2022 Agenda
Sunday, September 11, 2022
12:30 PM
Golf Tournament
2:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Registration Open
7:00 PM – 8:30 PM
Welcome Reception
Monday, September 12, 2022
7:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Registration Open
7:30 AM - 8:30 AM
Continental Breakfast
8:45 AM - 9:30 AM
Automation KeynoteHow Tyson Uses Automation to Transform its Case-Ready Meat Operations
Brady Welu, Senior Managing Engineer, Fresh Meats Engineering, Tyson Foods
Tyson Foods built its new $300 million, 600, 000-square-foot case-ready meats plant in Eagle Mountain, Utah, with an eye firmly on the future. The greenfield project gave Tyson a blank slate for incorporating automation in every area of the facility for maximum efficiency, speed, productivity, labor savings and staff safety. Tyson’s Brady Welu explores how automation has transformed today’s case-ready operations and the lessons learned along the way.
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9:30 AM – 10:15 AM
Keeping Kirkland Brands At Peak Performance
Craig Wilson, VP of Quality Assurance & Food Safety, Costco Wholesale
Craig Wilson, Costco’s VP of quality assurance and food safety, presents a dynamic review of the rigorous process in place for co-manufacturers to create food products for Costco’s retail inventory. Wilson will review food safety and supply chain management best practices in a season of rising prices through the QA/QC procedures that help ensure Costco’s Kirkland brand continues its stellar growth for the company.
10:15 AM – 10:45 AM
Morning Refreshments and Networking Break
10:45 AM – 11:30 AM
Building Flexibility into Your Supply Chain
Kevin Hack, Global Vice President, Food Ingredients, Foodology by Univar Solutions
Rob McRae, Vice President of Transportation, Univar Solutions
Recent supply chain struggles have put the spotlight not just on the distribution of goods, but on availability of ingredients, materials, and supplies to manufacture food. In this session, we’ll hear from industry pros about how to build flexibility into your supply chain at every level, including the importance of adjusting SKUs based on available inventory.
11:30 AM – 12:00 PM
Industry 4.0 for Food Facilities
Anthony Doss, Vice President of Engineering - Poultry, Tyson Foods
As food facilities become more focused on technology to increase efficiencies and reduce costs, how can processors best utilize these available tools to maximize results? We’ll detail what types of tech are crucial for today’s processing plants and what the future might look like after Industry 4.0.
12:00 PM – 1:15 PM
Luncheon
12:00 PM – 5:30 PM
Expo
2:15 PM – 2:45 PM
Expo Refreshment Break
3:30 PM - 4:00 PM
Solutions Theater Track A:How New Drum Motor Technology Improves Hygiene
& Lowers Operational Costs of Conveyor Systems
& Lowers Operational Costs of Conveyor Systems
Alex Kanaris, President, Van der Graaf
There are constant demands on food processing industries to improve the hygiene of their belt conveyors and reduce expenses given the current state of the economy. This presentation will demonstrate the energy savings achieved with new synchronous permanent magnet (PM) drum motor technology as well as introduce a new XP hygienic drum motor with a removable profiled shell, which focuses on increasing the hygiene of conveyor systems and enables the flexibility of using various conveyor belts with the same drum motor.
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Solutions Theater Track B: Transform your Manufacturing Productivity by Digitizing Operations
Brent Wesler, Director, Sales, CDS Visual, a Dover company
Amol Mate, SVP, Business Development, Altizon
Driving better productivity and monitoring key manufacturing metrics is paramount in any food or beverage manufacturing production. Connecting your machines to visualize your production operations doesn’t have to be difficult. Come See how Dover CDS and partner Altizon are transforming this for many factories around the world.
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4:05 PM - 4:35 PM
Solutions Theater Track A:Five Ways Behavior Can Drastically Increase Throughput
Phil Gautrin, General Manager USA, Proaction International
Learn ways to drastically increase your operation’s throughput & performance without having to go through lengthy and expensive capital projects. As front-line managers can have a huge impact on their teams and efficiency of their Value Stream, leveraging Lean & Servant Leadership concepts will help you achieve impressive yet sustainable results.
