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Food price summit hard to see
In what seems to be a never ending narrative, food prices do not see any signs of leveling off or decreasing.
According to Statistics Canada, 2022 was an especially bad year for price increases. Food was up 8.9 per cent year over year, with food purchased at stores up 9.8 per cent. This included increases for dairy products (up 8.6 per cent), other food preparations products (up 10.1 per cent), fresh fruit (up 10.4 per cent), fresh vegetables (up 8.3 per cent), cereal products (up 13.4 per cent), and processed meat (up 9.6 per cent). While food purchased at restaurants went up as well at 6.7 per cent.
For those wondering why their pizza costs more, a pizza price diagram from October 2022 (Statistics Canada) shows that flour and flour-based mixes were up 23.2 per cent; condiments, spices, and vinegars were up 12.8 per cent; fresh vegetables up 11 per cent; cheese up 9.9 per cent; and meat up 5.5 per cent.
Looking forward, Canada’s Food Price Report (published by Dalhousie University, the University of Guelph, the University of British Columbia, and the University of Saskatchewan) predicts that bakery, dairy, meat, and other items will increase five to seven per cent in 2023, while fruits will go up three to five per cent, vegetables at six to eight per cent, and seafood at four to six per cent. Finally, restaurant prices are set to increase four to six per cent.
Overall, the report sees a total increase in food of five to seven per cent. Breaking things down by province, the report sees food prices going up
in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, and Saskatchewan. While going down in Newfoundland and Labrador, and Quebec. What led to these increases?
Statistics Canada’s Behind the Numbers: What’s Causing Growth in Food Prices found that the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have an impact. Supply chain disruptions in many sectors also impacted the food industry (processing, packaging, and transportation), similarly labour shortages were a concern, as were the evolving way consumers are purchasing (which moved the food supply from restaurants to stores). Additionally, areas where things are grown had poor weather (droughts, floods, heat waves, freezing), tariffs changed, input costs rose, and wages continued to increase.
Hopefully, the recent COVID-19 variant, ‘kraken’ does not take us backwards, and supply chain issues, labour shortages, and more continue to improve in 2023.
Mario Cywinski
Food & Beverage Engineering & Maintenance mcywinski@annexbusinessmedia.com www.mromagazine.com
ICICLE TECHNOLOGIES WIN ERP
SOFTWARE OF THE YEAR AWARD
Icicle Technologies Inc., won the ERP Software of the Year award at the 2022 AgTech Breakthrough Awards.
“The needs of our customers are changing faster than ever as a result of more stringent regulations, like the new FSMA Traceability rule,” said Steven Burton, Founder and CEO, Icicle. “Icicle’s collaborative approach to development ensures that our entire user community gains a competitive edge through technology that adapts and grows with them. Together we are shaping the future of food production. We are grateful that our efforts have been recognized on the international stage by AgTech Breakthrough.”
Icicle ERP offers compliance management and adaptability for complex food production businesses. A complete end-to-end solution for food production, Icicle ERP auto-
NEWS
mates best practices to maximize ROI and optimize resource utilization.
The annual event honours excellence in agricultural and food technologies, services and products from around the world. AgTech Breakthrough conducts a comprehensive analysis and evaluation of agricultural and food technology categories, including IoT and AI-based agricultural technologies, farm management, food quality, data analytics and more. Over 1,600 nominations globally were received, with each company evaluated for innovation, performance, ease of use, functionality and impact.
OLYMEL TO TEAM UP WITH CINTECH AGROALIMENTAIRE
Olymel and Cintech agroalimentaire have agreed to share spaces, human resources, and materials at Cintech’s new facilities in St-Hyacinthe, Quebec.
Olymel will develop a chemistry lab in in St-Hyacinthe, where a team will be permanently installed, under the supervision of Eric Pouliot, Director, Food Science and Technology, at Olymel.
