Lakes invests in robotic packer

One enterprising free-range egg producer has started using robots from the car industry to pack their eggs, becoming the first business in the UK to use this groundbreaking automation technology.


The Lakes Free Range Egg Company installed two spherical robots in their new carbon-neutral packing centre in July and they have worked tirelessly since, packing eggs for distribution, increasing the efficiency of the facility and reducing their costs.

The robots, which can pack over 6,000 six-egg packs an hour, were manufactured by egg packing and robotics company Moba in conjunction with Japanese industrial robotics experts Yaskawa.

They were designed to be highly flexible and adaptable to enable them to work with a multitude of pack and case combinations. The robots are precise enough to handle consumer packs, packing them into cases, crates and shippers.

“We have always been innovators in the world of free-range egg production, so we see this as just another natural progression – but they are amazing pieces of equipment to watch,” said David Brass from the Lakes Free Rage Egg Company.

Mr Brass said the new robots hadn’t displaced any workers from his operation but made them more valuable to the business.

“We have not cut staff numbers, instead, we have up-skilled our workforce to make best use of the new machinery and increase productivity, something which is good for our carbon footprint and future opportunities.”

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