Automation in the bakery with the Van Wees Waalwijk Robot

Smart technologies play a crucial role in the food system of the future. They not only help produce more sustainably, but also offer a solution to the growing labor shortage. AgriFood Capital encourages initiatives to accelerate research into and application of data, ICT and technology in the entire chain from farm to fork. Through HIGHFIVE, SMEs receive support for their digital innovation projects in the form of grants, coaching and/or training. This program focuses particularly on companies from Brabant.

Andries van der Werf, director of Van Wees Waalwijk, explains, "The role of the program is that, through this program, we can also give this solution a bigger spinoff."

Within HIGHFIVE, Van Wees Waalwijk and the Belgian Mariën Meesterbakkers are working together on the further automation of a bakery in Balen. Both companies know each other from an earlier European project (S3FOOD) in which Van Wees Waalwijk developed the first custom-made mobile cobot for the bakery. The current cooperation focuses on expanding the deployment possibilities of this cobot, also called Tweety because of its yellow color. Thanks to this Brabant-based technology, bakery employees can now bake and process bread with the help of a robot, making work lighter and requiring fewer hands.

In the Netherlands, the European HIGHFIVE project is being implemented under the banner of Next Tech Food Factories. This program office of AgriFood Capital and Brainport Development promotes the application of smart technologies in the food processing industry. Advanced high-tech systems help food processors to operate more efficiently and sustainably, with a focus on quality and food safety.