“This agreement enables Olymel to demonstrate its leadership in the agri-food industry, especially in the
aspects of its activities affecting R&D and quality assurance. It’s inspired by an innovative approach in the R&D field that will generate a profitable synergy for our two organizations,” said Sylvain Fournaise, Vice President, Food Safety and Technical Services, and Research and Development, Olymel. “We’re happy to offer our knowledge and experience in food chemistry while getting access
to Cintech agroalimentaire’s research equipment and expertise. This innovative venture is a first for Canada, and we hope it leads to a new approach in pre-competitive research and innovation. This agreement will also allow Olymel to enjoy greater autonomy in the nutritional analysis of foods that the company produces, and it will provide long-term benefits for the entire agri-food industry in Quebec.”
Cintech will share equipment and expertise in the agri-food field. Both companies will pool their expertise, and Cintech aims to meet the technological needs and objectives that have been set.
“By centralizing Olymel’s chemistry lab in our new building, Cintech is taking an important step as an ecosystems builder. This shows that it’s possible to pool our equipment and expertise for the purpose of accelerating agri-food innovation in Quebec so we can, among other things, improve our food self-sufficiency,” said Jean Lacroix, Chief Executive Officer, Cintech agroalimentaire. “Resource shar-
ing and mutual aid are an integral part of Cintech’s culture, and this initiative with Olymel is just the beginning of a mutually beneficial collaboration. This agreement also opens the door to other partnerships that will be announced in the coming weeks, to make it possible to pool R&D for Quebec’s agri-food companies.”
GOVERNMENT OF CANADA FINANCES
A CERTIFICATION PROGRAM FOR SMALL FOOD ENTERPRISES
The Government of Canada is investing $336,858 to support the creation of a certification program that will allow businesses to meet specific trade requirements.
This investment will support GS1 Canada, a not-for-profit association, to develop training tailored to small and micro food enterprises. The project includes learning modules and a virtual portal of resources specifically for them.
GS1 Canada plans to equip at least 200 businesses across Canada with the knowledge, tools and experience they need to prepare for trade
with different sectors, including the grocery sector, distribution and food services.
Completion of the certification program will provide micro and small enterprises with access to other services provided by GS1 Canada for one year. A key component of this subscription for is ensuring their products have licensed GS1 barcodes, which are re quired by many Canadian retailers and distributors, as well as access to online tools to share quality, bi lingual product data with trading partners. GS1 bar codes are a global standard and play an important role in supply chains and trace ability.
“This new certification program will help small and micro businesses in the food sector meet key industry and regulatory requirements and learn es sential information about trade and export,” said the
honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, minister of agriculture and agrifood. “This will help these businesses to access new opportunities and strengthen our economy.”
RITTAL WINS EFC MARKETING AWARD FOR THE FIFTH YEAR
Electro-Federation Canada virtu-
ally held their 12th annual future forum with the theme ‘Innovation During Disruptive Times: Finding the Crossroads Between Talent and Technology’.
Rittal Limited, Canada was awarded with the electro-federation Canada marketing excellence award for the fifth year. This year’s award
was for event/trade show for the EPLAN-Rittal global virtual fair that was held in the first quarter of 2022. Rittal also won an honorable mention for the integrated marketing award category for the four seasons climate control campaign that highlights Rittal’s Blue e+ energysaving climate control solutions throughout the year.
“Electro Federation Canada is the voice of the electrical industry in Canada, so winning this award will certainly enhance our brand awareness in the industry,” said Sandra Abuwalla, marketing lead, Rittal Limited, Canada. “We will ensure that we cascade this award in all our channels and celebrate this great honour with the team. We will not rest on our laurels but it’s on to the next unique campaign to get the word out there that Rittal means business in the Canadian electrical industry!”
All entries are always reviewed and selected by an external panel of judges with expertise in each category, adding to the credibility of the awards.
BARTEK TO BUILD MALIC AND FUMARIC ACID FACILITY IN ONTARIO
Bartek Ingredients plans to build a new production facility that promises to be the world’s largest and most technologically advanced malic and food-grade fumaric acid production plant.
The $175 million facility will double Bartek’s capacity and provide advanced production capabilities. It will be environmentally sustainable and is projected to reduce per unit GHG emissions by over 80 per cent.
