In Part one of this article, published in the July 2018 issue of Food Engineering, we looked at the costs of reactive maintenance strategies, preventive maintenance (PM), risk-based PM strategies—and whether any form of PM could provide the depth-of-maintenance knowledge as that of a predictive maintenance (PdM) system. In the second part of this article, we’ll look at TPM, integrating CMMS and EAM systems with ERP systems, training and manpower issues and IIoT integration.

Anellotech, a sustainable technology company, has achieved new milestones in its pursuit of a 100-percent bio-based bottle.

Enel X has signed an agreement with Ontario-based food packaging company Amhil North America for the installation and operation of a 2.34 MW/4.7 MWh lithium-ion, behind-the-meter energy storage system.

Indian dairy producer Creamy Foods Limited, located in the state of Uttar-Pradesh, has purchased GEA’s first Model BUE butter-making machine. The Model BUE 6000 will be brought into operation in February 2019 along with other allied equipment.

Brynwood Partners VII L.P. has signed a definitive agreement to acquire a portfolio of brands from The J.M. Smucker Company (Smucker) for $375 million. The portfolio includes the exclusive US rights to Pillsbury brand’s shelf-stable baking products along with the Hungry Jack, White Lily, Jim Dandy and Martha White brands.

While the primary packaging of food and beverage products looks fantastic, once these packages enter a cardboard shipping container, they seem to lose their identity, their pizzazz—all the effort that went into the package and label design is lost in the plain old shipping carton. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

A "Sustainability Framework" produced by the US Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (USRSB) has been criticized as "greenwashing" by a number of environmental groups.