Exclusives Stories

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, Senior Contributing Technical Editor

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.

Garrison Brothers master distiller Donnis Todd

Field Reports

Artisanal bourbon distillery supports its growth with top quality grain handling system

May 28, 2020

In 2018, Garrison Brothers contacted Coperion K-Tron’s local representative and resident grain handling expert, Shamrock Systems Inc., to help upgrade its current grain handling system. The system experts at Coperion K-Tron to help design a completely automated system that would enable Garrison Brothers to quadruple its production.

Refrigeration systems

No spiral freezer should be an island of automation

Integrating a spiral freezer with process and refrigeration controls increases efficiency, speeds production and saves energy

Ivy Arkfeld

May 27, 2020

Spiral freezers are often run "full-throttle" but they don't have to be.

Transferring FDA-regulated ethanol for hand cleaner

COVID-19

Colorado distiller converts to hand sanitizer to help with COVID-19 pandemic

To do it according to FDA specifications, J&L Distilling got much needed help from some friends and a Coriolis flow meter from Emerson’s Boulder, Colorado group

Brent Pankonien

May 20, 2020

Converting distilled ethanol to FDA-regulated hand cleaner is a very exact process

2020 PLEX State of Manufacturing Technology Report

Manufacturing News

Study reveals manufacturers face new competition as biggest growth obstacle in 2020

But when it comes to adopting new technologies, food and beverage manufacturers are out in front of other industrial categories

Wayne Labs

May 19, 2020

The results are in for PLEX’s State of Manufacturing Report 2020, and they show the food and beverage industry is in many ways out in front of other industries in terms of adopting new technologies to maximize efficiency, competitiveness and profits.

How processors are handling demand surges caused by COVID-19

Companies respond to meet unprecedented demand during the coronavirus pandemic

Sharon Spielman

March 30, 2020

An unprecedented surge in demand has processors working to meet needs while protecting workers and their supply chains.

Blockchain

Blockchain determines provenance, not purity

Blockchain can play an important role in track and trace, but not purity or freshness

Joseph Basile

March 16, 2020

Blockchain technology allows retailers, suppliers and anyone who has access to the software, to have real-time information on a product’s origination and the stops it made along the way before it reaches its destination. However, when it comes to olive oil, blockchain can be useful in determining provenance and delivery path, but not the purity or freshness of the product.

Instrumentation & control

Use the right instrumentation to improve batch manufacturing

Ditch the antiquated clipboard and meet quality and regulatory demands with digital instrumentation, and get more consistent batches

Joshua Friesz

Nicole Meidl

March 10, 2020

Ensure the consistency of each batch with on-line instrumentation.

Parts & components

Need a spec/datasheet?

Allied Electronics & Automation probably has it—now more than 1.1 million of them

Wayne Labs

March 3, 2020

Allied Electronics has been accumulating a treasure trove of datasheets. The company just announced there are now more than 1.1 million of them, and the number keeps growing.