ProFood World August 2022

SSV Drum Motors

AUGUST 2022

Reduce Water and Time for Washdown by 50%

(888) 326-1476 • vandergraaf.com/PF

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SSV Drum Motors Reduce Water and Time for Washdown by

50%

The SSV Drum Motor has the belt profile machined directly onto the drum to drive modular belts without the use of sprockets, saving water and time for washdown by 50%.

All drive components are enclosed within the drum and are designed for 80,000 hours of continuous operation before maintenance, reducing operating costs while increasing throughput. The SSV Drum Motor is the most hygienic, reliable, and efficient drive solution for food processing belt conveyors.

Learn more at vandergraaf.com/PF

Opportunities Available: Sales Personnel • Sales Representatives • Resellers Apply at: vandergraaf.com/jobs • (888) 326-1476

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August 2022

THE RACE TO SAVE THE PLANET SUSTAINABILITY EXCELLENCE IN MANUFACTURING AWARDS Conagra Brands Bob’s Red Mill Natural Products Smithfield Foods Finding the Right Mix for Plant-Based Alternatives Eliminating Manufacturing Silos and Islands Dry Processing Technologies 0822_Cover.indd 2

7/27/22 11:40 AM

GUARANTEED SOLUTIONS To Your Specific Bulk Material Conveying Problem

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Convey free- and non-freeflowing bulk materials at low cost

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• Convey free-flowing and difficult-to-handle materials that pack, cake, seize or smear • Prevent separation of blends • Convey short to medium distances • Conveyor routing at any angle, through small holes in walls or ceilings • Only one moving part contacts material • Fast disassembly, thorough cleaning • Stationary or mobile units, including tilt-down models • Economical to purchase, install, operate and maintain • Single or multiple discharge points • Minimal power usage • 3-A and USDA compliant or industrial models

• Slide fragile materials gently through smooth stainless steel tubing using low-friction polymer discs attached to stainless or polymer-coated stainless cable • Prevent separation of blends • Short to long distances • Durable discs in 4 and 6 in.

(100 and 150 mm) diameters • Available CIP accessories • Single or multiple inlets/outlets can be removed/relocated and the cable-disc circuit lengthened/shortened/re-routed • Minimal power usage • Evacuates material, minimizing waste and cleaning time

• Single-point “up-and-in” installations to cross-plant systems with multiple pick-up and discharge points and automated controls • Positive pressure and vacuum dilute phase systems complete with blowers, rotary airlock valves, pick-up adapters, filter receivers, cyclones, fill/pass valves, wands and weigh batching controls • Short to long distances • Wide capacity range—feed small packaging lines to silos and railcars • Single or multiple inlet and discharge points • Total evacuation of supply vessel and the conveyor line for accurate weighments, minimal waste and easy cleaning

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7/27/22 10:27 AM

PPM Technologies is a globally recognized food-processing equipment supplier committed to providing unique solutions, innovative products, and dedicated service.

For over 70 years, PPM has worked tirelessly to develop industry-leading conveying, frying, seasoning & coating systems designed to enhance your product and process.

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AUGUST 2022

CONTENTS 39

61 DEPARTMENTS

20

6 From the Editor

Joyce Fassl looks back at 36 years, but looks forward to what’s next.

9 In the News

Coca-Cola targets sustainability from every angle.

14 OpX Intel

No man is an island, even in manufacturing.

19 Packaging Technology

Apetito applies artificial intelligence to food tray production.

49 Plant Floor New Products

ON THE COVER The Race to Save the Planet While many consumers look to retailers and product packaging to help them understand sustainability, the winners of ProFood World’s annual Sustainability Excellence in Manufacturing Awards are focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, electricity, and water, as well as food waste and materials management.

FEATURES 30 Tech Today: Finding the Right Mix for Plant-Based Alternatives

61 Case Study: PIM Brands

Both ingredient suppliers and CPGs are trying to discover the right proteins for the job as they play with plant-based formulations to get the taste, texture, mouthfeel—and scalability—they’re looking for. The industry is joining together to find price parity for meat analogues.

65 Case Study: Tasteful Selections

DRY PROCESSING SOLUTIONS

A new vibratory conveyor resolves a sticky situation.

Robotics help a small potato producer get a grip on growth.

71 Tech Perspective

Cloud-based software modernizes cleaning system reporting.

39 Case Study: Mayorga Organics

After streamlining its supply chain, the coffee maker needed to improve the efficiency of its production, reducing manual labor and saving time with immediate packaging. A Flexicon conveying system helped achieve these goals.

42 New Products www.profoodworld.com

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ProFood World ISSN 2476-0676

EDITORIAL

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF AARON HAND 312/488-3392 ahand@pmmimediagroup.com

CONNECT WITH US @ProFoodWorld

SENIOR EXECUTIVE EDITOR JOYCE FASSL jfassl@pmmimediagroup.com

@ProFoodWorld

NEW PRODUCTS EDITOR MORGAN SMITH msmith@pmmimediagroup.com

www.linkedin.com/ showcase/profoodworld

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS MELISSA GRIFFEN, HANK HOGAN, STEPHEN PERRY, STEPHEN SCHLEGEL, JEFFREY BARACH

@ProFoodWorld

B U S I N E S S S TA F F PUBLISHER PATRICK YOUNG 610/251-2579 pyoung@pmmimediagroup.com BRAND OPERATIONS MANAGER CLAUDIA SMITH 312/222-1345 csmith@pmmimediagroup.com

ART CREATIVE DIRECTOR DAVID BACHO ART DIRECTOR KATHY TRAVIS

AU D I E N C E A N D T E C H N O L O GY SENIOR DIRECTOR, DIGITAL AND DATA ELIZABETH KACHORIS DIRECTOR, WEBSITES + UX/UI JEN KREPELKA SENIOR DATA ANALYST LAUREN SANZ

PUBLISHING PRESIDENT JOSEPH ANGEL EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT DAVID NEWCORN PUBLISHER PATRICK YOUNG DIRECTOR, EMERGING BRANDS COMMUNITY KIM OVERSTREET DIRECTOR, MARKETING SHARON TAYLOR SENIOR MARKETING MANAGER AMBER MILLER FINANCIAL SERVICES MANAGER JANET FABIANO

ADVE R TI S I N G PRODUCTION MANAGER GEORGE SHURTLEFF SENIOR DIRECTOR, CLIENT SUCCESS AND MEDIA OPERATIONS KELLY GREEBY DIRECTOR, PRODUCT STRATEGY ALICIA PETTIGREW

ADVE R TI S I N G SALE S PUBLISHER PATRICK YOUNG pyoung@pmmimediagroup.com • 610/251-2579 REGIONAL SALES MANAGER BRIAN J. GRONOWSKI bgronowski@pmmimediagroup.com • 440/564-5920 REGIONAL SALES MANAGER DANIEL SMITH dsmith@pmmimediagroup.com • 312/205-7935 VICE PRESIDENT, SALES WENDY SAWTELL wsawtell@pmmimediagroup.com • 847/784-0520 REGIONAL MANAGER LEO GUENTHER guenther@packworld.com • 904/377-7865 REGIONAL MANAGER JIM POWERS jpowers@automationworld.com • 312/925-7793 REGIONAL MANAGER CHRISTINE J. SMALLWOOD csmallwood@pmmimediagroup.com • 770/664-4600 ACCOUNT MANAGER JAKE BROCK jbrock@pmmimediagroup.com • 312/205-7903 PUBLISHER, AUTOMATION WORLD KURT BELISLE kbelisle@pmmimediagroup.com • 815/549-1034 PUBLISHER, HEALTHCARE PACKAGING LIZ TIERNEY tierney@packworld.com • 815/861-2992

ProFood World • PMMI Media Group 401 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1700, Chicago, IL 60611 Phone: 312/222-1010 • Fax: 312/222-1310 Email: info@pmmimediagroup.com • Web: www.profoodworld.com PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies 12930 Worldgate Drive, Suite 200, Herndon, VA 20170 Phone: 571/612-3200 • Fax: 703/243-8556 • Web: www.pmmi.org Staff at PMMI Media Group can be contacted at info@pmmimediagroup.com.

4

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| August 2022 | www.profoodworld.com

7/27/22 11:51 AM

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FROM THE EDITOR JOYCE FASSL | SENIOR EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Looking Back at 36 Years, but Looking Forward to What’s Next I’ve had the tremendous fortune to work with some wonderful mentors and hundreds of phenomenal food manufacturing and publishing industry professionals over the past three decades. For that, I am truly grateful.

T

he year 1986 was a turning point in my life. It was the year I began my journey into the world of food and beverage manufacturing. I admit it was a little overwhelming at first. My experience as a technical writer for a major software provider, followed by a position as an editor for IT/software publications, helped ease the transition to covering the food industry.

Thirty-six years later, I know I made the right decision, but I am soon ending my career in an industry I have grown to love.

Although you may see a few articles from me later this year in ProFood World, this is my final issue as a PMMI Media Group employee.

I want to take this opportunity to thank the people who stood beside me in both prosperous and challenging times.

Without your support, I would not have been able to deliver the best content for our industry.

A million thanks to the food and beverage manufacturing professionals, advisory board members, industry suppliers, consultants, public relations professionals, and association partners, many of whom became friends and provided great story ideas, industry insights, and many laughs along the way.

I also had the fortune to work with some wonderful mentors and scores of phenomenal coworkers and publishing industry professionals over the past three and a half decades.

Over the next few months of this year, I plan to do some PART-TIME consulting work for PFW on our Manufacturing Innovation Awards and Sustainability Excellence Manufacturing Awards. Finally, I am looking forward to getting in some “me” time and continuing my passion for international travel and ballroom dancing.

Thank you for reading ProFood World and Joyce’s Voice.

Joyce Fassl has left the building.

