14 January 2026 | News
Image Courtesy: Public Domain
Chef Robotics, a leader in AI-enabled robotic systems for food assembly, and Packline Solutions Group, announced a strategic partnership to offer an integrated food manufacturing automation solution for flexible meal assembly and packaging.
High-mix food manufacturers run dozens of SKUs daily, each with different ingredients, portion sizes, tray positions, and placement requirements. Traditional depositors cannot accommodate this variety efficiently, requiring long changeover times, while manual assembly in cold rooms imposes physical demands and persistent staffing difficulties. These constraints often force manufacturers to operate below capacity or to work substantial overtime to meet production demands.
Once meals are assembled, manufacturers require compatible sealing equipment and materials. Sourcing suppliers with expertise in both machinery and food-grade materials can be a complex process.
Chef and Packline's partnership addresses these challenges through AI-enabled robotic assembly and advanced packaging technology. Chef's robotic systems, proven across 83 million servings at enterprise food manufacturers, accommodate hundreds of SKUs with fast, frequent changeovers that take less than a minute. The robots utilize AI and computer vision to dynamically track tray positions and adjust with conveyor speed in real time, eliminating food spillage commonly associated with both manual assembly and fixed automation equipment.
The companies have developed a wireless integration that enables seamless end-to-end communication between Chef's and Packline's equipment throughout the production line.
Companies like Cafe Spice are already operating Chef's assembly robots and Packline's systems in this integrated configuration, achieving two almost fully automated production lines. Packline automatically de-nests, conveys, and seals trays while Chef robots deposit ingredients precisely into meal trays, including compartments and inserts. Chef robots have allowed Cafe Spice to increase labor productivity by 60% by reallocating 5-6 staff members per line to other plant operations, while increasing output by 2-3x.
"Food manufacturers need to reduce costs and increase output while staying flexible," said Rajat Bhageria, Founder and CEO of Chef Robotics. "This partnership delivers exactly that. Together, only one QA person and a line manager are needed to keep the line running, freeing assembly workers for high-value tasks across the plant."
"Chef brings a next-generation approach to food automation with their AI and vision-based robots," said Amir Tamshe, Founder of Packline Solutions Group. "Combined with our expertise in food packaging, we knew there was tremendous potential for a joint solution focusing on both speed and flexibility. This partnership made sense right away."
