Automation in the Food Industry: Design of a Machine for the Cutting of Native Potatoes

Abstract

Due to the lack of technological development in the country's food industry, it makes sense to build an automated machine to obtain potato strips from native potatoes. The cutting of potato strips is a big problem for several companies. They are operated and processed manually, which results in the loss of part of the product in the peel, increased time for this operation, loss of money, work accidents, and the tiredness and fatigue of the workers in charge of the production. The design was developed to solve these problems. In the production process, the optimization of the synchronization of the described operations fulfils all production functions, but above all, it guarantees the quality of the final product, reduces losses caused by industrial accidents, and brings economic benefits to the company. Considering the design of the automated machine in the cutting process, the future development of the company aims to automate the entire processing plant as a first step for the cutting process by applying the mechanical design method. VDI 2221: This method goes deeper into the design process to find the best opportunities for research and development. It also concludes that, at the end of the process, an optimal machine has been designed that meets research and problem-solving requirements with regard to potato cutting.