Wayne Labs

Apeel Sciences—World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer and featured in Food Engineering’s Engineering R&D—and Nature’s Pride, a major European supplier of avocados, will work together to integrate Apeel’s plant-derived food waste prevention technology across Nature’s Pride expansive European avocado value chain, pending EU regulatory approval

The Reusable Packaging Association has announced changes to its executive team and board of directors. After serving a two-year term as chairman of the board, Norm Kukuk, executive vice president and general manager, ORBIS Corporation has relinquished his post to 2018 Vice Chairman Rick Sasse, director of custom transport packaging, TriEnda Holdings LLC. New Chairman of the Board Sasse began his term at the Annual Board meeting held earlier this year.

The Tetra Laval Group Board has appointed Adolfo Orive, President and CEO of Tetra Pak effective April 1, 2019. The appointment follows the decision by Dennis Jönsson to step down from his position after 14 years as president and CEO and 36 years with the company.

With women’s workplace progress stalled across some industries despite their increased pursuit of higher education and skill building, the Women’s Foodservice Forum (WFF) is expanding its mission to include both women’s leadership development and providing strategies to the food industry to eliminate barriers, accelerate advancement, and lead the way to gender equity with data-driven solutions.

According to research by the Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, almost a third of food processing operations already use robotics in their facilities. What’s more, half of those surveyed said they will increase their level of automation in the next three to five years. However, not every food manufacturer is an automation convert.

Smart phones can be an asset on the plant floor, letting operators look at current plant data and make intelligent decisions. But, should personal devices be checked at the door, and are they a potential risk for cyberattacks?

We know ransomware can wipe out a business—maybe not so much from the cost of paying the ransom, but from the downtime it causes—so don’t get caught without a backup. I asked the experts whether a processor should pay the ransom, and while the responses were mixed, the moral of the story is: Have a backup!