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

CHRISTINE BENSE CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER Ventura Coastal GREG FLICKINGER SENIOR VP, OPERATIONS Green Thumb Industries Inc. JOHN HILKER DIRECTOR OF MANUFACTURING Blommer Chocolate Company VINCE NASTI VP, OPERATIONS Nation Pizza & Foods JIM PRUNESTI VP, ENGINEERING Conagra Brands LISA RATHBURN VP, ENGINEERING T. Marzetti MARK SHAYE VP, ENGINEERING Ken’s Foods TONY VANDENOEVER DIRECTOR, SUPPLY CHAIN ENGINEERING PepsiCo DIANE WOLF FORMER VP OF ENGINEERING AND OPERATIONS Kraft Foods BROOKE WYNN SENIOR DIRECTOR OF SUSTAINABILITY Smithfield Foods JOE ZEMBAS DIRECTOR, ENGINEERING AND TECHNICAL SERVICES The J.M. Smucker Company

jfassl@pmmimediagroup.com 6

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| August 2022 | www.profoodworld.com

7/27/22 12:03 PM

RIBBON/PADDLE/PLOW BLENDERS HANDLE POWDERS TO PASTES

VEE-CONE BLENDERS SANITIZE ULTRA-FAST, THOROUGHLY

FLUIDIZED BED MIXERS BLEND ULTRA-FAST, GENTLY

MUNSON® Ribbon, Paddle and Plow Blenders force agitators through stationary materials, imparting shear needed to reduce agglomerates and blend pastes and slurries. Choose from basic, low cost industrial units to state-of-the-art designs of 304/316 stainless with heating/cooling jackets, liquid spray additions, high-speed choppers/ intensifiers, and finishes to USDA Dairy and other standards. Extreme vessel rigidity allows tight agitatorto-vessel wall tolerances, resulting in a minimum “heel” of residual following discharge. Heavy- and extra-heavy-duty batch and continuous models in capacities from 1 to 1,150 cu ft (.03 to 32 m3).

MUNSON® Vee-Cone Blenders feature smooth internal surfaces free of baffles, shafts and bearings, allowing unobstructed material flow, plus complete discharge through a gate valve for rapid cleaning or sanitizing of the easy-access interior. Uniform blends are typically achieved in 5 to 15 minutes with equal efficiency at fill volumes from 100% to 25% of capacity. Ideal for dry and granular materials, these blenders provide a tumbling action that is gentler than machines that force agitators through stationary material. Options include spray bars for liquid additions, Clean-In-Place (CIP) systems, abrasion-resistant steel construction, ASME-coded jackets and weigh batching accessories.

Unlike Ribbon and Paddle Blenders with a single agitator shaft, MUNSON® Fluidized Bed Mixers feature two shafts with paddles that counter-rotate at higher speeds to fluidize material, achieving homogeneous blends in 10 seconds to 2 minutes. Low shear forces minimize friction with little or no degradation and insignificant heat generation of <0.6°F (1°C). Drop-bottom gates provide rapid discharge with no segregation and minimal residual.

Ideal for short cycles and gentle handling of low- to medium-density powders and fragile flakes 50 lbs/ ft3 ( 800 kg/m3) with or without liquid additions.

Capacities from 0.21 to 283 cu ft (6 L to 8 m3).

WORLD’S FASTEST BLENDING AND CLEAN UP No other bulk solids mixer delivers this unique combination of benefits: 100% Uniform blending and/or liquid additions to 1 ppm in 2-1/2 minutes

Ultra-low energy usage

Total discharge with no segregation

Equal efficiency from 100% to 15% of capacity

Ultra-gentle tumbling action (versus blades forced through batch)

Unlike other rotary mixers: – No internal shaft or seals contacting material – Every internal surface accessible – Significantly faster washdown – Seal changes 10x to 20x faster

Remove lumps and agglomerates from bulk foods, pharmaceuticals and chemicals, or break down glass and other friable materials. Dual rotors with three-point, single-piece breaking heads rotate with minimum clearance inside a curved, perforated bedscreen. On-size material exits through bedscreen apertures from 1/32 to 2-1/2 in.

(0.8 to 63.5 mm) in diameter. The low profile design fits tight spaces between upstream and downstream process equipment, while side-removal bedscreens allow fast, in-place sanitizing. Square or rectangular inlets range from 15 to 48 in. (38 to 122 cm) in width—classifying screen apertures from 1/32 to 2-1/2 in. (0.8 to 63.5 mm) in diameter.

PIN MILLS REDUCE FRIABLE SOLIDS IN CONTROLLED SIZE RANGES

Fast yet gentle 4-way mixing action: fold/tumble/cut/turn

ROTARY BATCH MIXER

©2022 Munson Machinery Co., Inc. MUNSON® is a registered trademark of Munson Machinery Co., Inc.

Also known as Centrifugal Impact Mills, these MUNSON® machines deliver coarse to fine grinding of friable powders, flakes and granules into controlled particle sizes at high rates per HP/kW. High-speed rotation of the inner disc creates centrifugal force that accelerates bulk material entering the central inlet of the opposing stationary disc. As material travels from the center to the periphery of the discs at high speed, it passes through a path of five intermeshing rows of rotating and stationary pins, with the desired tight particle size distribution obtained by controlling the rotor speed.

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ROTARY LUMP BREAKERS REDUCE AGGLOMERATES, FRIABLE MATERIALS

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1/12/22 8:47 AM 7/27/22 10:31 AM

NEWS

IN THE

Coca-Cola Targets Sustainability From Every Angle

Perdue Foods Names Kevin McAdams as President Kevin McAdams has been appointed as chief operating officer of Perdue Farms, as well as president of Perdue Foods.

Most recently, McAdams served as Jack Links’ president, North America.

AARON HAND | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

C

OCA-COLA IS AN ICONIC BRAND—a well-recognized taste in a well-recognized bottle. But when The Coca-Cola Co. aims to make a change to the norms of operation, it’s thinking not only about its flagship beverage and all its variations, but a full range of waters, sparkling beverages, hydration and sports drinks, dairy and plant-based beverages, juices, coffees, teas…

“We have to take all of that into account when building a sustainability plan,” said Cloeann Durham, vice president of quality, safety, and environment for Coca-Cola’s North American Operating Unit. She was speaking to the audience at ISBT’s BevTech meeting in Frisco, Texas. Though CocaCola’s brands are positioned to grow, sustainability is equally important, she noted. “Seeing volume growth is great. But seeing volume growth without sustainability—it can outrun you really fast.”

The sustainability priorities themselves make up no short list either: helping solve the global packaging waste crisis, reducing carbon footprint through science-based targets while building resilience for climate events now and in the future, increasing water security for operations, protecting communities and nature, reducing added sugar across the portfolio while providing consumers with more choices and smaller packaging options, growing a more sustainable supply chain, advancing women and diversity, and supporting human rights.

Coca-Cola has passed several of its environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals and is working toward plans that include 2025 packaging goals, a 2030 climate goal, a new 2030 water strategy, and a streamlined global beverage portfolio. In all of this, having support from the top has been vital. “We have the commitment at the highest level in our company,” Durham says, pointing to James Quincey, chairman and CEO.

Transparency to consumers Transparency—publicly reported sustainability goals as well as accountability on those results—has been instrumental in driving Coca-Cola to continuously improve, Durham noted. The beverage industry has shifted considerably over the years. It’s no longer enough to put together a feel-good TV ad to convince consumers. “Data is all you really have to tell your story,” she says of today’s expectations. “Science-based targeting is offering a different level of transparency.”

Coca-Cola’s sustainable business priorities cross a broad spectrum, but Durham dove a bit deeper into several areas. A significant effort is its World Without Waste initiative, which looks primarily at packaging and how to drive a circular economy to help reduce the carbon footprint of that package.

McCormick to Reduce CO2 Emissions by 86.8 Metric Tons McCormick is partnering with Berry Global to produce 100% post-consumer recycled plastic bottles for its new assorted and neon food color product lines.

The move will reduce associated CO2 emissions by 59% compared with the same bottles made from virgin material.

Mars CEO Grant F. Reid Stepping Down Poul Weihrauch, global president at Mars Petcare, will take on the role of Mars CEO at the end of September.

Post Holdings to Expand Facility Post Consumer Brands is investing up to $110 million to expand the cereal production capacity at its Sparks, Nev., facility.

Conagra Brands Opens New Plant The $300 million, 245,000-sq-ft Waseca, Minn., facility processes vegetables, bought from nearby growers who use programs to help fight climate change, to support the company’s frozen meals business and Birds Eye brand.

www.profoodworld.com

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| August 2022 | PROFOOD WORLD

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IN THE NEWS

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company introduced into the market in 2021 were refilled, collected, or recycled.

Well aware of how climate changes directly impact its operations around the world, Coca-Cola aims to reduce absolute greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 25% by 2030. This is where science-based targeting really comes into play, and there’s been a big shift in how industry now talks about its climate goals, Durham said. “To be really effective, we have to measure differently,” she said. “Science based targeting really has to open you up to a vast new metric.

It requires so many pieces from all of your partners.”

Coca-Cola’s Cloeann Durham details the beverage giant’s sustainability initiatives at ISBT’s annual BevTech meeting.

Protecting water resources

PHOTO BY AARON HAND

One leg of the initiative focuses on the design of the bottle. Coca-Cola has a goal to make 100% of its packaging recyclable by 2025 and use at least 50% recycled material in its packaging by 2030.

The label is a big piece of that discussion, Durham commented, because not all labels are recyclable.

To date, 90% of the company’s packaging is recyclable globally, and it uses 23% recycled material.

About 30 markets offer at least one brand in 100% recycled PET packaging, and four markets use 100% recycled PET for their entire plastic packaging portfolio, she added.

