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Your Product · Seafood

Delicate fillets. Punishing washdowns.
Both handled.

Fish fillets, salmon portions, shrimp, surimi, and breaded seafood — JLS's vision-guided robotics and VOB 2.0 tooling handle delicate, slippery seafood that are genuinely difficult to automate. Made to get wet. Built to fit FDA-regulated seafood plants.
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70+
Years of automation engineering
Multiple
U.S. patents (food)
IP69K-capable
Washdown construction
U.S. Built
Engineered in-house

JLS builds robotic packaging automation purpose-built for seafood — vision-guided systems that load fish fillets, salmon portions, shrimp, surimi, and breaded seafood into thermoformer pockets, vacuum-skin packs, foam and MAP trays, pouches, and cases. JLS-engineered VOB 2.0 tooling handles the delicate, slippery product that demands specialized tooling, and IP69K-capable construction stands up to daily washdown in FDA-regulated seafood facilities. Every line is engineered, programmed, and supported entirely in-house by JLS.

In action

Watch JLS robotics handle seafood — at full production speed

Sanitary robotic thermoformer loading Thermoformer

Sanitary robotic thermoformer loading

Vision-guided robots load seafood into thermoformer pockets in a full washdown environment.

Pain points we solve

Seafood's toughest packaging headaches. Solved.

We've spent decades on wet, cold protein lines. These are the problems seafood processors bring us most — and how JLS robotics solve them.

Sanitation & washdown The challenge

Sanitation & food safety under constant washdown

How JLS solves it
JLS seafood systems can be built with IP69K-rated robots and components, NEMA 4X controls, and open-frame stainless, and designed to fit FDA-regulated seafood facilities — built for the daily high-pressure washdown these environments require.
Gripping delicate, slippery seafood The challenge

Delicate, slippery seafood that's hard to grip and easy to bruise

How JLS solves it
VOB 2.0 vacuum-on-board tooling and custom EOAT pick fillets, portions, and breaded seafood straight off the belt — no mechanical sorting, gentle handling.
Cold, wet seafood processing labor The challenge

Labor that's hard to staff in cold, wet processing rooms

How JLS solves it
Vision-guided robots take over the cold, repetitive packing positions, fill chronic labor gaps, and free your people for higher-value work.
Throughput & line speed The challenge

Throughput & consistency capped by hand-packing

How JLS solves it
Talon®, Osprey®, and Hawk run at line speed with repeatable placement every cycle — from the thermoformer and tray line into the shipping case.
Applications

Seafood packaging automation, loading to case packing.

From primary loading through case packing — Talon® loads your packages, Osprey® and Hawk case-pack them, all built for the daily washdown in FDA-regulated seafood facilities.

1

Thermoformer & vacuum-skin packs

Talon places fish fillets, salmon portions, and seafood into thermoformer pockets and vacuum-skin (VSP) packs with proper orientation — vision-guided, no mechanical sorting, gentle handling of delicate product. Finished packs are then case-packed at line speed.
Talon TFOsprey TL
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2

Foam, MAP & corrugated trays

Talon TL loads fillets, portions, and shellfish into foam, corrugated, or MAP trays; Osprey TL then loads finished trays into cases or master bags — fragile seal zones and IQF product handled gently, up to 180 trays/min (three-head Osprey TL).
Talon TLOsprey TL
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3

Bags, pouches & breaded seafood

Osprey BP loads flat pouches and bags of shrimp, scallops, and breaded seafood into cases — gentle handling for IQF and delicate coated product, with quick-change tooling across pack sizes and counts.
Osprey BPOsprey
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4

Retail-ready cases & cartons

Load MAP, foam, and vacuum-skin seafood packs into RSC or retail-ready cases with Hawk's compact top-loading, or load cartons with Peregrine, or form, load, and close them with the Peregrine IS monoblock.
HawkPeregrine
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Have a custom seafood product?

If it can be filleted, portioned, breaded, or IQF-frozen, our engineers have probably packed it — and if not, we'll figure it out.

Talk to our seafood automation experts

Test before you commit

Send us your seafood products.
We'll put them to the test.

