Category-based food ordering processes

The food industry presents an important area to apply new technology and automation. Especially, food ordering processes, that describe the transition of products’ physical arrangement from disarray to a structural order, play a major role and will be considered in this paper. This kind of food processes will be extracted from other types of processes and clearly defined. Current ordering processes that have already been installed in the food industry are discussed. A categorisation system for classifying food products is presented. The key characteristics are ‘Symmetry’, ‘Surface Condition’, ‘Hardness’, ‘Springiness’ and ‘Resistance to Damage’. This improved and novel food classification is unambiguous and it is able to interpret the foodstuffs categorisation table in an engineering approach. The overall purpose of food categorisation system is to link each category to a certain food ordering process. Having the mathematical algorithms that depend on the input disarray, the output array and the food product category appropriate and specialised equipment can be used to lead products into order. This can be described in a 3-dimensional matrix.