If one of your co-workers told you about a worthwhile food industry conference focusing on manufacturing issues, you might decide to take a look at the program to see if it would be valuable to you. If you heard about a food industry conference on the same topic that was recommended by every single attendee who completed the conference evaluation form, you would have a lot more motivation to find out about it.

Here at Food Engineering, we produce that conference: Food Automation & Manufacturing Conference and Expo. In 2006, 100 percent of attendees who completed an evaluation questionnaire after the event said they would recommend the conference to a colleague. Can’t get a much higher endorsement than that, can you?

The 2007 conference is shaping up to be just as exciting. Engineering and operations executives from top food and beverage companies are leading our line-up of speakers, kicking off with the keynote speaker from Kraft Foods: Vice President of Global Engineering Diane Wolf.

With an overall conference theme of Achieving Gold Standard Performance in Manufacturing, other featured speakers include executives from PepsiCo, Campbell Soup, McCain Foods, General Mills, Anheuser-Busch, HJ Heinz and Coca-Cola. Key topics on the program include sustainability, competing in a global economy, innovation in an era of cost-cutting, the debate over outsourcing engineering and speed-to-market manufacturing. 

These topics represent only a sample of the issues and ideas in automation, new plant technologies and customer satisfaction that will be presented on April 15-18 in Orlando.

I encourage you to turn to pages 36-38 in this issue or visit www.foodengineeringmag.com to learn more about this truly unique conference. Feel free to contact me for a full conference brochure.

If attaining manufacturing superiority and serving customers are your goals, you should attend Food Automation & Manufacturing Conference and Expo. But don’t just take my word for it. Consider the recommendation of those who attended in the past. You will be one step closer to achieving gold standard performance in manufacturing.