Automated Cheese Cutting Machine
A compact, purpose-built machine that turns 3 kg round cheese wheels into cubes in just 8 seconds
8 seconds
Per 3 kg cheese wheel
~50% faster
Than the previous process
1,200 wheels
Typical production batch
1.5 × 1.5 m
Machine footprint
The challenge
The client needed to automate the cutting of round wheels of salad cheese into cubes.
Commercially available cheese cutting machines were designed to process rectangular blocks. Because of the round geometry, they had to manually pre-cut each cheese wheel before it could be processed by the existing equipment.
With a typical production batch of around 1,200 cheese wheels, this resulted in a significant amount of manual work and limited the efficiency of the process.
Our solution
Radical Technologies developed a completely new machine specifically for the process.
The machine takes a complete 3 kg round cheese wheel and cuts it into cubes without requiring manual pre-cutting.
Using a pneumatically operated cutting system controlled by a Siemens LOGO! PLC, the complete cutting cycle takes approximately 8 seconds per cheese wheel – reducing the processing time by approximately 50% compared with the previous method.
Despite its production capacity, the complete machine has a footprint of only 1.5 × 1.5 metres, allowing it to be integrated into the existing production environment.
Our scope
Concept development
Process development
Mechanical engineering
Hygienic machine design
Pneumatics
Automation
Siemens PLC programming
Detailed design
Manufacturing documentation
Fabrication and assembly
Testing
Commissioning
From manual process to production machine
With no commercially available machine capable of performing the required operation, the solution had to be developed specifically around the product and production process. Radical Technologies took the project from concept through engineering, manufacturing and automation to a complete production machine. The machine has now been operating in production for more than a year, replacing a labour-intensive manual operation while significantly reducing processing time.