Technology received its due at Food Engineering's three-day Food Automation & Manufacturing Conference & Expo, but the human side of processing kept rearing its lovely head.
Today's focus on automation tends to minimize the importance of people, and several speakers made reference to the human side of manufacturing. While describing the fast-track construction of Pepperidge Farm's Bloomfield, Conn., bakery, this year's Plant of the Year winner, David Watson, vice president of engineering, pointed out that speed in erecting the four walls isn't the issue: rapid ramp-up to optimum production speed is what distinguishes successful projects. "Training the workforce is absolutely critical" if fast track planning is going to yield intended results, Watson observed. Similar cautions peppered speakers' remarks throughout the program, up to and including the final presentation on applying Six Sigma to improve product quality.