AI, Robotics, and 3D Printing: Unilever’s Approach to Perfecting Micro-Format Ice Cream

3D printing allows Unilever to optimize size scaling and packaging efforts.

Unilever is experimenting with micro-formats, following consumer trends for portion-controlled consumption. To do so, it is using technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotics during the product development and manufacturing stages. 

The No. 6 top publicly owned consumer goods company faced the challenge of maintaining the taste and texture of full-sized counterparts when manufacturing bite-sized versions of its ice cream products, including the Magnum Bon Bon line. It’s not as simple as shrinking processes to fit, the company noted in a blog post. 

Developing Grab-and-Go Ice Cream

For Magnum Bon Bons, good coverage chocolate was essential as consumers were picking up the ice cream with their fingers rather than using the typical ice cream hand-held stick. R&D teams had to ensure the ice cream didn’t melt too quickly as the company looked to speed up production while creating a cold product covered in warm chocolate.

Temperature Patents: In November, Unilever granted a free non-exclusive license for 12 of its reformulation patents so ice cream manufacturers could benefit from insights garnered from two pilots where Unilever kept products stable at a warmer freezer temperature.

As a result, Unilever looked to its advanced prototype engineering center and advanced manufacturing center at its R&D hub in Colworth, U.K. to use automation, robotics, computer-aided design and manufacturing, and 3D printing to test products.

The 3D printing allows Unilever to optimize size scaling and packaging efforts. 

“Together with our supply chain teams, we developed some very sophisticated systems to ensure ice cream, sauce, coating, and inclusions are dosed at the correct weight, volume, and temperature to give consistent product architecture and experience,” said Paul Sherwood, Unilever’s lead R&D process engineer.