The Northwest Ohio Cooperative Kitchen (NOCK) now includes a FANUC CRX-10iA collaborative robot, configured for direct food contact tasks like kettle mixing and product pick-and-place. And this robot is not a display piece, it’s installed, operational, and accessible to food and beverage manufacturers utilizing the facility.
Robotics in food and beverage manufacturing isn’t a novelty anymore. Large plants have used articulated arms for decades in packaged product handling. What’s still very rare is hands-on access to automation for small producers, especially in shared-use facilities. CIFT is addressing that gap by making robotics a working part of our kitchen, not a demo behind glass.
The FANUC CRX-10iA was chosen for specific reasons. Its IP67 rated and cleanroom certified, the teach pendant is intuitive, and the arm can be programmed manually by moving it through the desired motions. This lowers the technical barrier for users who don’t have automation engineers on staff, and NOCK tenants can train operators quickly and get repeatable results without writing code.
This setup also creates real opportunities for experimentation. Processors of any size can trial automated stirring, repetitive handling, or simple packaging transfers, and they can do it without building a custom cell or buying equipment outright. This robot is there to be used, iterated on, and stress-tested under actual production conditions.
Too often, automation only enters the picture when labor becomes a bottleneck. By then, the cost of disruption is high and the time to deploy is long. Integrating a food-safe cobot early makes it easier to understand where it fits, what it can do, and how it behaves in a real kitchen. It shifts automation from hypothetical to tangible.
NOCK is now the premier place to learn how to automate food contact tasks with real equipment and actual products. Contact CIFT to learn more.