Today, savvy processors employ remote equipment and machine conditioning diagnostics, special supplier partnerships, heat measurement, vibration analysis, predictive maintenance tools, placement of parts in kits for routine maintenance and vendor-managed inventories to boost spare parts efficiency and management.

The law’s intent may have been good, but enforcement has created problems for food processors.

For some engineers, a former employer’s downsizing can be liberating, allowing specialized skills to combine with entrepreneurial spirit for new technology development.

Uncovering it, grabbing it and implementing changes will lead to the game-changing innovation and manufacturing efficiencies our industry so desires.

Researchers at Georgia Tech hope their intelligent deboning system will boost yields for poultry processors and reduce ergonomic stress on workers.

Manufacturers must stay ahead of market demands, economic uncertainty and even environmental matters on a global basis.

The food plant of the future is coming soon to a smart phone near you. Expect to see packaging equipment operational and troubleshooting instructions streaming to you over the phone in the near future.

Biosensors can detect everything from shoe bombs to the mycobacteria that cause tuberculosis. Can they also detect food-borne pathogens lurking in industrial-scale batches?

As understanding of how nature adapts to the evolution of harmful microorganisms deepens, molecular biology is delivering new food safety tools, including bactericidal proteins.

Ignoring small parts such as gaskets, valves, clamps or connections can cause headaches.