Processing
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Automation

Cost containment: Using automation to help stop leaks

Everywhere you look, your cash flow is hemorrhaging. Integrated automation systems can show you where to start applying tourniquets.

Wayne Labs

March 8, 2014

You may be able to use a spreadsheet or home accounting program to get your household finances in order. But, there are so many places for cash to evaporate in a food or beverage plant, that unless you are using an integrated software system to track and focus every process, you may never know if leaks exist.

Field Reports

Updated line alleviates processor’s growing pains

A new weigh-blending system and multi-spectrum metal detector increase meal kit productivity and reduce giveaways.

Wayne Labs

January 10, 2014

The humble shrimp has been the mainstay of the Choice Canning Company for more than 50 years. Already a leading supplier of shrimp in North America, the processor expanded into the ready-to-cook meal market in 2006. It now produces 12 IQF skillet meals under the Tastee Choice brand and distributes them to retail grocery stores throughout the Eastern, Midwestern and Southwestern states and Canada.

Field Reports

Loud sonic horn shatters boiler ash buildup at brewery

Not a high-fidelity horn, this air-operated device packs a 150 dB wallop of acoustic energy at an Alaskan brewery.

Wayne Labs

January 10, 2014

Alaskan Brewing Company is the first brewery opened in Juneau since Prohibition, and from its beginning in 1986, sought to make high-quality, craft-brewed beer that was cost efficient and environmentally responsible.

Field Reports

Steam boilers save time and money for ingredient processor

The equipment provides the exact pressure and temperature to run processing equipment while meeting NOx emission standards.

Wayne Labs

January 10, 2014

RFI Ingredients, a provider of custom extracts and nutritional supplements, touts its slogan “From Field to Formula.” RFI’s commitment to its slogan is seen in its sourcing of raw materials from its own sustainable farms and a global network of growers and other providers.

Tech Update

Tech Update: Meat and poultry processing

Equipment advances help minimize product contamination while raising production efficiency.

Mikell Knights

January 10, 2014

From freezing and frying to cleanliness and coding, new technologies make tasks easier.

Water usage and treatment

Take a load off

Food and beverage plants under pressure to reduce contaminants in their discharge water are finding a wider range of solutions.

Mikell Knights

January 10, 2014

Water recovery and productivity goals are aided by new systems.

TECH FLASH

DHS software applied to poultry processing

What works for the Department of Homeland Security can be applied to control risks in the food industry.

Wayne Labs

December 16, 2013

FE asks an expert how Probabilistic Risk-Informed Analysis can be best applied to poultry processing applications.

Fabulous Food Plants

Automation keeps fruit fresh at Paramount Citrus

This 640,000-sq.-ft. citrus fruit processing/packaging facility is almost completely automated and has a roof of solar cells and a fuel cell system to supply energy to the plant and the grid.

Wayne Labs

December 5, 2013

The plant provides consumers fresh fruit consistent in size, color, quality and taste while scoring environmental points.

Engineering R&D

Watch your dairy air

Sterile air extends product shelf life by protecting the processing space from impurities.

Mikell Knights

December 5, 2013

Purging airborne microbes like yeast and mold is not easy due to their size.

Automated diverter feeds bars to each of the line’s shrink wrappers on conveyors with Slip-Torque technology, which minimizes product damage. Source: Shuttleworth Inc.

Field Reports

Survival food bar packaging line needed resusciation

Redesign and upgrades of the line yielded a 125 percent increase in throughput.

December 5, 2013

Escalating sales volumes demanded higher throughput of the downstream packaging line.

On Demand Kelley Rodriguez, Editor in Chief of Refrigerated & Frozen Foods, will be joined in this 60-minute webinar by industry experts to help unpack the latest research.

On Demand Driven by climate goals, business risk, client interest, and resilience considerations, food and beverage companies are increasingly turning their attention to decarbonizing their production processes.