken toward a production system operating 24 hours, seven days a week, with the first robotic production cell fabrication underway at a meatpacking facility. A set of self-learning collaborating robots will undertake complex operations. Knowledge and self-learning algorithms will become an essential asset on the meatpacker's balance sheet. Existing technology will be disrupted, and first movers will get ahead of their competition: The moment for decision is coming close.

Dr. Konrad Ahlin, Research Engineer for Georgia Tech Research Institute, will follow with a presentation on “The Robotic Workbench and Poultry Processing 2.0.” The assembly line has shaped the growth of the food production industry; however, the assembly line is also partially to blame for the lag in automation afflicting protein processing. Fixed automation relies on predictable incoming products of known variation, and the food industry cannot hope to be as consistent in its incoming materials as other industries. ?Contrary to traditional automation, robots are adept at handling fluctuations and may offer new opportunities for food production. Incorporating technologies such as the “robotic workbench” will enable assembly line procedures to be more agile in their handling and target output. Dr. Ahlin will share his insight on how Georgia Tech is working to forward this technology to give the protein industry a powerful tool for optimizing efficiency in production while retaining the quality of products currently produced by human labor.

Chafik Barbar, Founder and CEO of Marble Technologies, will conclude this session talking about “The Opportunity in Front of Us and How We Seize It.” The attention of technologists and business leaders is increasingly focused on the meat industry. Artificial intelligence and automation technology are finally capable of solving the challenges presented by the variation in meat products. Hundreds of millions of dollars are flowing into the industry. Together these three - outside money, outside eyes, and mature technology - present a once-in-a-generation opportunity to revolutionize meat processing. Mr. Barbar will emphasize how this promise can only be realized if the industry and its experts seize it.

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AMSA is an organization recognized for its unmatched competence and commitment to attracting and developing meat industry leaders and providing science-based meat research and information. For more information, please visit www.meatscience.org/rmc or contact Deidrea Mabry at 1-800-517-AMSA ext. 12.?