Food and Beverage Manufacturing Top Stories

Food Safety

Food processors must be proactive in sanitary and hygienic design

Sharon Spielman

October 14, 2019

The operator is responsible to the public for safe food manufacturing.

Maintenance

Mangled, cryptic English creates maintenance headaches

While some companies would like to throw smart sensors at maintenance problems, making maintenance more efficient relies on humans to communicate effectively

Wayne Labs

October 10, 2019

While not all processors have machine shops with CNCs in their plants, most food and beverage plants do have process and packaging equipment that would benefit from smarter maintenance.

The State of Food Manufacturing

2019 State of Food Manufacturing Survey

Food Engineering’s annual survey of the industry shows efficiency is top of mind for food and beverage processors

Casey Laughman

October 7, 2019

Since 2014, respondents to Food Engineering’s annual State of Food Manufacturing survey have ranked automation as the No. 1 trend affecting the industry—until this year.

With powerful analytics software tools, facilities can now understand and analyze energy use and costs in greater depth.

Energy Management

New technologies shed light on energy use and waste

Energy management doesn’t have to be disconnected from processes in the plant—not when energy analytics and IIoT can help processors hone in on energy waste and cut food waste, too

Ram Kaushik

October 4, 2019

Food and beverage plants have a complicated energy infrastructure that can be more costly than it needs to be. In fact, many industrial plants are not taking advantage of the solutions available to reduce energy spending and streamline plant operations. To improve energy management in a food and beverage plant, plant managers and staff need to understand the process context of energy to determine what solutions to implement for greater efficiency.

Cybersecurity

How PepsiCo upgraded its access control software

FSMA requires food processors control access to those who come into contact with food, so PepsiCo took immediate action to locate a reliable access control provider

Wayne Labs

October 3, 2019

PepsiCo faced a dilemma about three years ago when its access control software provider announced “end of life” for its legacy security software, potentially leaving more than 300 PepsiCo locations in the lurch for an access control system. What to do?

Field Reports

Fabricating a specialized processing vessel begins with design and engineering

September 20, 2019

When constructing its plant in McIntosh, Ala., Tate & Lyle required custom-designed distillation columns, pressure vessels and heat exchangers.

Engineering R&D

Vacuum/microwave drying technology supports food, cannabis

Wayne Labs

September 17, 2019

EnWave's drying process, which combines vacuum and microwave technologies to dry foods such as blueberries or cheese, has found application in cannabis flowers and hemp.

Complying with FSMA for pet food manufacturing

Wayne Labs

September 17, 2019

Bad news first: If you make pet food, have an older facility and have been putting off examining your operation in light of FSMA, rushing to comply with the new food safety rules for animal foods is probably proving to be a challenge.

Pack Expo

Pack Expo Preview: Tackling common robotics concerns

Sean Riley

September 15, 2019

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which make up much of the food industry, have been hesitant to invest in robotics solutions. However, there are many reasons for companies to reconsider.