Innovation | Food Engineering

Tech Update

Technologies help processors find best temperature for quality, efficiency

Rose Shilling

February 17, 2020

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Three companies are using interesting methods to keep refrigerated and frozen foods at just the right temperature.

Improving OEE

Finding new AI-based methods to boost productivity require digital data

Large gains in productivity have been made over the years using lean manufacturing and Six Sigma, but today new technologies can further efficiency improvements

Wayne Labs

February 13, 2020

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AI-based tools are the next step beyond Six Sigma and lean manufacturing to improve production

Packaging

Keeping up with the e-commerce expansion

Tom Egan , PMMI

January 24, 2020

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As consumers demand greater convenience, e-commerce sales continue to rise. According to the 2019 Internet Retailer Top 1000 Report, consumers spent $517.36 billion online with U.S. merchants in 2018, up from $449.88 billion spent the year prior. Even when the final sales takes place in a store rather than online, the first step to most purchase decisions starts at the search bar.

Engineering R&D

Novel compressed air drying system leaves out the desiccant

Wayne Labs

January 22, 2020

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Typically, in food applications where compressed air may come in direct contact with food, regenerative desiccant dryers are able to dry the air to ISO 8573 Class 1-2 requirements.

Viking Masek saves energy with solar array

Energy savings

Packaging machine company turns toward the sun

Solar power helps Viking Masek save some big bucks

Wayne Labs

January 9, 2020

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Solar arrays aren't just for sunny southern climes; they can reduce energy bills up north, too.

Pet Food Series

Tomorrow’s pet food plant: What it takes to stay competitive

Plants of the future will rely on automation to produce consistent safe quality pet foods

Wayne Labs

December 13, 2019

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What does the modern, competitive pet food plant of the future look like? What are its key design considerations to make it fast, efficient and safe (e.g., product flow, building, internal and external environmental considerations, waste streams, automation, equipment, etc.)?

Editor's Note

Identifying and documenting workarounds for process challenges can help prevent failures

Casey Laughman

December 13, 2019

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Whether it’s water efficiency, packaging, food safety, material flow or anything else you can think of, there is always a point in the process that creates challenges, and that point is usually a headache for processors of any size.

Fab Food Plants

How Prestage Foods of Iowa built a state-of-the-art pork processing plant

Sharon Spielman

December 9, 2019

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Producing more than 1.4 billion pounds of pork and turkey annually, the Prestage Farms family of companies employs more than 2,700 associates and is affiliated with more than 470 farm families across the U.S.

Innovation

White paper: The evolution of the drum motor

Drum motors have seen numerous design improvements over the decades

Alexander Kanaris

December 2, 2019

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The drum motor belt drive design entered the conveyor industry in the early 50’s as a unique drive for belt conveyor applications.

Automation

ERP software helps keep bad product from consumers

Today’s cloud-based ERP software can track products in near real time

Wayne Labs

December 2, 2019

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ERP software can provide data showing who has the product and what its status is in the supply chain.

Packaging Research in Food Product Design and Development is the first book to comprehensively address the issues of graphics design and visual concepts, from a systematic, scientific viewpoint, yet with business applications in mind.

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Building on eight years of knowledge and data compiled from Schneider's Most Memorable New Product Launch Survey (MMNPL), The NEW Launch Plan: 152 Tips, Tactics and Trends from the Most Memorable New Products, examines successful launch strategies and tactics used by top tier consumer product companies.

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On Demand Energy savings is a hot topic these days, and everywhere you turn, someone's got something for you to buy to improve energy efficiency in your plant. Yet there are practical things you can do right now, with minimal to no additional investment, that can yield big gains in energy efficiency...