The company also has a new reuse goal for its brand: By 2030, the aim is to have at least 25% of its beverages worldwide by volume sold in refillable or returnable glass or plastic bottles or in fountain dispensers with reusable packaging.

Another leg of this initiative is focused on the recycling efforts themselves. Much of this hinges on educating consumers about how to recycle— not an easy task when the situation in the U.S., for example, is so fluid across the 50 states. “I go from one city to the next, within 5 miles of each other, and the recycling campaign is so vividly different,” Durham commented.

By 2030, Coca-Cola has a goal to collect and recycle a bottle or can for each one it sells. So far, 61% of the equivalent cans or bottles that the

Watch highlights from ISBT’s latest BevTech conference.

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Just as Coca-Cola aims to reduce its carbon footprint, it’s also working to reduce its water footprint. This is a big deal for a company whose products are so largely based on water. The 2030 Water Security Strategy focuses on increasing water security through a context-based approach to water replenishment, advocacy for smart water policies, and responsible water use through all operations and the supply chain.

A huge part of this is improved agricultural management because 92% of Coca-Cola’s blue water use—the surface and groundwater consumed as a result of producing the produce—comes from within its agriculture supply chain. Working to grow a more sustainable supply chain, 58% of Coca-Cola’s priority ingredients volume was sourced sustainably in 2021. The ultimate goal is 100%.

“We need to make sure we’re not negatively affecting the system,” Durham said. “We’re on a path to be 100%. I feel positive about that, but the conversations need to be ongoing.”

The industry is fighting an uphill battle against previous complacency. “We are so behind, folks.

We’ve had opportunities to innovate, and we didn’t take them because it didn’t seem necessary,” she said. “We need to make sure we get ahead of those issues so we’re not negatively impacting sustainability.”

Coca-Cola is working on these initiatives together with its nearly 225 bottling partners in more than 200 countries and territories. Though the beverage giant has vast resources available to it for these kinds of sustainability efforts, and tackling such global issues might seem overwhelming to many, Durham urged audience members to think differently. “Don’t pay so much attention to the numbers, but how you participate,” she said, adding, “We’re all driving the industry. How do we do that together?”

| August 2022 | www.profoodworld.com

7/27/22 12:10 PM

CPG Cobot Use Expected to at Least Double in Next Five Years

T

HE BARRIER BETWEEN ROBOT AND COBOT has continued to blur over time, especially as cobots become more versatile in their overall application and increase their weight tolerances. Some vendors are even exploring dual-mode robots capable of switching between an unguarded cobot mode and a more traditional heavy industrial mode. This blending of capabilities is blurring the line between robots and cobots, with the potential for some robotic deployments to fulfill both roles, according to the PMMI Business Intelligence report, 2022 Robots and Cobots: An Automated Future.

Processing operations Cobots have seen their role in processing steadily expand as IP69k construction standards, artificial intelligence (AI), and enhanced robot vision systems become more common and affordable. Adoption in processing has also accelerated as a result of

COVID-19 restrictions, particularly in the food industry.

In the past few years, robotic capabilities in primary packaging have expanded significantly. With the advent of tactile sensors, AI-supported vision, and innovative end-of-arm tooling, cobots are finding new roles in primary packaging and expanding their reach into new manufacturing markets. An ongoing challenge for manufacturers will be understanding these new capabilities and how to apply them.

Cobots are playing a key role in improving the efficiency of secondary packaging operations. From secondary packaging material handling to visual inspection, robots are driving new levels of efficiency and speed that help manufacturers manage production costs and increase throughput.

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7/27/22 1:03 PM

IN THE NEWS

Food Safety, Sustainability, Convenience Lead Pet Food Efforts AARON HAND | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

T

HE U.S. PET FOOD MARKET is expected to triple in size to $275 billion by 2030. Though the sheer size of the market has pet food manufacturers scrambling to keep up with demand— pushed to automate and innovate amid supply chain and labor difficulties—they are also reacting to a change in the way consumers are caring for their pets. With pets being treated as increasingly important members of the family, demand is rising for higher-quality pet foods.

Aiming to get a better handle on how pet food manufacturers are reacting to a growing and changing market, CRB gathered responses from more than 300 pet food industry leaders. What they found was that manufacturers are investing increasingly in sustainability, food safety, and innovations from a variety of angles.

The COVID-19 pandemic has not slowed the pet food industry in the slightest, according to survey respondents. Consistent with the trends in pet adoption, three-quarters of those surveyed said that the pandemic has increased their intended capital equipment investment. They’re upgrading packaging systems, installing more automation, and rethinking processing to improve efficiencies, quality, and food safety.

There are plenty of challenges—supply chain, inflation, labor availability, aging equipment, inefficiencies, and more—but manufacturers are intent on meeting the changing market head on. “We are calling it their ambitious agenda because there’s a lot going on in this space,” says Tony Moses, director of product innovation at CRB. “And we don’t feel like producers are willing to compromise.”

When CRB asked pet food manufacturers which product attributes mattered most to their customer retention strategies, the answer was: All of them.

Nutrition, taste, sustainability, consistency, ingredients, selling price, value, packaging convenience, appearance, and texture—they’re all vital to attracting and retaining customers.

Key business drivers When CRB asked industry leaders to rank their top business drivers, the assumption based on anecdotal evidence was that the humanization of pet food would rank high, along with issues around sustainability or regulations. Ranked as the top business 12

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driver, instead, were expectations for manufacturing practices and workplace environment.

“We think that that one is so high up because it captures some of that labor availability [which was No. 3 on the list],” Moses says. “We’re seeing anecdotally from some of our clients that expectations for breakrooms have changed, natural light in process areas, even just making sure everything’s clean and that it’s not an unpleasant place to work in is more and more top of mind.”

Coming in at No. 2 were increased pet ownership and therefore product demand. “That’s something that resonates well with what we’re seeing across the industry,” Moses notes. “Humanization was No. 4, so it’s up there, but it’s not the top driver in terms of overall business.”

Trailing not too far behind were inflation pressures, sustainability, and supply chain constraints.

The bottom end of the list—indicating they were of little concern—included access to capital and regulations. The low concern for access to capital is “positive for this industry,” Moses says, “especially since it’s in expansion mode.”

Innovation drivers Product innovation drivers were also somewhat of a surprise. The expectation was that they would reflect the business drivers. Instead, innovation drivers leaned heavily toward features that would resonate with consumer values, including sustainability at No. 1, followed by product consistency, cleaner labels, and considering pets as family.

“This is why we’re saying producers are trying to have it all,” Moses says. “They have a lot of chal-

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lenges in their business environment, but they’re still really chasing product attributes that help their brand more so than their bottom line.”

Conversely, improving product margins, frequently seen as a key innovation driver, fell relatively low among the priorities, along with managing inflation.

“We did this survey in November and December of last year, though, so it’s possible that inflation pressures may have pushed up a little bit more since then,” Moses clarifies.

Sustainability Circling back to the No. 1 product innovation driver, Moses notes that it was a big surprise just how aggressively manufacturers are pursuing sustainability. “Over 90% have net zero/carbon neutrality plans. About 85% of those want to reach that in 10 years, and over half want to reach it in five,” he says. “This was really notable to us that the sustainability targets were so aggressive.”

The sustainability targets are reflected even in the formulation of the pet food. When asked if they were planning to change their protein source, there seemed to be a fair bit of flux in the formulas, Moses says. “The ingredient that looks to be most targeted by producers to replace is animal muscle; 71% of the people that are using animal muscle plan to change that,” he points out. “We think that’s partly a reflection of the cost environment that we’re in, but we also think it’s a reflection of the sustainability targets.”

Animal muscle is not only the most carbonintensive ingredient in most pet food formulations, but there’s also competition for it in the human food space. “So we see that being swapped out for, potentially, animal visceral, which might be a play on upcycling and a little less carbon-intensive, even moving down towards plant-based protein.”

Convenience and selection The pet food industry also has no plans to sacrifice convenience or selection despite the challenging business environment. “We asked, ‘Do you plan to rationalize any SKUs?’ just thinking that’s a way you can boost your capacity—fewer changeovers and cleaning, and better margins, too. That was something we saw during the pandemic; the variety that was being offered was reduced, at least in the human food space,” Moses comments. “Again, we had a vast majority come back and say no, they don’t plan to do that.” That’s driven in part by the humanization trend, CRB hypothesizes, in which people want to offer their pets a variety of flavors.

Of those surveyed, 86% plan to make changes to their packaging, with moves toward resealable

retort pouches and stand-up zipper pouches leading the way. That might be driven in part by food safety, Moses says, but much of it is likely driven by convenience. “We saw a push away from cans and more towards multi-use products that are convenient for the consumer to use,” he says. “The top five options are really about convenience and premiumization rather than margin and throughput.”

Food safety “One of my favorite sections from the report is food safety,” Moses says. “It’s a very positive look on the industry.”

In fact, food safety has come a long way over the past 15 years in response to an evolving regulatory climate—namely, the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). What the survey found was that food safety was not only a top driver of packaging changes, the ability to meet a food safety plan was the top driver of capital projects as well.

Manufacturers are taking several actions to ensure they meet their food safety plans.

Almost half of all respondents indicated that their facilities rely on operational procedures (e.g., protocols to prevent the cross-contamination of raw and cooked food) and facility segregation to ensure safety and quality. Personnel hygiene routines related to Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) rank high as well. Half of the largest companies have dedicated personnel for different production areas, and about one-third of smaller and midsize companies use this method.

“What the industry is doing tends to be pretty expensive things. They’re adopting a lot of bestin-class practices and spending the money to do it,” Moses says. “Again, that shows how serious the industry is about food safety.”

Overall, the pet food industry is advancing quickly, Moses notes, pointing to the use of artificial intelligence to improve operational efficiency and also to how integrated facilities are becoming. By strategically investing in automated technologies, pet food manufacturers will be able to improve existing facilities and optimize future expansions, CRB’s report notes. This will help to address some of today’s most pressing business challenges, including labor availability and inflation.

