2023 April

The April 2023 issue of FOOD ENGINEERING features Clemens Food Group’s Hatfield North facility 2023 Plant of the Year, Robot and Cobot Technology Transform Food Operations, and much more!

Plant of the Year

Improving Safety and Welfare to Improve Business

Clemens Food Group’s Hatfield North facility was FE’s 2023 Plant of the Year Award winner for the project team’s vision and execution of improving business while focusing on human welfare.

Derrick Teal

April 14, 2023

Construction projects, like stories, tend to follow a regular, logical progression. Delivery systems vary, but they all typically start with a client’s need, selecting a project team, site visits, design meetings, groundbreaking and so on—but in the case of Hatfield North, the project began with the smokehouses.

warehouse-worker-standing-by-storage-rack

Keep Tabs On Products from Start to Finish in the Plant

With internal tracking and tracing, product recalls can be smaller in size.

Wayne Labs

April 27, 2023

In February we looked at the available tools to track and trace products throughout the supply chain; that is, what occurs outside a manufacturing facility. But what about keeping track of products within the confines of the plant? That is: Ingredients that come in the door, are combined in a recipe and go out the loading docks. What happens within a facility is easy to track, right?

Packaging and Food Scarcity: The Profitability in Waste Reduction

Todd Meussling, senior manager of market development at Fresh-Lock discusses how investing in innovative and sustainable packaging can be profitable and contribute to food scarcity/food insecurity initiatives.

Samantha Russo

April 21, 2023

Packaging technologies like closure systems aim to abate food scarcity and food insecurity by lengthening the after-open shelf-life. Proper packaging design can aid FLW management and be a pivotal tool for food manufacturers to invest to provide profitability, as well as to contribute in the effort to end food scarcity and food insecurity.

Cyber Insurance Drives Increased Security

Food companies and manufacturers are meeting stringent security audits to qualify for cyber insurance policies.

Grant Gerke

April 19, 2023

According to a research study by Sophos, a UK-based IT security services and hardware provider, cyber insurance policies are changing the way manufacturing is protecting their networks. As ransomware threats keep coming, companies are buying cyber insurance policies to protect against costly ransomware attacks that can drive them out of business. Seventy percent of hacked food and beverage companies will go out of business within a year of the attack, according to Capstone Logistics.

Robot and Cobot Technology Transform Food Operations

Large- and medium-sized food companies are struggling to find workers and this trend is not going away. So food manufactures are turning to robot/cobot applications to solve new and old problems on the plant floor, while increasing productivity in the post-covid workforce.

Grant Gerke

April 17, 2023

Small- and mid-size food businesses/manufacturers (SMBs) are in dire need of automated solutions for end-of-line packaging, primary packaging or processing. “Graybeards” have a considerable presence in manufacturing, and “10,000 boomers reach retirement age every day and represent 27% of the U.S. manufacturing workforce,” according to 2022 Bureau of Labor, Delottie and PEW Research. Plus, companies are experiencing a skills gap with the existing workforce, while also having challenges attracting younger workers to manufacturing jobs.

Mix-proof valves takes the guesswork out of the CIP process

Make CIP an Integral Part of Your Process

In the same way you use automation to make consistent, quality products, why not use CIP to ensure germ-free cleaning every time?

Wayne Labs

April 11, 2023

You’ve automated your process and packaging and have computer-generated paper trails to show food safety and quality throughout your facility. Why wouldn’t you do the same with cleaning—wherever it’s practical? Granted, there are certain pieces of equipment you just have to take out of the process to clean manually, but for other components—like piping, some conveyor belting, certain pumps, mixers, tanks and other equipment—you can clean them in place (CIP) and have automated recordkeeping to show proof of cleaning and sanitation to regulating bodies when they ask.

Flexicon's High-Volume Barrel-Drum Dumper

Bulk Handling

Flexicon’s Launches High-Volume Open-Chute Dumper

February 10, 2023

The company’s launches a new chute-dumper for bulk material that accommodates existing facility layout.

Filtration

APV Membrane Filtration for Plant-Based Products

February 9, 2023

The APV membrane filtration technology features solutions designed to fit various plant sources, including soy, oat, nut, rice, pea and more.

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.