Hi, Nina here, digital marketer at the ifm branch in Vienna, Austria. At the beginning of this year, I had the opportunity to visit the automatic burger assembly line FABAL, a solution by corporate venture REET Systems in Austria. REET's engineers cooperated with ifm from the start. The current, third prototype was tested in a real restaurant setting during a year-long continuous operation. You'll find around 160 ifm sensors inside the third FABAL prototype.

**What is FABAL?**

FABAL stands for "Fully Automatic Burger Assembly Line." It's a modular plant designed for high-speed production of fresh burgers in quick service restaurants. The plant is connected to the point-of-sale system and can produce orders just in time.

**Does it operate like a robo-chef?**

The thought crossed my mind on our way to the restaurant. However, it looks more like a functional box. Each ingredient is taken care of by a dedicated module. This is where ifm sensors come into play.  A lot of them are needed for presence and position monitoring. Let's look at the jalapeño module, for example. An Archimedean screw conveys the ingredients and separates them into individual units. Level measurement is performed by a compact OGD optical distance sensor with a continuous output signal. The falling jalapeños are detected by an O6 diffuse reflection sensor.

My favorite process in the system, and one that really brings out the child in you, is the cheese-processing module. An O6 through-beam sensor detects the position of the cheese block and starts the cutting process. The leading edge serves as the reference point for portioning. Individual cheese slices can be cut with a repeatability of up to 0.1 millimeters.

I've also included a picture of burger conveyor belt, where an O2D5 vision sensor monitors the browning of the buns.

Long story short, I tried its burgers. First, I had it make me a veggie burger with cheese and jalapeños. Afterwards, I also had a chicken burger. I most likely can't offer unbiased judgment because it was a very fun and maybe peak fast-food experience for me.

It reminded me how important it is for digital marketers to get away from their screens and spend time with customers. After all, the best stories unfold right where they operate their businesses.

Speaking of stories, I pitched this one to the editorial team of MaschinenMarkt Austria, and they published it in both print and online. So ultimately, I got two burgers and a publication out of spending time with our customer on-site.

[Link to article (article in German language)](https://www.maschinenmarkt.at/vollautomatische-burger-montage-im-dauerbetrieb-a-8e6c3e2c352555503b323f68201a28eb/)

Do future fast-food restaurants still require people behind the counter?