“We are thrilled to be breaking ground on our new state-of-the-art facility which will set a new global benchmark for safety, efficiency, and environmental performance,” said John Burrows, president and CEO, Bartek Ingredients. “We are pleased
to be investing in the community of Stoney Creek, and proud to play an integral part in supporting local industries and the local economy. We are thankful for our partnerships with the provincial and federal government and Environment Hamilton and their support and guidance throughout the process.”
WSP Global, is leading construction and design for the project.
The facility is expected to be operational at the beginning of 2024.
HOW AN ONTARIO
SME COOKIE
MANUFACTURER IS NAVIGATING INFLATION
Inflation solutions with Hollandia Bakery’s president.
BY MONICA FERGUSON
Hollandia cookies, from gingerbread to chocolate chip, is available at many groceries stories. Established in 1954, Hollandia Bakery began as a small corner store bakery in Chatham, Ontario. With continued growth, the family-run bakery grew to become a large-scale production facility now located in Mount Brydges, Ont. With 35,000 square feet of space, the current plant produces 3,500 pounds of cookies per hour, and up to one and half million cookies per day. Nearing 70 years in business, navigating the challenges that come over time is nothing new for the Hollandia business, including the challenge brought on by the rapid rise of food inflation
the past two years.
Last year’s Canadian Food Price Report predicted an overall food price increase of five to seven per cent in 2022. The current rate for food price increases has exceeded this prediction at 10.3 per cent as of September 2022 (according to the latest available consumer price index data).
Ironically, this year’s report is also predicting a five per cent to seven per cent increase for 2023.
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, many factors have led to increased food prices. Now, rising prices can be credited to labour challenges, supply chain issues, the escalating price of oil, production and packaging costs, and rising geopolitical tensions.
According to the Economics Ob-
servatory, Ukraine is the world’s largest producer of sunflower oil.
Combined with Russia, it is responsible for more than half of the global exports of vegetable oils. The region also exports over a third (36 per cent) of the world’s wheat.
T herefore, the supply for vegetable oil and wheat has become in-
creasingly scarce, creating a higher demand, and in turn a higher price tag attached – especially true when it comes to baking, where oils and wheat are hot commodities.
Dan Simile, president of Hollandia Bakery and Good Food Inc., explains that Hollandia has been navigating inflation in three main ways:
“All through there is inflation, its incumbent on us to manage our business in an efficient way and in an efficient manner, so we keep asking ourselves - are we producing products as efficiently as possible?” - Dan
Simile
cash flow management, production planning, and automation.
“All through there is inflation, its incumbent on us to manage our business in an efficient way and in an efficient manner, so we keep asking ourselves - are we producing products as efficiently as possible,” said Simile.
CASH FLOW MANAGEMENT
At Hollandia Bakery, around 40 per cent of each cookie comprises of flour, sugar, and cooking oil or butter.
“We’ve seen a double-digit increase in flour, sugar, and oils,” said Simile. To manage these increasing costs, the strategy of looking at purchase features in the marketplace can yield results.
“Instead of buying spot pricing, we will look ahead and see the price for sugar is cheaper a year or two from now. So, we’ll purchase that future contract instead of the actual raw material at that time,” said Simile. “We’re buying a promise to buy the sugar, oil and flour sometime in the future.”
If an ingredient costs less in the future, the manufacturer can work with augmenting the recipe. This method is used when the price in the future is cheaper than the price in the present, though that’s not always the case.
“If I put it in a purchase order on sugar, flour, and oil - I will know my pricing, but if I put in an order on spot pricing with that commodity, then my price could jump five-10-15 per cent on that purchase order and I can’t pass that on to my customers for maybe three-to-six months from now, so that becomes a profit squeeze on our part,” said Simile.
PRODUCTION PLANNING
Production planning is important in operating short-term and long-term contracts with customers, while 10 to 15 per cent of Hollandia’s production volume includes short-term contracts, 85 per cent of Hollandia’s customers are long-term contracts.