Before any capital commitment, send us your product — fillets, portions, IQF shrimp, or breaded seafood. We'll run it on real JLS robotics in our York, PA Flight Lab with tooling configured for it, and prove out the line on your actual product.

Live
Robotic test with your product
U.S. Built
York, PA Flight Lab
No
Commitment required
Schedule a Flight Lab test

Designed to get wet. Built to be cleaned.

In an FDA-regulated seafood facility, sanitation isn't a feature — it's the whole game. Every JLS seafood system is engineered for the daily, high-pressure, high-temperature washdown so your line stays compliant and your downtime stays low.

IP69K*
High-pressure washdown
NEMA 4X
Sealed controls
FDA
Designed to fit regulated plants
Open-frame
Sloped, minimal harborage

* Specific JLS components are IP69K full-washdown rated; system-level ingress protection varies by configuration. Contact JLS for your application.

FAQ

Seafood packaging automation FAQs

Sanitation, tooling, throughput, ROI, and integration — answered by JLS application engineers.

Payback is commonly evaluated in the 24–36 month range, depending on labor cost, shift schedule, production volume, uptime improvement, and the specific seafood application. For seafood processors, the business case is often driven by labor savings, reduced manual handling, improved pack presentation, more consistent loading, less rework, better ergonomics, and more predictable packaging performance. Labor savings scale with line speed, labor model, and platform, with additional value from improved throughput and reduced product handling. JLS reviews the product mix and portion type, package format, line speed, staffing model, sanitation requirements, and current production challenges to help determine where automation can create the strongest return.

Fish fillets and portions (salmon, whitefish, tilapia), shrimp, scallops, surimi, and breaded or coated seafood — loaded into thermoformer pockets, foam, MAP and VSP trays, pouches, bags, cartons, and cases.

JLS VOB 2.0 vacuum-on-board tooling, with custom end-of-arm tooling picks fillets, portions, and breaded seafood directly off the line — no mechanical sorting and gentle handling, engineered and lab-tested per product.

Yes. JLS seafood systems are wash-down capable, with NEMA 4X controls, open-frame sloped stainless construction, and IP69K-capable components matched to the application — designed to fit FDA-regulated seafood plants and the daily high-pressure, high-temperature washdown.

Yes. JLS integrates with your portioner, breading line, spiral freezer, tray sealers and thermoformers, and your existing upstream and downstream equipment into one coordinated seafood line.

Yes. Talon® picks IQF fillets, shrimp, and breaded seafood into thermoformer pockets or MAP trays with vision handling random orientation, and custom EOAT protects delicate flesh and coating through the pick-and-place sequence.

Throughput depends on product and format. Osprey® tray and case packers run at line speed in single- and multi-head configurations, and tray and case rates are sized to your line and SKU mix.

SKUs change via an HMI recipe, and end-of-arm tooling swaps by hand in minutes — no programming or maintenance call. Recipes are pre-loaded during commissioning so every product you run is mapped before the system ships.

Yes. Product testing is often an important part of seafood automation projects. Seafood behavior can vary by species, temperature, moisture, fat content, fillet size, coating, surface condition, and how the product arrives at the automation. Testing with real product in the JLS Flight Lab helps validate the right tooling, pick method, conveyor control, placement approach, and system configuration before final design — reducing project risk and confirming the automation concept is based on your actual seafood product.

Yes. JLS seafood automation can often be integrated into existing production and packaging lines. The final design depends on available floor space, product presentation, line speed, controls, sanitation access, upstream equipment, and downstream packaging equipment. JLS reviews the full line so the automation fits the way the plant actually runs, instead of forcing the plant to work around a standard machine.

To evaluate a seafood automation project, JLS typically reviews the product type, species, portion or fillet dimensions, product weight, photos or videos of the current line, package format, target speeds, current labor model, sanitation requirements, available floor space, upstream equipment, downstream equipment, SKU mix, and the main production problem the system needs to solve. For seafood, product behavior matters — moisture, fragility, coating, orientation, and IQF condition may require testing to validate the right handling method, tooling, conveyor control, and robot configuration.