CRB www.crbgroup.com

Download the full free Horizons: Pet Food Report.

www.profoodworld.com

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OPX INTEL EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT DAN SILEO |

CO-FOUNDER + CHIEF COACH-MANUFACTURING, FSO INSTITUTE

STEPHEN M. PERRY, PH.D. | RUSS BENNETT |

CO-FOUNDER + COACH, FSO INSTITUTE

PLANT MANAGER, FLAGSTONE FOODS

No Man Is an Island, Even in Manufacturing When mission, vision, purpose and values, and lean processes work, incredible results can be achieved. The OpX Leadership Network’s employee engagement characteristics help break down silos and islands of communication in manufacturing operations.

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HEN JOHN DONNE WROTE “No Man Is an Island” in 1624, he probably wasn’t thinking about the need for teamwork, collaboration, and interdependence in modern manufacturing. He was clearly thinking about humans doing better together than in isolation. Yet, this especially holds true for manufacturers seeking to improve productivity by breaking down silos that result in isolation.

Time and again, we have seen functions in manufacturing that work in silos and, in really bad cases, islands. This can happen on the shop floor (e.g., maintenance vs. operations), at the corporate level (e.g., engineering vs. procurement), or between the two departments (e.g., OT and IT). The results are lost productivity and continued cultural dysfunction.

Among the most significant factors contributing to silos and islands are: 1. No common vision, mission, purpose, and values—even if they are stated by the company. If key performance indicators (KPIs) and rewards and recognition systems are in conflict within different functions, it adds to the silo boundaries.

2. No engagement of people at the right level to address and solve issues across the perceived boundaries.

3. No common standard work processes to bridge the divide. Some people can bridge the gap with personality, but they are few and far between. Plus, it takes incredible effort.

Companies will often spend weeks, months, and lots of money creating mission, vision, purpose, and values programs. But once done, are they just statements posted on the wall or distributed in a memo, or are they truly deployed, discussed, and checked for understanding at all levels of the organization? Is

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alignment to a common purpose driven into all levels of the organization? If you’d like fewer boundaries to be a common North Star in your company, try asking a shopfloor worker who has been with the company for several years if he or she can cite at least half of your values and some parts of the company’s mission and vision, or at least the current strategic issue he or she is working on.

Once a company’s mission, vision, and purpose are set, lean manufacturing has processes to develop strategies, play catchball, and deploy execution from the shopfloor up to senior leadership. Two major tools to help do this and break down barriers are Hoshin Kanri for strategic planning and a floor management

CAS E I N P O I NT FSO Institute reached out to Russ Bennett, plant manager at Flagstone Foods, regarding a recent challenge he faced due to silo thinking and what he did to break down those silos for improved productivity.

FSO INSTITUTE: Russ, you recently were involved in a particular situation where productivity was being impeded due to lack of communication, protection of territory, and fear of sharing information. Can you briefly share that story, highlighting the steps you took to overcome these engagement challenges?

RUSS BENNETT: I was the plant senior production manager at the time, and we were having

| August 2022 | www.profoodworld.com

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major quality and throughput issues to the level that they were jeopardizing our relationship with a major customer. The departments within the plant, and even some leadership outside the plant, were not working in concert to deliver the required results. They were more concerned about their individual functional results, which created friction and took away from the energy of the whole facility to move forward.

We hired some engagement coaches from FSO Institute who worked with and taught us not only the lean FMDS process, but how servant leadership within this process can drive characteristics like communication, accountability for self and others, common vision, and cultural fit. We are continuing to learn how to apply the programs as a tool rather than a task in our continuous improvement efforts across all areas.

We lost some people along the way because they

were not a right fit, but we came out stronger at the end, and our retention has been steadily improving when most organizations are struggling to maintain employees. The beauty of what we have done has not only greatly accelerated our cultural growth and results while the coaches were here, we have continued to improve after they left.

That major customer I talked about is now very happy to see the organizational growth and improvements. If you don’t treat the processes and servant leadership as just a program or a task, and rather as a tool to guide the way you operate, sustainment and continued growth will follow. We are a far cry from perfect, but as a team, we utilize the tools we have learned to help guide us to strive to be a little better each day, create wins for those we serve, and bring ever-increasing value to our team and our customers.

www.profoodworld.com

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OPX INTEL EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

display system (FMDS) for improved productivity. Companies can spend lots of money hiring a sensei or building a lean culture that can drive improvement. So, why do we hear about just as many failures or false starts as we do successes, and why do so many companies see it only as a manufacturing or, worse yet, a “plant thing?”

When mission, vision, purpose and values, and lean processes work, we all hear about the incredible results that can be achieved. But why do so many companies struggle? The secret sauce is engagement!

PMMI’s OpX Leadership Network Workforce Engagement Model has 47 characteristics across three pillars to help drive success. Although it is written in terms of the workforce inside a plant, the model can be applied at any level of an organization. A specific example of a characteristic is Enablement: Skills: Self Awareness. We all have seen leaders who are not aware of how they create and strengthen silos and get others to entrench in a position.

Forty-seven characteristics are too many to bite off all at once, but there are a few that focus squarely on removing barriers. It is important that your team select and align with a few characteristics you want to focus on. These characteristics include: • Empowerment: Desire: Team Contribution—To quote Mr. Spock, “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few…or the one.”

• Empowerment: Authority: To Hold Accountable (Self and Others)—I am going to do what I say I will do, and I am going to hold you accountable for doing what you say you will do, regardless of what function you are in.

• Enablement: Skills: Collaborative Thinking—Individuals don’t consistently come up with solutions on their own; they reach “across the aisle” and collaborate on a solution.

• Enablement: Resources: Information—For example, a salesperson hears a customer concern related to production and makes up an answer to appease the customer, but never asks the plant to fix it. If the same problem happens again, the customer and the salesperson are now more frustrated and begin to refer to the plant as “those people,” putting a new brick in the silo wall.

• Connection: Fit: Culture—Does your culture drive compliance (have to) or commitment (want to) in working across boundaries? The first is the minimum and has to be managed daily. The second is self-managed and taps into an employee’s discretionary effort.

• Connect: Communication: Goals and Objectives—Goals and objectives are balanced between metrics, performance, and personal development, and encourages all to cross boundaries of function and level to achieve success.

ABOUT THE OPX INTEL SERIES OF ARTICLES PMMI’s OpX Leadership Network has produced more than 20 manufacturing process-improvement documents

™

for CPGs and OEMs. The FSO Institute has facilitated the adoption and implementation of these documents, especially for food and beverage manufacturers. This series of articles shows how CPGs are using OpX and FSO documents to improve their overall manufacturing health and collaboration with OEMs and other suppliers. Learn more at www.opxleadershipnetwork.org and www.fsoinstitute.com.

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| August 2022 | www.profoodworld.com

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PACKAGING TECHNOLOGY DAVID GREENFIELD |

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, Automation World

Applying Artificial Intelligence to Food Tray Production Food producer apetito uses Neurala’s artificial intelligence technology to automate and optimize visual inspection of meal tray components.

Starting with Raspberry Pi One of the first steps apetito took to automate visual inspections was to apply a Raspberry Pi-based system to monitor one production lane. Photos of good and unacceptable products informed models connected to an output signal in the control system that would push rejects off the line. Without needing a human to do this job, the company saved more than £15,000 (about $17,700) in labor costs per year.

However, the Raspberry Pi system required hundreds of pictures of apetito’s products to be uploaded to a USB drive and then transferred to a computer to train the system over the course of three to four hours. The resulting knowledge then had to be transferred back to the line.

Whenever apetito made changes to its meal production operations to maintain appropriate stock levels, new training processes were required.

Though Rasperry Pi was not scalable or flexible enough for apetito’s needs, it helped the company realize how artificial intelligence (AI) could help apetito save on costs and detect production problems.

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INCE 1958, APETITO has been supplying frozen foods and ready-to-eat meals to schools, nurseries, businesses, hospitals, and retirement homes across Europe and Canada. Production of its meal trays involves placement of different food items into trays for shipping and delivery. Complaints from customers about missing food items from trays led the company to seek an automated approach to final product inspection.

In its initial attempt to correct this problem, apetito began weighing each tray as it came off the production line. However, this did not adequately address the problem because if one food item on the tray was a little heavier than usual, it could falsely account for what was missing. In addition, apetito wanted to address other assembly efficiencies, such as ensuring each lid on its dessert containers was properly crimped and secured.

PHOTO COURTESY OF NEURALA

AI-based inspection Neurala, a supplier of AI-based visual inspection technology, began working with apetito to detect cases of the five most reported missing components from meal trays using Neurala’s Vision Inspection Automation (VIA) software. VIA consists of two software programs, Inspector and Brain Builder. With apetito’s earlier weight-based inspection system, the company could only flag an incomplete tray, without understanding what was missing. With VIA’s ability to inspect multiple regions of interest on the trays, apetito can now see specifically which components are missing and identify trends in missing components to avoid their occurrence in the future.

To date, Neurala and apetito have built 30 AI “brains” across apetito’s plant to detect various food components used in food trays. For example, one brain developed to identify missing Yorkshire pudding components achieved 100% accuracy at the end of testing, assuring apetito could detect their most frequent missing component without fail.

“Throughout this AI-building journey, we’ve spoken with other companies in similar situations and are yet to find anybody in the food industry that is leveraging AI like we are with Neurala,” says Kevin McDonagh, operations manager for apetito.

Neurala www.neurala.com

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Neurala’s Vision Inspection Automation (VIA) software helped apetito build anomalydetecting brains in as little as 10 minutes, thereby discovering what is missing from unique meal trays and identifying trends in missing components.