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Solutions Theater Track B:Enabling Resilient and Agile Supply
Chains Through an Innovative Methodology
Chains Through an Innovative Methodology
Victor Hart, Account Executive, Demand Driven Technologies
Did you know that according to the US federal reserve, inventory turnover rates of manufacturers are the same today as they were 25 years ago despite the billions of $ invested in ERP/MRP systems? It’s time to challenge the status quo. Join us for this presentation and discover how companies are building a competitive advantage by bringing resiliency & agility to their supply chains through an innovative supply chain planning methodology.
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4:30 PM – 5:30 PM
Expo Cocktail Reception
5:15 PM
Expo Scavenger Hunt
Play the Expo Scavenger Hunt! 1st Place Winner will receive a $500 American Express gift card. 2nd Place Winner will receive a $250 gift card. Rules to play: Visit all exhibitors and scan the QR codes located in their booth. The first attendee to complete visiting all booths will win 1st place. Runner up receives 2nd place. Winners will be announced at 5:15 pm on the Expo floor. Must be present to win.
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Networking BBQ
Drink Station
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Catch of the Day
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Catch of the Day
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Tuesday, September 13, 2022
7:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Registration Open
7:30 AM - 8:30 AM
Continental Breakfast
Sponsored by
8:40 AM - 9:30 AM
Engineering KeynoteInside Kerry’s Expanded Coatings and Breadcrumbs Plant
Aleisha Jaeger, Director of Project Engineering, Kerry Group
Christina O’Keefe, Director of Sustainability, Kerry Group
Kerry’s recent $135 million expansion of its Rome, Georgia, facility gave the company a chance to address soaring market demand for coatings and breadcrumbs while implementing several engineering and technological innovations to boost productivity, cost savings, sustainability, and efficiencies throughout. Kerry’s Aleisha Jaeger and Christina O’Keefe detail the impact engineering has had on this project, adding 30% more production capacity. Kerry Group is FOOD ENGINEERING’s 2022 Sustainable Plant of the Year.
Sponsored by
9:30 AM – 10:00 AM
Morning Refreshments and Networking Break
10:00 AM - 10:30 AM
Solutions Theater Track A: Challenges of Handling and Processing
Plant Based Proteins in Food Manufacturing
Plant Based Proteins in Food Manufacturing
Sharon Nowak, Global Business Development Manager, Food and Pharma, Coperion
John Sheehy, Global Key Account Manager, Plant Based Foods, Coperion
This presentation is designed to be technical in scope and will help the end manufacturer understand how best to transfer, feed, and extrude these very difficult ingredients. It is suited for those involved in process and product formulation, process and product engineers, operators and plant managers who seek to investigate or optimize their plant based protein applications.
Sponsored by
Solutions Theater Track B:Zero-Carbon Microgrid Technology to
Ensure Full-Facility Operational Resiliency
Ensure Full-Facility Operational Resiliency
Matt Maiers, Global Account Director, Enchanted Rock
The US electric grid is becoming increasingly unreliable and placing US manufacturers and their supply chains at significant risk for plant downtime, lost production, lost revenue, spoilage and negative brand impact. This presentation will provide an overview and comparison of various technologies such as solar, energy storage, diesel and natural gas to help manufacturers evaluate and deploy appropriate solutions to ensure continuity of operations while also reducing carbon emissions and achieving ESG targets.
Sponsored by
10:35 AM - 11:05 AM
Solutions Theater Track A:Efficiency(IE5 / IS2) with Mechatronic Systems
Michael DeMeo, Business Development Manager (Drives and Automation), SEW Eurodrive
SEW will present the concept of Decentralization and the advantage of adding a PMM motor to a complete Mechatronic solution. Understanding of how the high efficiency standard is accomplish compare to IE3 solutions. Other benefits obtain with a single supplier Mechatronic solution such as increase torque and speed capabilities with reduction in noise. Lower inventory due to less variants and preventive and conditioning monitoring.
Sponsored by
Solutions Theater Track B:Supply Chain Visibility for Transactions and Food Safety
Grayson Hoberg, COO, Kerr Consulting
Unique Supply Chain SaaS solution that gives your suppliers powerful tools that benefit you and your suppliers. And it creates an automated, paperless Food Safety program.
Sponsored by
11:10 AM – 12:00 PM
FOOD ENGINEERING’s 2022 Plant of the Year Award Presentation
Scott Sechler, Owner, Bell & Evans
Michael Bracrella, Chief Operating Officer, Bell & Evans
FOOD ENGINEERING's 2022 Plant of the Year winner is Bell & Evans, for their new-build, highly automated, organic-certified 411,500-square-foot chicken harvesting and processing facility in Fredericksburg, Pennsylvania. The $360 million projects solved several needs for Bell & Evans as the company grows, and in this session, Bell & Evans Owner Scott Sechler, and COO Michael Bracrella will detail some of the key areas in the plant that help the company achieve their ambitious productivity, sustainability, employee satisfaction, food safety and quality goals.
