Van Wees: flexible robotics for meal production

In the food processing industry, a surprising amount of manual work is still involved. Consider tasks such as adding sachets of croutons to meal salads, portioning ingredients or filling packaging. These are often repetitive actions that are physically demanding and difficult to automate, especially with smaller production batches or changing recipes. At the same time, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find sufficient staff.

To address this challenge, Van Wees Waalwijk developed the Bin Pick Food Cell: a compact and flexible robotic cell that can automate various manual tasks in food production.

Automation that adapts

Where traditional automation solutions are often fixed machines designed for a single task, the Bin Pick Food Cell is built for flexibility. The cell can easily be deployed across different production lines and supports multiple operations within the process.

Robotic arms automatically pick ingredients from bins (bin picking), dose them accurately and perform actions such as adding components to meals or packaging. Vision technology continuously checks whether the correct ingredients and quantities are being processed, ensuring consistent end-product quality.

Depending on the product and line speed, the cell can perform 40 to 60 picks per minute. This allows a single cell to replace multiple manual operations on a production line.

Designed for variation in food

The food industry is evolving rapidly. Producers increasingly work with smaller batches, a wider variety of products and shorter production runs. Traditional automation is often not flexible enough to handle this.

The Bin Pick Food Cell has been specifically developed with this variation in mind. Thanks to its modular design, the system can be easily adapted to different products and processes. Operation has also been intentionally simplified, allowing operators without a technical background to start up and adjust the cell.

Smarter through AI and collaboration

The technology behind the Bin Pick Food Cell continues to evolve. For picking loose or irregular products, for example, vision AI is being further developed to better recognise how ingredients are positioned in a crate and how they can be picked most effectively.

During development, Van Wees collaborates with various technology partners, including Yaskawa for robotics and Fizyr for vision AI.

Automation tailored to your process

With the Bin Pick Food Cell, Van Wees Waalwijk demonstrates how robotics can contribute to future-ready food production: more efficient, more flexible and less dependent on manual labour.

In addition to this solution, the company also develops customised automation systems for specific production processes within the food industry.

More information:  www.vanweeswaalwijk.nl 

Food Tech Event 20 and 21 May 2026 | Brabanthallen Hall 3 Booth 227