A burst of steam and a jigger of bactericide in a high-speed packaging machine might provide hot-dog packers with a Listeria monocytogenes silver bullet.
Demand-based production is making progress in food and beverage plants,
but optimizing the supply chain will require greater cooperation at the
retail level.
A crowd of more than 500 packaging suppliers, food company executives and other consumer packaged goods professionals were in rapt attention at PACK EXPO/PROCESS EXPO in Chicago for “The Wal-Mart/Sam’s Club Packaging Vision,” a presentation on the retail giant’s sustainable packaging initiative.
Aluminium Plant & Vessel Co. (APV) founder Richard Seligman is credited with the invention of the plate heat exchanger, and APV’s R5 plate was dominant in this method of indirect heating and cooling of fluids throughout the latter part of the 20th Century, beginning with its introduction in 1965.
Heat transfer is core technology in food and beverage processing, yet the days when in-house engineering expertise on thermal transfer existed are fading fast.
As the benchmark price of a barrel of oil slid below $70, then $60 in early fall, the hearts of energy-conscious engineers sank with it. Investments in energy efficiency are a tough enough sell when commodity prices for gas, oil and electricity soar; when energy costs are retreating, ownership is even less inclined to invest in energy efficiency.
Stainless-steel construction for motors, gearboxes and other power-transmission elements is a growing trend, but other refinements in the technology are being developed and debated, as well.