“With the short-term contracts, our smaller customers – we can change the price quickly to reflect the changes in the market. With our long-term contracts we must wait some time to adjust pricing,” said Simile. “We have felt some hardship in the last two years because our pricing to our customers has not kept up with the pace of the price increases from our vendors.”
In terms of sourcing ingredients, it is not uncommon for supplies to require manufacturers to prepay for shipments because the demand is so high. Cash flow management is essential here because prepaying might require the need for manufactures to increase financial support from the bank.
“Now that the demand has increased, the price has increased, and the vendors are prioritizing vendors and their customers who buy more, pay more, and can pay quicker. We’ve had to operationally change our strategy with the bank in terms of cash flow management. We are lucky that we buy in containers, that gives us a little more of an advantage compared to a smaller baker,” said Simile. “At the end of the day the vendors are also looking to manage their business.”
AUTOMATION
Hollandia has identified two areas of focus where there was opportunity to automate, an in-line printer and retiring the flow wrapper with an updated machine.
“We have identified some areas of opportunities to decrease our expenses while taking labour shortage challenges into consideration,” said Simile.
T he in-line printer produces shipping labels directly on the packaged vendor cases within the assembly line. This change has reduced the labour by one or two people and reduces the cost of the labels that were previously bought.
Simile said that Hollandia has two operating cookie lines, one had a flow wrapper that was over 30 years old. With the help of a program by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and investments from shareholders, Hollandia invested in a new flow wrapper.
“The upgraded model is faster and allows us to rework people
on the line to other areas of production where we need them. It allows us to increase our throughput and decrease our packaging and food waste,” said Simile. “Automating these areas has allowed us to focus more on our operations and to see how we can take costs out of the business while doing our part of trying to keep inflation down.”
Monica Ferguson is an associate editor at Annex Business Media for Canadian Manufacturing, and Food in Canada.
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ON THE CLOCK:
OPTIMIZING SHIFT WORK
FOR WELL-BEING AND PRODUCTIVITY
The global food economy never sleeps.
BY THE CANADIAN CENTRE FOR OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY
Products are ordered online and shipped immediately from anywhere in the world. Grocery stores, restaurants and food service operations require a steady supply to keep their patrons fed, making shift work a necessity in food and beverage manufacturing. A consequence of this always-on economy is workers in all areas of food production are exposed to the strains and health effects that come with working at all hours, with changing schedules that make it difficult to ever truly adapt. It is widely accepted that shift work can have negative effects on workers’ personal health and safety. However, there are ways to mitigate some of these effects.
ALL ABOUT SHIFT WORK
Shift work is work that is scheduled outside the typical daytime hours (the nine to five). Schedules can vary from one workplace to another, and workers may rotate through shifts or remain on a single shift (for example, permanent nights).
Circadian rhythms are our body’s biological clocks that manage various internal functions throughout a 24-hour day, using daylight and darkness as cues. Working during the night and sleeping during the day is contrary to our natural rhythm. This mismatch is what can make sleeping difficult for shift workers. There are several risks associated with shift work. Night shift workers face a higher risk of workplace injury than morning or afternoon shift workers, and they’re likely to have shorter or lower-quality sleep compared to regular day workers. Studies show that night shift workers have a higher risk of breast, prostate, colon, and rectum cancers, and an increased risk of heart disease, while others indicate a higher risk of pre-term delivery for pregnant workers, gastrointestinal disorders, and mental health-related problems.
WHAT EMPLOYERS CAN DO
While the nature of food manufacturing and engineering makes shift work necessary, there are ways to minimize the negative effects on workers. Schedule optimization is key. Don’t rush through shift changes. “Rotating forward” (morning - afternoon - night) is often shown to be easier to adapt to than rotating backwards or having irregular shift changes. Where possible, set shifts in consultation with the worker.
