Manufacturing News

Industry & People

Scott Lutz has joined ConAgra Foods as president and chief operating officer of the Snack Foods Group. Formerly of General Mills, Lutz served as president and chief executive officer of the General Mills/Dupont soy beverage business.

Frances Nam

Former Congressional staffer Frances Nam joins Sodexho USA as vice president of government affairs. Nam will work on the company's public policy initiatives and manage the activities of its political action committee.

FreshDirect named Dean Furbush as chief operating officer. He will focus on increasing operational efficiency and achieving profitability. Furbush previously held the role of executive vice president, transaction securities of the NASDAQ Stock Market.

According to the American Frozen Food Institute, the frozen dinner and entrée category continues to be the largest frozen food market sector with more than $5.9 billion in annual supermarket sales. To keep those entrees fresh, the cold storage industry is projected to spend close to $1 billion in capital dollars over the next two years expanding and building new facilities. There are currently approximately 755 major operational cold storage facilities in the U.S.

Richard Koulouris was promoted to corporate vice president and president of Ralcorp Holdings' Bremner, Inc. and Nutcracker Brands, Inc. He will oversee all functions of the company's cracker & cookie and snack nuts & candy business units.

Smithfield Foods, Inc. signed an agreement to sell Schneider Corp., its wholly-owned Canadian subsidiary, to Maple Leaf Foods, Inc. for $378 million, including the assumption of Schneider's outstanding debt. Smithfield additionally completed the acquisition of Cumberland Gap, a processor of hams, sausages and specialty pork products.

A company-wide reorganization at Interstate Bakeries Corp. is underway to enhance management accountability, raise product quality standards, improve the company's customer interaction and realign the organization. As part of this reorganization, the company will focus on building its branded product lines and decreasing emphasis on regional or local private label products.

Christine Schaefer

Christine Schaefer joins Pechiney Plastic Packaging, Inc. as market manager, food marketing. She previously worked as a marketing consultant to companies in the packaging industry and as marketing director at CCL Industries.

CFC Logistics' 4.4 million cubic foot cold storage facility in Quakertown, PA, has become the only facility of its kind to operate a food irradiator inside its cold storage space.

CME Corporation-General Contractor received an award of excellence from the Associated Builders and Contractors, Indiana State Chapter. The award recognizes the company for its Cooper Farms Cooked Meats facility in Van Wert, OH.

An Xray inspection equipment manufacturer, Dylog SPA named Industrial Dynamics its U.S. distributor.

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