Designed, built, programmed, and tested at JLS Automation in York, Pennsylvania. Support comes from JLS's in-house support team, working directly with the engineers who built your system — remote diagnostics, on-site service, and preventive maintenance.

Yes — JLS robotics load and case-pack fillets, portions, and breaded seafood on wash-down lines across North America.

What do you want to know?

Ask us anything — an automation expert will follow up.

What can we help with? Optional — select any that apply.

By submitting, you agree that JLS Automation and Robert Reiser & Co. may contact you about your inquiry.

Ready for the realities of your seafood line?

From fillets and portions to shellfish and breaded seafood — bring us your product. We'll test it in our York, PA lab, engineer the automation, and prove it on your real product before we say yes.

Schedule a facility tour Call (717) 505-3800
JLS + Reiser: Expertise across the line

Planning a complete seafood line?

JLS builds complete seafood lines — from primary loading through tray loading, case packing, and cartoning — integrated as a single solution from one team in York, PA.

Full food production line — JLS + Reiser: expertise across the line Ten production-line stages across four zones. JLS-built robotic automation stages are shown in purple; stages available through Reiser's OEM portfolio in blue; customer-selected or partner equipment in gray. Dashed lines mark coordinated integration points. Prepare. Portion. Form. Load. Seal. Case. Carton. Collate. Stack. Secure. 01Mixing &blendingGrindingEmulsifyingMarinatingTumblingAvailable throughReiser portfolio 02Forming &portioningStuffingExtrudingPatty formingDepositingAvailable throughReiser portfolio 03FurtherprocessingSlicingDicingShreddingTenderizingAvailable throughReiser portfolio 04PrimaryloadingPick & placeVision-guidedLane loadingProduct collationJLS TALON®JLS KESTREL™JLS Automation 05PrimarypackagingThermoformingTray sealingVacuum / MAPSkin packAvailable throughReiser portfolio 06CasepackingRobotic case loadingRobotic loadingWashdown configurationsHygienic optionsJLS OSPREY®HAWK™ · PATTY HAWK™Case erecting & sealing via partner equip.JLS Automation 07CartoningForm, load,close cartonsCompact footprintWashdown-capable designJLS PEREGRINE® ISPEREGRINE ISJLS Automation 08Collation /bundlingCount & stackBundle packMultipackPartner equipmentscope-dependent 09PalletizingLayer buildingRobotic palletizingSlip-sheet placeLayer padPartner equipmentscope-dependent 10LoadsecurementStretch wrapBandingCorner boardTop sheetPartner equipmentscope-dependent Tier 1 Primary Packaging The package that touches the product Tier 2 Secondary Packaging Cases, cartons, and multipacks for retail or distribution Tier 3 Tertiary Packaging Stretch wrap, ship-ready unit

Together, JLS and Reiser help food manufacturers develop coordinated processing and packaging lines—from product preparation and primary package loading and sealing through cartoning, case packing and load securement.

Illustrative line architecture. Stages, equipment suppliers and sequence vary by product and project scope. Not every food line uses every stage, and slicing, cooking, freezing, inspection and other processes may occur in different positions.

Scroll left and right to scan the full line. Open the printable line map →

JLS-built robotic automation Available through Reiser’s OEM portfolio Customer-selected / third-party equipment Coordinated integration point

Reiser role across the line

Food-processing expertise, application development, equipment selection, product testing, and sales & lifecycle support.

JLS role at robotic packaging stages

Robotic engineering, product & package handling, controls interfaces, and integration & FAT when included in project scope.

Let’s talk more about planning your full line.

Tell us who you are and a bit about your line. An automation expert will reach out — and we’ll bring the right people from JLS and Reiser to the conversation.

Your details
Facility location
Your line today
What you're planning
What solution(s) are you interested in?* Select all that apply.
Project timeline

By submitting, you agree that JLS Automation and Robert Reiser & Co. may contact you about your inquiry.

Over 1,000 custom installs. Predictable performance. Premier, dedicated service.

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  • In-house programming — York, PA
  • Same in-house team, day one to decades later
  • Fast dispatch from York, PA — within a day's drive of most East Coast and Midwest plants
  • Remote diagnostics + on-site support
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