Providing time off at socially advantageous times like the weekends can help maintain a worker’s mental health and work-life balance. Also, consider different lengths for shifts and keep overtime to a minimum. Examine your start-end times. Are workers leaving the facility only to be stuck in morning rush hour traffic? Schedules should be regular and predictable and morning shifts should not start too early. The earlier workers must get up, the less sleep they get. Night shifts should not be too long and should end as early as possible. This way, workers can get more undisturbed sleep.
TIPS FOR WORKERS
There are steps that shift workers can take to help preserve their physical and mental health. Afternoon workers should have a meal in the middle of the day instead of the middle of their work shift, while night workers should eat lightly throughout their shift. Always remember to relax during meals and allow time for digestion, and don’t forget to stay hydrated
by drinking lots of water.
To improve sleep quality, establish a bedtime schedule and routine that is quiet and relaxing. Also, having a comfortable space to rest during the day is also key, while some may find the use of foam earplugs and good quality blinds or blackout curtains especially helpful.
Knowing that shift work can be more challenging for the body, pay close attention to your physical fitness and try to reduce your stress. It’s important to prioritize social time to maintain regular contact and relationships while working shifts. Schedule at least one daily meal with family or close friends and keep in touch with them throughout the day. Setting time aside for special people in your life can also be helpful to stay connected.
Along with the advantages of schedule flexibility, shift work brings health and safety risks associated with working non-traditional and rotating hours. Recognizing and taking steps toward minimizing these risks can be beneficial to both workers and employers.
The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) promotes the total well-being — physical, psychosocial, and mental health — of workers in Canada by providing information, advice, education, and management systems and solutions that support the prevention of injury and illness. Visit www.ccohs.ca for more safety tips.
FOOD SAFETY COMPLIANCE
Make sure it is your main priority.
BY RICHARD KUNST
Process non-compliance is a mere nuisance within many manufacturing environments. In the food and beverage industry; however, the consequences can be much more significant.
First, your company may get a lot of negative publicity from the media, which in turn can cause your consumer’s confidence about you and your products to erode. Also, the additional costs of dealing with a significant recall, implementing a big reverse supply chain logistic. It can be expensive, and could get worse if people became sick or worse.
Food safety compliance need to be your number one priority. Fortunately, it can be accomplished with some simple tips and tricks.
VISUAL MANAGEMENT
Cross contamination is the enemy of any process but is the nemesis within the food industry.
The biggest contributor of cross contamination is usually the result of employees trying to do the right thing, by keeping the area clean. However, those cleaning tools can be the tools of cross contamination.
Ensure that you colour code your cleaning tools and store them on clearly defined shadow boards. The colour codes should segregate the tools into the following categories:
Food contact - to be used to only clean areas where the food ingredients become in contact during processing.
Non-food contact - surrounding areas of the machine and workstation where you work but the food ingredients are not within a process
I know that I would not want any dirt from the floor to ever enter the food stream.
SANITATION
If it is not moving then it is not producing, and when it is not producing, we are not making money. This is a simple statement understood by most leaders. It motivates them to encourage teams to maximize equipment uptime, which may lead to some cut corners, especially when it comes to sanitizing lines.
Floor - any devices used to keep the floor clean.
Doing a traditional change-over or set-up, teams should be employing the methodology of
single minute exchange of dies (SMED). Picture the set-up transition like the letter “U”, where the bottom of the “U” is the machine being inactive, and using SMED to make the set-up transition more like the letter “V”.
Completing scheduled sanitation, a “V” scenario may not be completely desirable if team members are cutting corners during the process. SMED methodologies can and should be applied. Engineer your sanitation process using time studies, workflow diagrams, and pictures of where and what to clean, and what it should look like.
Unfortunately, in many cases bacteria is invisible, therefore, due diligence will be required. As technology continues to improve, automated clean In place (CIP) makes the job easier, more reliable and predictable. However, operations should remember that just because a process can be automated, does not mean that it is more efficient.
ALARM CLOCK FOR THE HUMAN BRAIN – TPM
Consider TPM as the alarm clock for your team member’s brains. Ultimately, the last line of defense, but a very powerful one, when followed.
Over the years TPM has evolved:
Total Predictive Maintenance - Operator selfchecks the equipment.
