Coronavirus Coverage

Editor's Note

COVID-19 makes it hard to define normal for food and beverage

Upheaval from the COVID-19 pandemic forces new ways of thinking

July 28, 2020

We've all had our lives turned upside down by the COVID-19 pandemic, and that's going to continue for at least a little while longer.

COVID-19

How to sanitize to prevent COVID-19—and decontaminate after a positive

Learn tips to strengthen your plant’s cleaning protocols for the new coronavirus

Ray Hatch

July 24, 2020

With employee safety and stability of operations at the forefront of all of your daily procedures, these are the two key elements of effective COVID-19 prevention that food manufacturing companies need to adhere to.

Pandemic is changing layout and design of food plants

Rose Shilling

July 20, 2020

Processors and builders trying to slow the spread of COVID-19 and prepare for future potential contagions are rethinking many aspects of plant design.

Regulatory Watch

FDA, USDA issue recommendations for PPE shortage during COVID-19 pandemic

Sharon Spielman

July 13, 2020

The FDA and USDA have released recommendations to help address shortages of personal protective equipment, cloth face coverings, disinfectants and sanitation supplies in the food and agriculture industry during the COVID-19 pandemic.

New Plant Products

Production restart packages

July 10, 2020

ABB's Robotics and Discrete Automation business has launched a special package of digital solutions, as well as virtual and field service support initiatives to help businesses restart production lines that may have been idle during the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19

Humidity Control: Conquering frost during pandemic production levels

Dan Dettmers

June 24, 2020

Humidity control may be the last thing on your mind right now if you’re running a food processing facility, trying to execute a rapid buildout to meet increased consumer demands. But, as you race to adjust production lines, “dust off” old processing equipment and ultimately ramp up how much food you’re making and storing, dialing in your humidity control will eliminate a handful of costly issues that slow down production.

IT systems and COVID-19

Quality management software supplier updates IT system just in time for COVID-19

When a series of power outages caused systemic IT failure, moving to the cloud provided a solution and let the staff work from home or anywhere

Wayne Labs

June 23, 2020

While it’s often been said that the shoemaker has no shoes for his own children, sometimes a similar thing can happen with a software company. Only in this case, InfinityQS, a supplier of data-driven enterprise quality management software, had an aging on-premises IT system, all crammed in together in the traditional “server room.”

COVID-19 coverage

LowFlow valves help to build life-saving ventilators

Sharon Spielman

June 19, 2020

According to a story reported by Cincinnati Public Radio News, a Michigan-based car manufacturer making ventilators during the COVID-19 pandemic reached out to Cincinnati-based Richards Industrials and asked if they could supply the particular valve needed immediately.

Supply chains

What the COVID-19 pandemic can teach us about the internet

Supply chains used to survive without the internet, but could they now?

Wayne Labs

June 19, 2020

When I was an electrical engineer building emergency wireless communications networks, I learned about the importance of having backups—sometimes the hard way, with a 3 a.m. phone call reporting a system is down and the backup system didn’t kick in.

Regulatory Watch