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SUSTAINABILITY EXCELLENCE IN MANUFACTURING JOYCE FASSL | SENIOR EXECUTIVE EDITOR

The Race to Save the Planet While many consumers look to retailers and product packaging to help them understand sustainability, the winners of ProFood World’s annual Sustainability Excellence in Manufacturing Awards are focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, electricity, and water, as well as food waste and materials management.

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USTAINABILITY IS THE NEW WATCHWORD for a huge and growing band of consumers, according to a June 2022 report from PMMI titled “Achieving Packaging Sustainability.” The ongoing green movement presents an opportunity for busi-

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nesses facing increasing competitive and economic pressures to gain value in competitive advantage as they respond to environmental concerns and the pressures of resource scarcity, population growth, and higher and more varied consumer expectations.

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Perhaps unfairly, the packaging industry is seen as one of the worst environmental offenders, the PMMI report states. At a recent Top to Top event held in Florida, PMMI hosted roundtables with participants from across the packaging value chain. Participants indicated that it’s not just CPGs that should be implementing sustainability strategies. OEMs also have a crucial part to play in energy savings. In fact, a current hot topic in Europe is a carbon footprint rating for each new machine. Download the PMMI report at pfwgo.to/nRThI. Overall, the message from participants at the Top to Top meeting is that it’s all about the collaboration between CPGs, material suppliers, and OEMs as they plan ahead for the next generation of packaging materials.

However, while consumers continue to seek sustainable products, they may not be willing to pay the price, according to a recent report from market research firm AMC Global and OpinionRoute, a company that provides insights into process management. These survey results say that many consumers want sustainably produced and sourced products, but price remains the top consideration when making purchasing decisions. According to AMC Global, consumers believe these products are more expensive than their mainstream counterparts, and recent inflation and price increases are making affordability a key concern. In addition, a high percentage of respondents say it is hard to tell which brands are sustainable and which are not.

While 43% of people believe it is worth it to pay more for sustainable products, 66% say they can’t afford to do so due to recent price increases across the board. You can learn more about AMC’s “Importance of Sustainability” report at pfwgo.to/tpRoA. While consumers often look to retailers and product packaging to guide them on sustainability, the winners of ProFood World’s annual Sustainability Excellence in Manufacturing Awards are focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, electricity, and water, as well as food waste and materials management. Following are the six 2021 Program and Project Category winners.

FIRST PLACE

PROGRAM CATEGORY

No-cost Project Yields $1 Million Payback for Conagra Brands The Oakdale, Calif., Conagra Brands facility makes Hunt’s and Ro-Tel brands, and other food products.

Over the past year, the facility’s cross-functional team made excellent progress in reducing food waste. The team implemented a comprehensive plan and problem-solving program throughout 2021 to eliminate ingredient loss points for both jalapeños and tomatoes.

PHOTO COURTESY OF CONAGRA BRANDS

The program addressed three causes of jalapeño waste (spoiled ingredients, batch planning, and fill controls) and two processes for tomato waste (peelers and fillers). As a result, the plant utilized 650,000 lb of jalapeño and 13.8 million lb of tomato raw ingredients compared to 2020, which reduced the site’s solid waste footprint by about 10%.

“By manufacturing food ingredients more efficiently, we are using utilities more efficiently,” says Kate Pitschka, director of supply chain sustainability, pointing to Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. “We are also moving a significant portion of the site’s food waste up in the recovery hierarchy from animal feed and compost.”

The plant is located in a high water-risk region, and eliminating some of the organic load being sent to wastewater operations is reducing some stress on the region’s water cycle. By eliminating food waste, the facility is reducing the amount of Scope 3 GHG emissions (EPA WARM and Biogenic) that the food waste would create downstream.

Teams were established during March to May 2021, project scopes were defined within one to two months, and specific projects were implemented between July and October 2021, resulting in a 4% jalapeño yield improvement and a 1.8% tomato yield improvement.

“Savings were strictly through better use of available equipment resources and process improvements, with limited costs,” explains Pitschka.

The Oakdale cross-functional team delivered a $471,000 jalapeño yield loss reduction (spoiled ingredients, under net weight rejections, and overfill) and a $730,000 tomato yield loss reduction. These calculations do not include the energy cost savings associated with treating the food waste going to wastewater, nor the hauling costs of the solid waste.

The team discovered that of the 650,000 lb of jalapeño waste, 236,300 lb were from spoiled jalapeño ingredients, resulting in a 4% year-over-year yield improvement and an elimination of all spoiled ingredients in 2021. www.profoodworld.com

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Conagra Brands’ Oakdale, Calif., facility created a cross-functional team that made excellent progress in reducing food waste.

Download the 2022 PMMI white paper, “Achieving Packaging Sustainability.”

| August 2022 | PROFOOD WORLD

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SUSTAINABILITY EXCELLENCE IN MANUFACTURING

In 115 days, 6,900 tons of recovered tomato losses were achieved, representing a 1.8% yield loss improvement year over year. This tomato waste was going through a wastewater treatment system where solids are separated and sent to animal feed.

“It is difficult to fully quantify the full comparison because of increasing production and some of this existing waste weight stayed in the water cycle, but the amount of solid waste produced by the site decreased significantly during these specific months,” states Shelley Huskey, environmental manager. In the end, about 10% of the site’s total solid waste was eliminated from the prior year.

Programs like this have been implemented at other Conagra facilities, but the Oakdale team had to use problem-solving concepts and apply them to their lines, equipment, and circumstances. “More specifically, the foundational knowledge comes from the Conagra Performance System principles,” says Huskey.

Any manufacturing facility could implement the concepts of this type of problem solving, but like the Oakdale team, they will need to adjust it to meet their site-specific losses. “Often in a manufacturing setting, it is difficult to get past the reactionary mindset because of all the urgent issues that tend to arise, but it is crucial to shift to a proactive mindset in order to address problems like these,” Huskey adds.

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PROGRAM CATEGORY

Bob’s Red Mill Focuses on Wasted Food Rescue and Materials Management Committed to creating a sustainable future while inspiring joy with wholesome foods, Bob’s Red Mill Natural Products fosters nourishing a healthy planet. One of the company’s main goals is reducing food loss from farm to fork through wasted food rescue. “By rescuing unavoidable scrap, we are avoiding climate emissions that would occur downstream,” says Julia Person, sustainability manager for Bob’s Red Mill. “We donate food to

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COURTESY OF CONAGRA BRANDS

SECOND PLACE

Food waste is greatly reduced at Conagra Brands’ Oakdale facility through better use of equipment and process improvements.

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PHOTO COURTESY OF BOB’S RED MILL

Bob’s Red Mill employees intercepted product from the waste stream and were trained to identify donatable items.

local non-profits, as well as send inedible product to animal feed. Another way we are furthering this work is by joining the Pacific Coast Food Waste Commitment to collectively work with other food businesses to cut food waste in half by 2030.”

The Milwaukie, Ore.-based company’s materials management focus extends beyond food waste to refuse, reduce, reuse, and recycle the maximum possible material flow at the plant, with a goal to reach zero waste. At Bob’s Red Mill, wasted food rescue and materials management programs have helped reduce operations costs for the employee-owned company and have a positive impact, both environmentally and socially, in the local community.

“In 2021, we kept over 385,000 lb of edible food from going to waste, upcycled 2,293 tons as animal feed instead of landfill or compost waste, and recycled more than 1,600 tons of materials such as cardboard, plastic, metal, and wood,” states Person. “Our food donations help provide healthy, wholesome food to those in need in our surrounding community.” Through donations to the Oregon Food Bank network, Bob’s Red Mill provided 161,521 meals to those experiencing hunger in 2021. It donated rescued food to four main organizations in the Portland, Ore., metro area—Oregon Food Bank, The Canby Center, Sunshine Division, and Gleaners of Clackamas County.

| August 2022 | www.profoodworld.com

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SUSTAINABILITY EXCELLENCE IN MANUFACTURING

In 2021, Bob’s Red Mill’s recycling diversion rate, or rate of materials diverted from the landfill, was 90.8%; 4,201 tons of materials were recycled or upcycled. “While we would practice the food waste rescue and recycling programs regardless of ROI, the programs were able to generate net revenue in 2021,” explains Person. “This revenue figure is after waste disposal costs are subtracted.”

The company saw costs for manpower and waste disposal, but generated value for baled cardboard, baled plastic film, reused pallets, recycled metal, and upcycled feed.

The project timeline was approximately two months to collect data from a variety of sources and an additional two months to onboard a new commodity recycler and feed upcycling company.

In addition, uncalculated savings for this program included reduced carbon emissions related to food waste not reaching the landfill or compost facility.

“In total with upcycling, reuse, and recycling efforts, we diverted 4,201 tons (8,402,599 lb) in 2021,” Person says. “Knowing that our local community needs nutritious food, we connected with non-profits to get our rescued food donated. In addition, in 2021, we examined our feed upcycling program and found opportunities for improvement by working with a new partner to ensure the maximum amount of feed is upcycled.”

With the start of its official sustainability program in 2021, Bob’s Red Mill measured its baseline and collected information on all materials flow. Person says having this data lets the company know what it is not yet diverting from the landfill and focus on improvements.

Bob’s Red Mill set up processes with machine operators to intercept product from the waste stream and trained the material handling team to identify donatable items. For scrap product going to the animal feed stream, Person recommends thoroughly vetting any sustainability partners to ensure that material flow is timely, and communication is strong.

THIRD PLACE

PROGRAM CATEGORY

Pizza Yield Improvement Project at Conagra Brands Comes With No Cost Conagra Brands’ Troy, Ohio, team implemented a comprehensive continuous improvement program on the site’s bakery line when running pizza, and have set up new process and operating standards, organization, and line planning. Ongoing efforts are expected to deliver more than $325,000 in cost savings by reducing yield loss by 13.4% and eliminating 267,000 lb of meat, cheese, and breading waste.