Total Productive Maintenance - Operator selfchecks plus minor adjustments and lubrication.
Total Productive Management - all the above but expanded to encompass the entire work area including documentation.
Sensors, computers and technology are great, but when it comes to TPM, rely on the human hand. The human hand is the most sensitive in-
strument on our planet and is why we want a human hand to be the instrument to check every square inch of the equipment.
There are many TPM software programs on the market and we have a plethora of sensors to measure “noise, vibration, heat and harshness,” but they lack that human hand other than to click the mouse, which then make it easy to “mouse click whip” compliance without doing physical checks.
Old fashioned TPM using a proper checklist, where the check items are numbered and perhaps numbers placed on the equipment, may seem archaic, but we have that human hand involved. Ultimately a checked document is signed or initialed by the team member to acknowledge completion.
Yes, it is easy to “pencil whip” these checklists also, but leaders need to audit the checks in association with the team member, to ensure compliance, but it also becomes a great opportunity to enhance training.
Food safety compliance is your number one priority and following these simple tips and tricks will give you some peace and serenity.
Richard Kunst is an author, speaker and seasoned lean practitioner based in Toronto, who leads a holistic practice to coach, mentor and provide management solutions to help companies implement or accelerate their excellence journeys. You can reach him at www.kunstsolutions.com.
PHOTO: RICHARD KUNST.
ARE
ONBOARDING AND MENTORSHIP
REALLY THAT IMPORTANT?
Let’s explore the tangible impact of onboarding and mentorship on our workforce.
We’ve all experienced the ambiguous emotions that the first day on a new job can bring — the excitement, the anxiety, and the uncertainty of working in an intimidating environment with unfamiliar people. There are questions to be asked, tasks to be learned, and good first impressions to be made. As leaders, we should recognize these difficult emotions, and take efforts to ensure that newly-recruited employees are able to feel comfortable and work confidently in their roles. Effective onboarding and mentor-
ship helps workers establish strong professional bonds that can provide them with the benefits of timetested experience and wisdom, encourage self-assurance and pride in their work. While eliminating feelings of reservation, simultaneously maximizing productivity and employee morale.
Integrating a new employee into an existing work environment is never an easy task. When working co-operatively (or simply interacting with other team members on a regular basis), employees must build and maintain effective lines of
communication and mutual support, or risk becoming overwhelmed with responsibilities they are unprepared for. Negative onboarding experiences lead to poor retention, which
increases time spent recruiting and training new labour. In contrast, well-implemented onboarding processes that utilize knowledgeable mentors help new hires navigate
their workplaces with an informed perspective. Unfortunately, mentorship is an effort-intensive process, and can result in lost productivity when keeping experienced employees occupied for long periods of time. This issue can be addressed using onboarding and mentorship programs — constantly-shifting rosters of willing guides that can offer their insight to new recruits as their schedules allow.
Onboarding and mentorship programs also provide an excellent opportunity to evaluate the leadership abilities of accomplished employees and can help strengthen correspondence and collaboration throughout an entire team. Keep in mind, mentorship is a skill, and requires both training and application to ensure it is being employed effectively. Mentors can be selected from a team, based on strengths in communication, empathy, responsibility, co-operation, and understanding of the task at hand, and must be willing to foster a comfortable work environment.
T he onboarding process acts as a company’s first impression towards its employees and should be utilized by mentors to establish corporate values, expectations, and requirements. As such, mentors chosen to realize this limited opportunity need to be both knowledgeable and principled to impart the same values on those learning from them. Trustworthiness and engagement are aptitudes
recognized across the corporate ladder and inspire new employees to display a similar level of eagerness in their own performance.
Onboarding and mentorship are two of the most cost-effective ways to educate, motivate, and support newly-recruited employees, and
their impact resonates throughout the entirety of a company in the short- and long-term. An effective mentor is just as integral to a team’s productivity as any other leader and is an essential component in helping new hires develop familiarity with and loyalty to their workplace.
Article provided by Excellence in Manufacturing Consortium (EMC).
