Articles by Wayne Labs

Mackie’s of Scotland has been producing luxury ice cream using milk and dairy from its own herd since 1986 from its fourth generation family farm in Aberdeenshire. Recently, cooling equipment experts at Starfrost, a full-service global refrigeration supplier specializing in CO₂ and ammonia systems, partnered with Mackie’s of Scotland to install highly efficient freezing technology to improve and expand ice cream production at its dairy.

ABB will acquire ASTI Mobile Robotics Group (ASTI), a manufacturer of autonomous mobile robots (AMR), which has a broad portfolio across all major applications enabled by the company’s software. The acquisition will expand ABB’s robotics and automation offerings, providing the company with a complete portfolio of flexible automation technologies.

While some food and beverage companies have dedicated capital project managers (CPMs) to see construction and automation projects through even at multiple sites around the world, many companies are left wanting a CPM on staff to handle their projects.

Does OEE hold its own in being the only KPI you should be using? How should you apply OEE? What data should you use to determine OEE? How useful is it, really?

Automation firmware and software updates are a necessity, and suppliers have made the task much easier through new tools.

We know that pasteurization and sterilization can kill bacteria. The extent of bacteria destruction depends on both temperature and time. 

While some farms today are trying to get off the mono-crop bandwagon and rotate crops, many large farms still tend to grow corn or wheat in the same field every year, requiring a lot of nitrogen-based fertilizer. But what if corn and wheat could have their own symbiotic relationship with soil bacteria that could pull nitrogen out of the air?

Tea tree oil (TTO), a substance also known as melaleuca oil, comes from the Australian tea tree and has been used by humans to treat acne, athlete’s foot, lice, nail fungus and insect bites. More likely than not, you can find it in several over-the-counter skin care products and essential oils at your local drug store and Amazon. TTO has been used as a traditional medicine by Australian Aborigines for centuries, and the substance has a variety of natural ingredients that have been shown to kill certain bacteria, viruses and fungi.

If you’ve ever baked bread or sweet breakfast rolls at home, you know how wonderful that fragrance can be, ramping up your appetite for a fresh slice out of the oven. But, that friendly fragrance from your kitchen—or early in the morning from the local bakery down the street—may not be what a community wants from an industrial-scale food plant, especially if it occurs around the clock.

When you think of conveyors, you think of conventional pulley-driven or drum-motor powered designs, however, this system uses small motors geared to the belt’s edge.