Wayne Labs

Wayne Labs has more than 30 years of editorial experience in industrial automation. He served as senior technical editor for I&CS/Control Solutions magazine for 18 years where he covered software, control system hardware and sensors/transmitters. Labs ran his own consulting business and contributed feature articles to Electronic Design, Control, Control Design, Industrial Networking and Food Engineering magazines. Before joining Food Engineering, he served as a senior technical editor for Omega Engineering Inc. Labs also worked in wireless systems and served as a field engineer for GE’s Mobile Communications Division and as a systems engineer for Bucks County Emergency Services. In addition to writing technical feature articles, Wayne covers FE’s Engineering R&D section.

Plant Construction Survey

2018 Plant Construction Survey: Rising Rate of Food & Beverage Plant Renovations/Expansions

Many food & beverage processors are renovating/expanding their existing plants to meet FSMA and consumer demands.

Wayne Labs

June 8, 2018

Food Engineering's 41st annual Plant Construction Survey reveals that the ratio of the number of plant renovations and expansions versus new, greenfield projects has again risen from last year, indicating several owners and operators are trying to stay put.

Cold Chain

Internet protocols make the refrigerated supply chain more efficient

Initiative aims to move refrigerated foods through the supply chain more efficiently to reduce spoilage

Wayne Labs

June 6, 2018

Just as the Internet makes use of hardware to relay data via the best routes regardless of who owns the hardware, a new “Physical Internet” for the Cold Chain (aka Cold PI) initiative is being developed by Tippmann Innovation (Ti) and Georgia Tech’s Supply Chain and Logistics Institute and the Physical Internet Center.

Walmart, IBM and the Romaine Blockchain

What food processors and the entire supply chain should be doing to make our food safe

Wayne Labs

June 1, 2018

Food Engineering features some thoughts on the recent Romaine lettuce contamination by Aaron Cohen, co-founder of CoInspect and adjunct professor at New York University where he teaches the History of Internet Media. FE conducted an exclusive, one-on-one interview with Cohen, immediately following Cohen’s text.

Engineering R&D

Voltage tester offers proof that power is really off

Satisfying NFPA 70E, this built-in absence-of-voltage tester confirms the power is off before the technician opens the cabinet door.

Wayne Labs

May 31, 2018

Seeing the need for a safe way to verify the absence of voltage in equipment, Panduit business development manager Rachul Bulgaris invented the VeriSafe AVT.

Automation Series

Integrating process control and building automation systems

If your systems communicate with each other, you may save money on energy, improve quality and enhance food safety.

Wayne Labs

May 21, 2018

You don’t want to be fighting your plant’s operating environment. You want it under control—not only for maintaining product quality and consistency, but also food safety.

Industry News

Campbell Soup Company looks to new CEO to improve business

Campbell Soup has struggled through a three-year sales slump and is looking to new leadership to turn the business around.

Wayne Labs

May 18, 2018

Campbell Soup Company has announced the retirement of Denise M. Morrison, president, CEO and director.

Food Safety

The importance of preventive controls

Preventive controls are a must for processors to meet safety goals

Wayne Labs

April 22, 2018

The idea of preventive controls is not process-centric, but risk based. And its principles are not new concepts.

Engineering R&D

Optoelectronic nose can offer new options for checking quality

Based on a handheld reader for colorimetric sensor arrays, the optoelectronic nose can monitor meat freshness or detect fraudulent whiskeys

Wayne Labs

April 16, 2018

Two University of Illinois professors have devised and published methods to monitor the freshness of meat and to identify liquors

Information Security

Beefing up on industrial computer security and password protection

Industrial automation systems are becoming secure-by-design, but weak passwords can wreak havoc with the best-designed systems

Wayne Labs

April 6, 2018

A newly published standard specifies process requirements for the secure development of products used in industrial automation and control systems (IACS).

High-Pressure Processing

Cold Pressure Council offers updated guidelines for HPP

Cold Pressure Council’s “HPP Certified” seal indicates freshness and a food-safe, clean-label product

Wayne Labs

March 27, 2018

Since June of last year, the Cold Pressure Council (CPC) has been busy with finalizing its organizational structure, and is moving on to provide guidelines for the application of HPP to additional food types.

On Demand Kelley Rodriguez, Editor in Chief of Refrigerated & Frozen Foods, will be joined in this 60-minute webinar by industry experts to help unpack the latest research.

On Demand Driven by climate goals, business risk, client interest, and resilience considerations, food and beverage companies are increasingly turning their attention to decarbonizing their production processes.