PRODUCTS
KHK USA Inc., line of metric screw gears, are suitable for conveyors with light loads and are offered in many materials, modules and numbers of teeth. KHK stock screw gears are available in S45C carbon steel, and rust resistant SUS303 stainless steel, suitable for washdown applications including for the food machinery. Models made from CAC702 (formerly AlBC2) aluminum bronze are also available. KHK MC901 Nylon screw gears can
be used without lubrication. All KHK screw gears allow for secondary operations such as opening of the bore, broaching of keyways, tapping threaded holes, or reducing the hub diameter to be performed.
www.khkgears.us/products/screw-gears
MURRPLASTIK CABLE ENTRY SYSTEM COMPONENTS
New cable entry system options added to Murrplastik product line. The systems allow installation of non-terminated or pre-made/terminated cables through an enclosure or other bulkhead surface. KDP/R series offers a general-purpose, round, one-piece frame available in two
sizes, capable of holding up to 46 non-terminated cables in a single frame. KDL/H-VA-FDA series FDA-compliant stainless-steel split frames, available in three sizes, grommets and can hold up to 12 pre-made or terminated cables.
KDP series FDA Cablequick system, a one-piece stainless-steel frame holds up to 48 non-terminated cables.
www.automationdirect.com/cable-entry-systems
FESTO AX
Festo introduces the Festo Automation Experience (AX), an artificial intelligence platform for predictive quality, predictive maintenance, and energy optimization. Using analytics, Festo AX maps data to learn a component, machine, product, or energy system’s healthy state.
Festo finds that Festo AX can lower waste by more than 50 per cent and product rejection costs by more than 45 per cent. Machine availability can improve by more than 25 per cent, unplanned downtime can fall by more than 20 per cent.
www.festo.com
BEYOND VISIBLE MACHINE VISION CAMERAS
SVS-Vistek Beyond Visible line of expanded wavelength cameras. Using SWIR, UV, and polarized high-sensitivity CMOS sensors from Sony, the cameras uncover defects
KHK METRIC SCREW GEARS
PRODUCTS
that escape conventional cameras or the human eye, among them observing contamination in food, detecting liquid levels through containers, sorting plastics for recy-
cling, inspecting glass, semiconductors and solar panels, and analyzing mechanical stress on reflective or transparent surfaces. Beyond Visible reduce system complexity and is safely contained within the same milled aluminum housings to withstand industrial settings. As standard features, all Beyond Visible cameras include: region of interest, logic trigger functions with programmable timers, GenTL, sequencers and logic functions, and optical and electrical inputs specified with TTL-24V. www.svs-vistek.com
EASY VIS
Mettler Toledo’s Easy VIS, analyzes liquid, translucent samples for optical spectrum, colour, and water param-
eters. The instrument takes over the measuring tasks of up to three instruments: a colourimeter, a spectrophotometer, and special measuring methods for water testing, such as titration. The results appear on screen in accuracy, precision, and repeatability. A typical place for
Easy VIS is small manufacturers in the food and beverage industry, environmental testing labs, or any industry needing quality control and supervising their process or wastewaters. The Easy VIS is used during multiple steps of the production process: for inspection of raw materials, quality control of semi-finished and finished products, or testing the water quality of wastewater.
NOVA SERIES
Dobot developed the Nova Series of collaborative ro -
bots designed for retail customers to handle tasks such as making coffee, cocktails, ice cream, noodles, fried chicken, and even physical therapy.
The Nova 2 and the Nova 5 are the first two models in the Nova Series with payloads of two kg and five kg for handling retail and physiotherapy tasks respectively. They can replace workers to help reduce operating expenses and decrease direct human contacts during pandemics. Taking into consideration that most retail stores do not have full time engineers on staff, the Nova Series is designed to be easy to use. Setting up a Nova takes as little time as 10 minutes. The series has safety features to sense human movement and stops operation in 0.01 second upon collision detection. In case of power outage, Nova automatically freezes in position to ensure safety of others. en.dobot.cn