The loan will help OAL implement a five-year programme to support the commercial rollout of fenceless robotics – compact robotic systems designed to operate safely alongside people on production lines without traditional caging.
An estimated 430,000 people are currently employed within the UK food manufacturing sector, with many of these roles involving repetitive manual handling tasks that companies struggle to recruit and retain staff for.
According to OAL, industry estimates suggest there are more than 100,000 roles that manufacturers struggle to fill consistently.
Despite these pressures, the firm says food factories remain significantly less automated than many other industries, partly because traditional industrial robots are often too large, complex or difficult to integrate into existing space-constrained production environments.
OAL says that its fenceless robotics technology can enable manufacturers to retrofit these systems directly onto existing production lines, without major changes to factory layouts.
By automating repetitive tasks such as pick and place handling and palletising, OAL adds manufacturers will be able to boost efficiency, accuracy and safety, while allowing operators to focus on higher-value work.
“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,” said Jake Norman, managing director of OAL.
“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.”
Innovate UK’s loan will additionally help the Peterborough-based business to create more than 100 new roles across engineering, software development, systems integration and technical sales.
The project will also see OAL launch a structured apprenticeship programme based at its Cambridgeshire headquarters, supporting the development of future automation engineers and technicians.
OAL has been developing robotics for food manufacturing since 2016, and its systems have already been deployed in factories across the UK and Europe for the likes of Domino’s Pizza, Solina and Agrana Group.
Jonathan Walker, innovation lead at Innovate UK, added, “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 are able to support.”