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PHOTO COURTESY OF CONAGRA BRANDS

Conagra Brands’ Troy, Ohio, team has strong foundational knowledge on the Conagra Performance System principles and effectively applied it to a pizza bakery line.

efficiently will allow us to use water and energy resources [Scope 1 and 2 GHG] more efficiently,” says Kate Pitschka, director of supply chain sustainability. “However, they are not directly quantified in this submission. Also, by eliminating food waste, we reduce the amount of Scope 3 GHG emissions [EPA WARM] that the food waste would create downstream.”

Meat toppings process and planning analysis took six months and concluded in August 2021; cheese process and planning improvements took five months and concluded in November 2021; extra toppings and cheese reuse took one month to implement in September 2021; and over a two-month period, employees’ continuous improvement skills were developed, beginning in November 2021.

The reduction of the weight average per case is forecasted to deliver annualized savings of more than $325,000.

“Programs similar to this have been implemented at other Conagra facilities, but the Troy team is one of the most effective,” Pitschka explains. “They have strong foundational knowledge on the Conagra Performance System principles and applied it to their bakery line, equipment, and staffing circumstances.”

“Any manufacturing facility can implement the problem-solving tools used in our continuous improvement program, but it would take a long time to develop the continuous improvement culture like we have at the Troy facility,” says Plant Manager Jeff Erwin. “For example, it would take another facility with a less-developed culture many months instead of just the two months it took us,” he adds. The Troy facility demonstrated that it is worth investing in the development of all team members.

| August 2022 | www.profoodworld.com

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SUSTAINABILITY EXCELLENCE IN MANUFACTURING

SECOND PLACE

PROJECT CATEGORY

Switch to Plastic Combos at Smithfield Foods Is an Environmental Winner

PHOTO COURTESY OF CONAGRA BRANDS

Staff at Conagra Brands’ Irapuato, Mexico, facility implemented a water and chemical savings project that saved the facility close to $50,000.

FIRST PLACE

PROJECT CATEGORY

Conagra Facility Saves Nearly 9 Million Gallons of Water The main objective of the project at Conagra Brands’ Irapuato, Mexico, plant was the reduction of water consumption. In this project, two specific situations were considered: • Identification of water leaks and improvements in the sweet corn process and canning process equipment.

• Completing sanitation more efficiently on various lines to reduce the consumption of cleaning chemicals, resulting in greater production line availability. Also, some of the sweet corn equipment required a redesign to eliminate or make more efficient use of water.

Reducing water consumption is a benefit for the entire community since the plant is located in an area with limited water availability. By improving the operating conditions of its wastewater treatment facility and discharge parameters, the water can be reused for farmland irrigation.

“The corn/cannery production improvements were completed over seven months, finishing in September 2022, and the sanitation improvements were completed from April 2021 to May 2021,” says Fernando Alcántar Gómez, EHS manager. “Both projects resulted in an 8% reduction in water use per production year over year, with ROI in less than a month.”

The project returned more than 10 times its cost, saved nearly 9 million gal of water, and reduced chemical usage by 2,680 gal.

“With a cross-functional team and advice from prior facility projects, the Irapuato site was able to implement these projects with ease and maintain the quality of our food products,” states Alcántar.

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Early in 2021, Smithfield Foods’ Milan, Mo., plant started sending out hams for further processing, transporting them in cardboard combos. The facility quickly realized it could save money and reduce cardboard usage by using reusable plastic combos.

Less than 30 days into the project, the plant ordered 720 plastic reusable combos. On average, the Milan facility ships 100 combos of hams per day. “Although 720 plastic combos are not enough to replace every cardboard combo we ship, it will reward us with a 50% reduction in cardboard usage,” says Wes Maulsby, wastewater operator at the Milan facility.

The combo project’s goal included: • Reducing GHG emissions—Cardboard savings can be directly related to the release of methane, a GHG, as it breaks down in a landfill. Per ton released, methane will contribute to global warming at a pace more than that of carbon dioxide.

• Reducing water usage—Using less cardboard creates less demand and reduces manufacturing water usage.

• Reducing energy—Fuel sources to manufacture cardboard are no longer needed.

• Reducing global warming—Deforestation is a huge contributor to global warming. The facility can save 17 trees per ton of corrugated cardboard savings, and every eight pallets saved will yield one saved tree.

PHOTO COURTESY OF SMITHFIELD FOODS

At Smithfield Foods’ Milan, Mo., facility, the switch from cardboard to reusable plastic combos is expected to save $1.3 million over the next five years.

| August 2022 | www.profoodworld.com

7/27/22 1:27 PM

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SUSTAINABILITY EXCELLENCE IN MANUFACTURING

• Reducing landfill—For every ton of cardboard savings, landfill area can be cut by 9 yd3.

The project was completed in the first quarter of 2021, when the Milan plant shipped the first hams for further processing. In February 2021, the facility received its first load of plastic reusable combos and, in March 2021, shipped the first load of hams in reusable combos.

The Milan facility expects to save more than $1.3 million over the next five years employing reusable combos. “We use this mindset of reusable combos vs. cardboard combos whenever applicable,” explains Maulsby.

But not all applications will accommodate the conversion to plastic combos. “When it can be used, it is very cost-effective for this company and beneficial to our environment,” Maulsby states.

Pitfalls may include logistics, he adds. “We have more than enough combos to ship all of our product on a seven-day rotation, if we receive our plastic combos back within seven days. Logistics is key to keeping our plastic combos in circulation. If we can receive all combos back within a timely manner, we can easily increase cardboard savings.”

THIRD PLACE

PROJECT CATEGORY

Conagra Brands’ Blast Cell Air Optimization Project Reaches ROI in Less Than a Year Degradation of freezer blast cells was resulting in improper airflow and inefficiency of the blast cell function at Conagra Brands’ Marshall, Mo., facility. Repairs were made to air segregation, and baffle design was changed to reduce potential damage from the forklift loading process.

Meet the Winners at PACK EXPO Las Vegas

The 2021 Sustainability Excellence in Manufacturing Award winners will present more details on their projects at a special session during PACK EXPO International in Chicago. Join us Sunday, Oct. 23 at 4 p.m. at the Processing Innovation Stage at McCormick Place’s Lakeside Center Building Concourse near Starbucks in booth LU-7130.

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ProFood World wants to hear about your current sustainability projects. The submission deadline and eligibility requirements for the 2022 Sustainability Excellence in Manufacturing Awards will be announced this fall at pfwgo.to/sema.

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PHOTO COURTESY OF CONAGRA BRANDS

The staff at Conagra Brands’ Marshall, Mo., plant discovered and repaired sources of significant energy waste in the freezing operation.

“Baffles were added at the back of each rack column in the blast cells to force the airflow through the product pallets to improve the heat transfer of the freezer,” explains Scottie McKenzie, plant engineering manager. “This reduces the freeze time, lowers electricity consumption, and increases plant capacity.”

The project will reduce the plant’s electricity consumption by 5.7% and reduce the plant’s Scope 2 GHG footprint by almost 1,300 metric tons.

“Efficiency projects like this will be an important piece of the entire company’s science-based target,” he adds.

In September 2021, a freezer evaluation uncovered inefficiencies in the blast cells. Contractors installed baffles inside the blast cells in November 2021, and performance monitoring occurred in December 2021. The project paid for itself in less than one year.

At the Marshall facility, product requiring freezing is estimated at 500,000 lb/day. Now the plant has seen a 10% reduction in freeze time, a 5.7% total site electricity reduction, and an overall reduction in kWh/lb usage. The result is a yearly savings of more than $200,000.

“This project would be worth looking into for any cold storage facility, specifically where blast cells are loaded using forklifts,” says McKenzie.

Identifying potential damage could be a way to uncover sources of significant energy waste.

“Training to specifically not damage the entryway would be something that could be avoided at other facilities,” he adds.

| August 2022 | www.profoodworld.com

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TECH TODAY PLANT-BASED PROTEINS AARON HAND | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Finding the Right Mix for

PLANT-BASED A

Both ingredient suppliers and CPGs are trying to discover the right proteins for the job as they play with plant-based formulations to get the taste, texture, mouthfeel—and scalability—they’re looking for.

T

HOUGH IT’S A VERY SMALL percentage of people that label themselves as vegan or even vegetarian, there’s no mistaking the tsunami of support from consumers to move in the general direction of plant-based diets. “There’s a shift away from the animal-derived system we’re dealing with now,” says Christian Flinn of the Plant Based Foods Association. “This is related to health as well as planetary and environmental concerns.”

The plant-based market has grown 54% since 2018, Flinn notes, and grew 28% in 2020 alone.

Plant-based milks are seen as the growth engine for the entire plant-based industry, he adds, with 42% of households purchasing plant-based milks in 2021.

The numbers aren’t nearly as high for plant-based meat alternatives—only 19% of households purchased meat analogues in 2021, up slightly from 15% in 2019, Flinn notes. Shoppers are trying to align purchases with values, and align themselves with choices that are healthier for both them and the environment.

But if they can’t align those purchases with their bottom line, it’s going to continue to be a difficult sell. Price parity will be key for the plant-based protein sector to really take off. Optimizing production systems, throughput, and energy will be vital to getting costs more in line with traditional offerings.

PHOTO COURTESY OF CLEXTRAL

According to a survey-based analysis of the market

by CRB presented at the most recent Process Expo, manufacturers seem to be able to get by on the idea that plant-based foods are a sustainable choice in themselves. “The industry is counting on the plantbased claim to communicate sustainability,” says Tony Moses, director of product innovation at CRB. “Sustainability really is at the core, but we think the industry is missing opportunities to produce sustainably.”

For plant-based production, equipment tends to be the key cost driver, CRB’s report showed, and energy and water consumption were the lowest cost driver. But this is not a reason for celebration, Moses notes. “It concerns us that it isn’t driving development work,” he says.