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12:00 PM – 1:15 PM
Plant of the Year Luncheon
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1:15 PM - 2:00 PM
PepsiCo’s Water Sustainability Strategies for Food Processing
Austin Kozman, Senior Director, Foods Core Processing Technology, PepsiCo
We explore how PepsiCo is utilizing the latest technology and innovation in water sustainability initiatives for the company’s food processing operations, and how those efforts fit into PepsiCo’s overall pep+ (PepsiCo Positive) corporate transformation impacting the environment worldwide.
2:00 PM - 2:45 PM
Panel Discussion Strategies to Maximize OEE
Robert Garcia, VP of Manufacturing, Palermo’s Pizza
Rob Haas, Chief Supply Chain Officer, EverGrain Ingredients
Rob Haas, Chief Supply Chain Officer, EverGrain Ingredients
Is your food processing equipment giving your operation the most value when it comes to speed, productivity and reduced downtime during production? In this session, find out how to maximize your OEE (Operational Equipment Effectiveness) and troubleshoot where improvements can be made to increase efficiencies and the bottom line.
2:45 PM - 3:15 PM
Afternoon Refreshments and Networking Break
3:15 PM - 4:00 PM
Panel Discussion Operating Strategies from Outside the Food Manufacturing Industry
Christie Lagally, Founder & CEO, Rebellyous Foods
Dan Stauft, Director, Operational Technology, SugarCreek
Ayeshah Abuelhiga, Founder & CEO, Mason Dixie Foods
Game-changing business ideas often come from outside the industry, and food processing is no exception. In this session, we’ll hear from those who joined the food industry directly from other professions, like aerospace and automotive, and how innovative ideas from those fields have shaped the way they approach food processing and positively impacted their operations.
4:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Evening Reception and Scotch Tasting
Scotch Tasting Sponsored by
Wednesday, September 14, 2022
7:30 AM - 10:00 AM
Registration Open
7:30 AM - 8:30 AM
Continental Breakfast
8:40 AM - 9:30 AM
Keynote
Refrigerated & Frozen Food’s Refrigerated Foods Processor of the Year Presentation
Apollo Nguyen, Interim CEO, Van’s Kitchen
If you’ve shopped for eggrolls at any supermarket or convenience store, chances are Van’s Kitchen was among your choices. The Dallas-based brand produces several million eggrolls each year, and is currently in 10,000+ retail outlets nationwide, with annual revenues of $45 million. Hear from Apollo Nguyen about the company’s roots—started by his Vietnamese-immigrant parents in 1986—and what it takes to stay successful in this competitive industry. Van’s Kitchen is Refrigerated & Frozen Foods (FOOD ENGINEERING’s sister publication) 2022 Refrigerated Foods Processor of the Year. 9:30 AM – 10:15 AM
Panel DiscussionPilot Plant Strategies for Startups
Samara Heaggans, Corporate Director, Process & Product Development, Do Good Foods
Ayeshah Abuelhiga, Founder & CEO, Mason Dixie Foods
Farrah Sibai, President and Co-Founder, Afia
Every food processor starts somewhere, and usually it’s through a pilot plant where small batches of product are produced and then introduced to the market. We offer tips for burgeoning companies looking to build their first pilot plants and what essential items are necessary to begin production and distribution. We’ll also look at strategies for scaling up once a brand has outgrown its pilot plant.
10:15 AM – 11:00 AM
Panel DiscussionWhat’s Next for Alternative Proteins
Christie Lagally, Founder & CEO, Rebellyous Foods
Stephanie Lind, Founder, Chief Strategy Officer, Elohi Strategic Advisors
Stephanie Lind, Founder, Chief Strategy Officer, Elohi Strategic Advisors
Alternative proteins—like plant-based meats—are firmly established in consumer minds and are ubiquitous in grocery stores and foodservice. What were once startups are now brand names vying for shelf space in an increasingly crowded category. Find out what’s next for alternative protein processors and how cell-cultured meats and alternative dairy fit into the future definition of this fast-evolving segment.
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