Kinrise Snackfoods partners with Konica Minolta Australia to improve manufacturing efficiency with Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs)

Sydney, Australia, 20 May 2024   

Konica Minolta Australia has announced that Kinrise Snackfoods, an Australian food manufacturer producing some of the country’s most loved brands, has deployed four AMRs from Mobile Industrial Robots (MiR) through its Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) distributor, Konica Minolta Australia, to automate operations across one of its manufacturing facilities. In addition, Konica Minolta’s proprietary AMR analytics software, sConnect, gives Kinrise Snackfoods greater access to essential insights to drive operational efficiency across its operations. 

The four AMRs deployed by Konica Minolta Australia across the Kinrise Snackfoods manufacturing facility automate the pallet handling process while simultaneously minimising manual intervention and increasing operational efficiency and safety. Using AMRs creates a seamless, end-to-end process as they are designed to autonomously transport full pallets from the palletising robot cells to the hood wrapper, and then manage the distribution of empty pallets from an auto de-stacker back into the palletising cells.  

Apart from AMRs, the Konica Minolta solution includes MiRcharge, an autonomous charging station, and MiR Fleet, a fleet management software that manages job distribution, traffic management, and auto charging among the AMRs.  

With the use of sConnect, Kinrise Snackfoods’ team can access the AMRs’ valuable data and performance metrics, including utilisation rates, charging performances, location heatmaps, and a performance report for operational oversight. 

The AMRs operate 24 hours a day, six days a week, handling hundreds of pallets daily and have covered tens of thousands of kilometres within the facility. 

Kathy Gavrilidis, Head of Operations, Kinrise Snackfoods, said “The implementation of MiR robots at Kinrise Snackfoods’ facility has given us greater productivity, greater operational efficiency, and improved our safety overall on our site. It has really been a valuable investment for Kinrise Snackfoods.” 

Manglesh Jain, Robotics Business Manager, Konica Minolta Australia, said, “Konica Minolta Australia’s partnership with Kinrise Snackfoods demonstrates the value of automation in achieving manufacturing efficiency. The integration of AMRs with the existing systems, such as palletising robot cells and hood wrapper, gives Kinrise Snackfoods a comprehensive solution that streamlines its intralogistics operations while prioritising safety and operational efficiency. Konica Minolta Australia is committed to helping organisations like Kinrise Snackfoods by providing end-to-end intralogistics solutions and enhancing productivity in tightly constrained environments without compromising on safety.” 

Kathy Gavrilidis said, “The solution’s intuitive interface and ease of use lets Kinrise Snackfoods manage these AMRs with existing staff. Working with Konica Minolta Australia for this project has transformed our manufacturing processes, streamlining operations while improving our working environment.” 

Dev Mali, National Capital Program Manager, Kinrise, said “The Konica Minolta Australia team was very professional, and provided a pre-simulation to ensure the solution was fit for purpose. Additionally, the support provided post-implementation is second to none.” 

About Konica Minolta Australia     

Apart from Autonomous Material Handling solutions, Konica Minolta Australia provides award-winning products and solutions in the field of Artificial Intelligence (FORXAI), printing, scanning, copying to cloud storage, managed IT services, and 3D printing to help customers to transform and move information faster.  

Creating and working with equitable, socially responsible, and environmentally conscious organisations is an important part of the future workplace. Konica Minolta Australia actively promotes and innovates through diversity and inclusion, ethical supply chain, and climate change action strategies.   

Konica Minolta Australia is proud to support the commitment to reconciliation between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and all other people in the community to help improve life outcomes and opportunities and to create a better future for society at large. As part of this, Konica Minolta Australia developed its Reconciliation Action Plan to publicly commit to reconciliation initiatives, and is a member of Supply Nation, the Australian leader in supplier diversity, to support First Nations businesses.   

For more information visit: konicaminolta.com.au/home