But it’s not only higher throughput from the production equipment that would help to bring costs

Environmental or economic sustainability?

It is somewhat unclear how much importance plantbased food manufacturers put on sustainability.

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s

The plant-based industry has progressed from burgers to imitating whole cuts of meat. This chicken breast analogue is made through extrusion.

| August 2022 | www.profoodworld.com

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x

D ALTERNATIVES down. Saving energy and water in the manufacturing process would go a long way to meeting those goals as well.

Consumer food producers might have room to reach high-value niche markets.

But in the commodity-driven space of food and feed, ingredient manufacturers have little control over price. “So the only way that they can ensure economic sustainability, and therefore their profit margins, they have to focus on their cost of operation, which is where value engineering and optimizing their manufacturing processes system is critical,” says Greg See Hoye, market manager for the plant-based protein industry for Dedert.

“And that’s where their equipment manufacturers can come in.”

Drying the protein Throughput isn’t the only way to bring costs down, See Hoye emphasizes, pointing to energy costs and water consumpPHOTO COURTESY OF BEPEX tion as significant pain points. In this An alternative to spray drying, which requires the protein to be in liquid form, direction, Dedert has been working on Bepex’s PCX Flash Dryer is a dispersion-type dryer that accepts wet cakes, various protein drying technologies as pastes, or slurries. alternatives to the typical spray dryer.

Wet fractionation is well established very difficult protein to dry. And in that time period, for yielding high purity rates from proteins. But it we’ve gone through many iterations of that techalso creates a need for drying the protein again at nology until it’s gotten to the point it is at today— the back end. Thermal drying is very energy-intenwhere we started small scale, then bigger industrial sive, and spray drying—creating a liquid product to scale, and now super industrial scale,” See Hoye then bring it all the way down to a powder—leads to explains. “I want to take that same technology and high costs of operation. apply it to pea protein. Why wouldn’t it work? It’s At this year’s Plant-Based Foods & Proteins just a different crop source.”

Summit in Chicago, See Hoye presented some Dedert is also proposing improvements to the alternatives, including a ring dryer that would spray dryer itself, including using a rotary atomizer reduce the cost of drying by 30 to 40%. instead of a nozzle atomizer. “A nozzle atomizer “The technology that I’m proposing with ring requires a high-pressure pump, which has a holdup drying is already well established for over 20 to 30 capacity, and therefore is difficult to clean,” See years in the wheat industry. Wheat gluten is a very, www.profoodworld.com

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| August 2022 | PROFOOD WORLD

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TECH TODAY PLANT-BASED PROTEINS

Taking advantage of existing equipment

PHOTO COURTESY OF CLEXTRAL

As a typical bottleneck, wet extrusion is seen as a key place to make improvements in plant-based throughput.

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Hoye says. “So for food safety and food-grade specifications, maintenance might be a challenge.”

The rotary dryer, conversely, is easy to use and maintain, he adds.

Bepex has a different approach. “We have a drying technology that can take a material with less water in it that a spray dryer can’t really—a viscous paste—and dry it down to a final form,” says Jack Keeney, executive director of sales and marketing for Bepex. “This allows our customers to get the same product they’re looking for but at a fraction of the operating costs. It’s a smaller footprint, less emissions, and less water.”

Bepex’s PCX Flash Dryer is a dispersion-type dryer that accepts wet cakes, pastes, or slurries and dries them to a fine powder or small granules. The PCX is able to dry dewatered, non-pumpable wet cakes, significantly reducing the size and operating cost of the overall system.

Spray dryers work by atomizing the protein material to then feed it into the dryer. The protein needs to be highly diluted so that it can be fed through a high-pressure spray nozzle to atomize it into a mist.

Within the plant-based realm, Bepex’s flash dryers are used for drying proteins, as well as byproducts such as starches and fibers, from a wide variety of plants, including soy, pea, fava beans, pulses, and lentils. “To get high-quality proteins, there’s a lot of separation, a lot of water, and you separate fiber and starch from that as well,” Keeney says.

“Any mechanical separation our customers can do upstream of our dryer is only going to make their process more economical because it usually costs less to mechanically separate instead of putting thermal natural gas BTUs in use as we are. If you can squeeze the moisture out, it’s going to cost a lot less than using hot air to remove it.”

In many ways, there’s no need for plant-based food producers to reinvent the wheel. “Proteins have been being dried for decades,” Keeney says. “We’re just trying to dry it in similar ways to traditional methods.” Bepex’s roots, for example, go back to the grain industry of the early 1900s. The plantbased protein industry can look to traditional vegetable or grain processing, for example.

“Manufacturers’ requirements, overall, are the same as all food processing requirements: consistent quality product, reliability, flexibility to manage multiple SKUs such as ingredient variation and machine configuration, food safety concerns being addressed by hygienically designed equipment, smart technology, and higher capacities,” comments John Barber, USA/Canada sales manager for Clextral USA. Other equipment suppliers make similar assertions. At the Plant-Based Summit, both Flottweg and GEA discussed the suitability of their existing equipment lines for plant-based processing.

GEA’s Mission 26, presented in the latter part of 2021, is a five-year financial plan that focuses in part on sustainability, innovations, and new foods such as plant-based, cell-based, and insect-based proteins. “We’ve combined all product lines to specifically focus on plant proteins,” Mark Braun, international business development manager for GEA, told the plant-based industry audience. “We’ve combined all our product lines to specifically focus on plant proteins. A whole division was created to support you guys. We’re taking all our expertise and applying it to your specific needs.” GEA’s range of spray drying, evaporators, decanters, separators, extruders, and more cover 80% of the required process equipment for the industry, he adds.

Focused on wet fractionation, Flottweg provides decanters, centrifuges, and other parts of the line for a wide variety and ever-growing lineup of crops, notes Mathias Aschenbrenner, sales engineer for Flottweg.

Where plant-based protein manufacturers often need extra help, however, is the fact that many of them are small start-up companies that might not have the funds or expertise to ramp up production.

Zeppelin makes a range of equipment for both the ingredient manufacturers and food producers—bulk handling systems, rehydration equipment, blending systems—giving it a view on the industry as a whole. “A lot of these companies are very small, so they kind of need start-up systems, so that’s what we’re providing them: Here’s your first phase, get the bulk ingredients that you use the most of and get those automated, and then here’s your phase two and phase three approach,” says Lisa Arato, sales

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TECH TODAY PLANT-BASED PROTEINS

PHOTO COURTESY OF BÜHLER

Bühler’s recently released PolyCool 1000 cooling die works in combination with an extruder to produce wet-textured proteins.

engineer for Zeppelin. We try to look at that and provide them that type of plan for the future.”

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| August 2022 | www.profoodworld.com

PROFOOD WORLD

Plant-based needs Though they share a lot of the same manufacturing concerns as traditional food producers, manufacturers of plant-based foods that are meant to mimic animal meat add a few other challenges to the mix: overall product appearance, texture, mouthfeel, flavor, and color all must be perfected to find success with consumers, Barber notes.

Having worked in fruits and vegetables for over 20 years, Dave Reynolds, sales and business development manager for Bühler’s protein solutions and ingredients group, has watched the transition as some of those produce items have become ingredients for plant-based alternative meats, cheeses, etc. “It’s been a pretty good swing of integrating a lot of the traditional ingredients into some of these mainstream burger patties and chicken, and getting their ingredients into some of the soy- and peabased products,” he says.

It’s not just about soy and pea proteins these days. At this year’s IFT First—an exhibit focused on innovation—plant-based stole the show, with companies showing off proteins from chickpeas, mung beans, fava beans, algae, and more. There are a lot of decisions to be made when choosing ingredients designed for a plant-based product to replicate a meat product. What has the right taste might not have the right texture. Or what worked in a lab might not work as well when scaled up.

“The choice of the ingredients in the formulation is crucial for the success of plant-based foods. The functionalities provided by the protein are directly related to their source, their internal composition content, and the process that has been used to concentrate or isolate the protein,” Barber says.

“After choosing those ingredients, the best way is to test them through an extruder to see their ability to create the expected fibration, expansion, texture, aspect, and more.”

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A lot of researchers and start-up companies start with a good base, certain ingredients that they want to use, Reynolds comments.

“Then we work with them to try to figure out—OK, going from making a couple of patties into making 6,000 patties or scaling them up from kitchen to commercial,” he says. “Do they want a product that is shelf stable? Or do they want to go straight to the frozen food or the meat section? Or is there a combination of both? A lot of where we fall in is trying to adapt and combine that capacity and the texture and the taste at those high rates so that they can sell it.”

The protein ingredients themselves have become a big business, with several startups realizing how expensive a full finished product line can be to develop. Instead, they focus on providing ingredients with good functionality to the larger finished goods companies.

Beyond the burger It’s not just the ingredients that are evolving. The plant-based products that were entering the market three or four years ago were largely burger formats like the Impossible and Beyond burgers. To make those, food producers would use the texturized vegetable protein (TVP) created with dry extrusion processes, rewet them, and add other ingredients to then form into burgers. These days, though, the Holy Grail of plant-based meat alternatives is to come up with analogues to whole cuts of meat. “The biggest thing is who’s going to come up with the best whole muscle—a steak, breast, chop, what have you,” comments John Sheehy, global key account manager for plant-based foods at Coperion K-Tron.

That’s a whole different beast than ground beef analogues. It requires a shift from dry extrusion to high-moisture extrusion. Instead of a typical shelf life of years for the TVP, the product that comes from wet extrusion has to be treated more like real meat, with refrigeration, freezing, and post-processing that goes along with it, Reynolds notes.

But high-moisture extrusion also has throughput and size limitations that dry extrusion doesn’t face.

