Wayne Labs

Process Control

Your window to the process: Clear view or obstructed?

Today’s process control software is tasked to keep machine interfaces easy to configure for both engineers and operators

Wayne Labs

March 7, 2022

Chances are, you’ve probably been using the same HMI, MES or SCADA program for some time in your operation, and you’ve been through several version upgrades too. Providers of these products work hard to make their software backward compatible with equipment and operating systems as well as create new features users want.

Manufacturing News

Federal government needs to set an example on cybersecurity

Government Accountability Office says federal agencies need to do their own homework before they can help the private sector

Wayne Labs

March 7, 2022

While food and beverage processors have been scrambling to protect their process control equipment, intellectual property (IP) and IT/OT systems from cybersecurity/ransomware attacks, their efforts may be outpacing the Federal Government, which should be setting an example by having secured its own agencies from cyberattacks.

Mergers & Acquisitions

Dot Foods acquires Morsum, an AI/ML food platform technology company

The merger will help Dot’s suppliers be more responsive to supply chain issues when they arise

Wayne Labs

March 6, 2022

Dot Foods, Inc., said to be North America’s largest food industry redistributor, has acquired Morsum, a food industry data and AI platform technology company.

Engineering R&D

How NovoNutrients upcycles CO2 into alternative proteins for human and animal food

The company mixes CO2, hydrogen and a naturally occurring microbe, then ferments it to create high-grade protein with several potential uses.

Wayne Labs

March 4, 2022

This recently developed alternative protein process is also potentially carbon negative.

Supply Chains

How to reduce food waste when supply chains are unpredictable

Food processors must use the tools that can help tame unruly supply chains to minimize waste and improve the bottom line

Wayne Labs

February 21, 2022

It is important for organizations to have a solid forecasting system in place for budgeting already, but even more so now with rising costs and inflation.

How high can corn and commodity prices go?

Commodities

Processors face higher commodity prices, but climate-smart technologies may help tame cost increases

While some studies point out the downside risks of commodity price increases and scarcities, farmers and their suppliers see the upside

Wayne Labs

February 10, 2022

The USDA says 2022 will be a great year for agriculture, and climate-smart farming practices can help.

Engingeering R&D

Divorcing the plastic from our packaging not so easy without a new suitor

A startup company seems to have found that suitor: A natural coating from cellulose that can be recycled along with the packaging

Wayne Labs

February 8, 2022

A startup company seems to have a suitor: A natural coating from cellulose that can be recycled along with the packaging

Tech tools to help processors make sense of today’s supply chain

Supply chain hurdles created by COVID-19 provide an opportunity to attack deficiencies with the latest technology

Wayne Labs

February 7, 2022

While we hope the COVID-19 pandemic is fading into the background, we still need to be concerned with labor shortages, transportation interruptions, political issues, weather extremes, and other peripheral circumstances that can still break critical links in the supply chain.

Ignition software from Inductive Automation runs on traditional screens operating on Windows or Linux

Industrial Software

Application software: Updates, connections and design considerations

Your process control applications should just work and communicate with your devices—from one update to the next

Wayne Labs

February 2, 2022

With software upgrades, users should not have to relearn what they already know--and user interfaces need to be constructed with the end user in mind.