At Anuga FoodTec India 2026, ABB’s Machine Automation Division (B&R) brought together its conventional automation, mechatronics and AI capabilities, but much of the conversation around its showcase was about a broader question: how can automation contribute to the productivity of the complete production line rather than just individual machines?
“Our entire product portfolio is showcased here onsite, and we have divided it into two parts,” said Pratip Samanta, regional managing director – Southern & Eastern Asia, ABB Machine Automation Division (B&R). One part covered conventional automation, including control products, HMI and motion, while the other focused on the company’s mechatronics portfolio.
Among the products displayed in the motion segment was ACOPOS D1, a single-axis motion drive technology that B&R is positioning for applications where cost and performance need to be balanced. Manufactured in China, the compact drive uses communication-based technology and is aimed at applications that are less demanding than those typically served by the company’s higher-end solutions. “The idea behind ACOPOS D1 is being competitive in segments with smaller, less critical application,” Samanta said.
The mechatronics portfolio included ACOPOS 6D, B&R’s magnetic levitation-based conveying technology. Samanta pointed to applications in food and beverage, consumer products, beauty and other sectors, where processes such as filling, labeling, capping and dispatch can be brought together in a compact conveying system.
B&R also used the exhibition to show its work around AI-assisted engineering. Automation Studio Copilot and the company’s Agentic AI Bridge are aimed at helping engineers with different stages of the automation lifecycle, from creating programs and projects to completing them.
For Samanta, however, one of the more noticeable developments in the market is the increasing attention being given to automation beyond the machine itself. “Machine builders were so far focusing heavily on machine automation. But in order to gain the full productivity of the line, end-of-line automation is very important,” he said.
This is also changing the way machine builders look at software and connectivity. Machines are becoming more AI-enabled and IT-oriented, while software-defined automation and open architectures are being used to make systems more adaptable to customer requirements.
The challenge, meanwhile, is not simply collecting more data. In a highly automated plant, data can remain separated across different systems and machines. “How we should ensure that the data silos are not there, how we could bring the data in a common platform,” Samanta said, is an important question.
B&R demonstrated an edge solution at the show aimed at making machine data available for further analysis and actionable insights. The objective, according to Samanta, is to move from improving individual machine productivity towards improving the efficiency of the overall plant.
He sees the Indian market following many of the same automation trends seen in Europe, although the cost-sensitive nature of the market makes price-to-performance particularly important. “Automation is a part and parcel for Indian customers as well,” Samanta said. “The price-to-performance is something which matters.”
B&R’ presence at Anuga FoodTec comes as the company increases its focus on packaging, pharma, medical devices and related industries. The response at the exhibition, Samanta said, has been strong, with discussions already moving beyond machine automation towards wider questions of line efficiency and how B&R can support customers across the production environment.
