ADS sniffs out robot sale to Belgium

Automation company Accurate Dosing Systems (ADS) has landed a contract with the world’s largest privately-owned fragrance and taste company, Firmenich to supply and service a purpose-built robot for its laboratory in Belgium.

The high-tech robot will automate the process of accurately measuring out hundreds of flavouring solutions, which go on to determine the taste profile of food and beverages such as soups, coffee, yogurt and breakfast cereals.

Products developed by Firmenich reach more than four billion consumers a day in more than 100 markets globally, across both its Perfumery and Taste & Beyond business divisions.

According to a release from Adelaide’s Tonsley Innovation District, ADS co-founder and Managing Director Masoud Bahmai said his business was one of just five companies in the world offering the specialised dosing technology, allowing scent and flavour formulas to be compounded on the machine in minutes instead of hours.

Bahmai said: “The hybrid technology will be the first dosing robot in Taste & Beyond – Firmenich’s flavour division.

“Usually our competitors do either gravimetric or volumetric dosing but by offering an optimised combination we can now meet the demands of mid-to-large-size operations that often need speed [of processing] and high automation rates.”

The hybrid robot – scheduled to be shipped to Belgium later this year – is also expected to reduce Firmenich’s use of plastic pipettes during its trial and testing phase.

Annemarie Steffl VP Eurotech Taste & Beyond at Firmenich said: “This new digitalised dosing system will allow us to achieve an even greater level of precision, efficiency and speed, while eliminating raw materials waste and enhance our ability to provide precise value chain data to our customers.”

ADS recently relocated to Tonsley and a facility which has the capacity to manufacture dozens of robots a year, a move which Bahmai said had delivered immediate benefit.

Picture: tonsley.com.au