“The high-moisture product, when it leaves the extruder, it’s only about 4.5 in. wide and maybe 0.6 in. thick,” Sheehy says. “The big push in the industry is to increase the capacity of the cooling die. Right now, it’s the bottleneck.”

It’s no trivial matter what type of protein formulation you ultimately decide on. Most systems will be modified to accommodate that specific recipe.

Sheehy comments on just a few of the considerations for extruders: “The biggest thing you’re going to have to change is the inside of the barrel

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of the extruder. You have two twin rotating screws, or co-rotating screws. Inside there, the pressure and temperature can be adjusted based upon the process. A lot of times there’s anywhere from six to 13, 14 barrel sections, depending on the products,” he explains. “You can change the screw elements too. You can move the product faster or slower through the barrels, you could do a backfeed, so you push it back the other way.”

Collaboration drives the industry forward For a cereal or pet food processing plant, it’s not difficult for an equipment supplier like Bühler to take care of a full line. “With the protein side, there are so many variations and so much technology and R&D going into this alternative protein market, we have to rely more on our partners,” Reynolds says. “Collaboration has been the key. A few years ago, we wouldn’t even publish an article about what we’re doing. And now, there’s a press release every other week about a partnership or a collaboration going on.”

This summer, Bühler announced a partnership with Flottweg to offer a full value chain of equipment for the plant-based protein market. The cooperation combines Flottweg’s wet fractionation

expertise with Bühler’s dry process expertise to offer customers integrated solutions and optimized processes.

Bühler has partnered considerably with Germany’s DIL (Deutsches Institut für Lebensmitteltechnik) on the next generation of extruded meat substitutes, including work on a high-capacity cooling die for the extrusion process.

Cooling dies work with extrusion technology to create meat or fish substitute structures and textures that closely resemble animal-based meat products.

“The cooling die has always been the bottleneck, and that’s where a lot of the development has gone into,” Reynolds says.

Getting all the players working together is one of the best ways to help manufacturers optimize production and keep costs down, according to See Hoye. Dedert is trying to spearhead just such a movement, looking for the network connections between the various equipment suppliers to create more of an ecosystem.

Start-ups struggle to get help Collaboration extends, of course, to customers. In the plant-based industry, it is very common for man-

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ufacturers to need some help getting their product from the lab to production. Clextral, which has been developing both high- and low-moisture extrusion processes for fibrated proteins for more than 30 years, has been helping its customers scale the technology to an industrial level, Barber says.

“It’s not only a question of equipment—the product expertise and process know-how are key to reach the best fibrated proteins, and the snacks demanded, from plants and alternative protein sources,” he says. “In addition, we conduct research in cooperation with universities, government entities, and food industry partners around the globe.

So when a processor comes to us for R&D or tests, we are able to start at a higher level that can typically shorten the product development cycle.”

Given the investment needed for start-up companies to get equipped enough to scale up production, many are turning to co-manufacturers for help. But getting the help needed is not always easy. “The traditional co-manufacturers are already busting at the seams and expanding and trying to keep up with their previous demands,” Reynolds says “A lot of these smaller companies are looking for co-mans,” Sheehy says. “And I’ll tell you what:

The ZSK Food Extruder with Coperion K-Tron Screw Feeder is used to produce plant-based proteins.

PHOTO COURTESY OF COPERION K-TRON

I know where the co-mans are, but none of them have machine time.”

With that in mind, Coperion is working with as many customers as it can to help them test out new products and get scaled up. “One of our goals in the next year is to really increase our testing capabilities for our customers to develop new products and also to scale up to manufacturing levels,” Sheehy says.

Bepex www.bepex.com

Coperion K-Tron www.coperion.com

Flottweg www.flottweg.com

Bühler www.buhlergroup.com

CRB www.crbgroup.com

GEA www.gea.com

Clextral www.clextral.com

Dedert www.dedert.com

Zeppelin Systems www.zeppelin-systems.com

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Dry Processing SOLUTIONS

CASE STUDY MAYORGA ORGANICS MELISSA GRIFFEN | CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

Conveying System Streamlines Coffee Production After streamlining its supply chain, Mayorga Organics needed to improve the efficiency of its production, reducing manual labor and saving time with immediate packaging.

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OOD AND BEVERAGE processing companies are always looking for ways to reduce manual labor and increase production output. Mayorga Organics—a coffee producer that offers 30 different roasts obtained through family-owned Latin American coffee bean farmers—is no different.

Mayorga has already streamlined part of its process by purchasing directly from the farmers, bypassing supply chain complexities and simultaneously striving to alleviate systemic poverty through the direct trade of artisanal organic foods in Latin America.

“We produce a product that is sustainable, not only for the planet, but for the PHOTO COURTESY OF MAYORGA ORGANICS people growing it as well,” says Erin Dall, president and COO of Mayorga.

But Mayorga found that after streamlining its positions a bag-lifting frame immediately above supply chain, the processing side needed to folthe bag, allowing an operator to slide the bag’s low suit. Founded in 1997 and headquartered in four lifting straps into Z-Clip strap holders, and the Rockville, Md., the company opened a new 42,000forklift to lift the frame—with suspended bag—into sq-ft roasting and packaging facility in Miami to receiving cups atop the discharger’s frame posts. produce its premier product, Café Cubano Roast The discharger houses a bulk bag spout interface organic coffee, in vacuum-sealed brick packs. The chute with an integral access door. With the bulk company saw this new facility as an opportunity bag in position, the operator opens this door to gain to increase production efficiency with up-to-date access to the bulk bag spout tie. Once the spout has technology to transfer coffee beans from the roastbeen untied, the access door is closed while roasted er to the grinder and to the packaging line. beans are discharged from the bulk bag.

To accomplish this task, Mayorga installed a The beans flow from the bulk bag into an 8 ft3 bulk handling system comprised of two bulk bag floor hopper, which charges a 15-ft model 1350 dischargers, three flexible screw conveyors, and a flexible screw conveyor inclined at 45 degrees to bulk bag filler, all from Flexicon. The system was feed the grinder. The 3.5-in. diameter enclosed installed when the new facility was built in 2019. conveyor tube prevents product and plant contamination. The inner screw is the only moving part contacting material and is driven by an elecFrom roaster to grinder to packaging tric motor positioned beyond the point where cofThe roasted coffee beans are discharged from the fee beans exit the conveyor, preventing material roaster into open-top bulk bags and delivered to a contact with seals.

BFF Bulk-Out bulk bag discharger. A forklift then www.profoodworld.com

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Mayorga Organics produces and sells organic coffee and other products sourced directly from local farmers in Latin America.

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CASE STUDY MAYORGA ORGANICS

Dry Processing SOLUTIONS

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Minimized manual labor and other benefits

The flexible screw conveyor (front) transfers beans to the grinder, and then a second flexible screw conveyor moves ground coffee to the bulk bag filler (rear).

From the grinder, ground coffee gravity discharges into a 4 ft3 floor hopper that charges a second 15-ft, 3.5-in. diameter flexible screw conveyor, this one equipped with a spiral designed to efficiently propel the fineground material to a Flexicon model BFB bulk bag filler.

A palletized open-top bulk bag is placed inside the filler frame, which can be adjusted to accommodate bulk bags ranging from 36 to 72 in. high.

Strap hooks, mounted on each of the four corners of the fill head, hold the bag open and stabilize it during filling.

Filled bulk bags are forklifted into a second discharger, which unloads coffee into an 8 ft3 floor hopper charging a 15-ft long, 2⅝-in. diameter flexible screw conveyor to feed the packaging line.

Low- and high-level sensors on the packaging machine hopper signal the system’s programmable logic controller (PLC) when to start and stop the conveyor. Having the automated system under PLC control minimizes manual effort, aiding worker safety PHOTO COURTESY OF FLEXICON as well.

The bulk handling system improves productivity and plant cleanliness, according to Dall. “Flexicon provided a solution that fits within our space limitations, allows immediate packaging, and provides for future production expansion,” Dall says.

Flexicon www.flexicon.com

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SEPARATORS ENABLE EASIER INSTALLATION AND BETTER PERFORMANCE Eriez magnetic separators have a lower profile, eliminating the need for squareto-round adapters on the inlet and outlet ports. Featuring a 304 stainless-steel, dust-tight construction; a ladder-style design; and glass bead surface finish, the Round Spout separators use permanent magnetic grate magnets to remove ferrous contamination in hoppers, chutes, floor openings, and other applications for dry and free-flowing bulk materials. The manual-design unit allows a push/pull operation to strip accumulated tramp metal from the grates without physically handling the magnet, while the automatic version uses a set of pneumatic cylinders to clean the magnetic grates at the touch of a pushbutton or with a timer control.

Eriez | eriez.com

UNLOADER ACCOMMODATES RANGE OF DRY SOLID MATERIALS, BAG SIZES

BAG DISCHARGE STATION CAPTURES, REUSES FINES The Automated Flexible Conveyor discharge station comes with an optional integrated dust recovery system. Developed to prevent dust infiltration into the workplace, the BBU bulk bag station features a vacuum cartridge design that creates a downdraft during bag discharge to promote free flow, while automatically capturing and filtering fine particulates. The recovered fines may be automatically returned to the system as additional material or collected for disposal. The station is suitable for unloading up to 4,000-lb bulk bags and can be configured for use with a forklift or automated chain hoist.

The Acrison bulk bag unloader utilizes regulated vibration uniformly applied to the body of the unit and, in turn, to the bulk bag. The outlet of the Model 821 unloader flexibly connects to an independently supported iris valve mounted directly onto the inlet of the bag spout untie receptacle, which typically connects to auxiliary process equipment for a dusttight assembly. The bag lifting racks include either a lifting lug for attachment to a hoist, or channels for the blades of a fork truck. The racks can be equipped with an optional automatic bag tensioner. A pneumatically operated hoist and trolley is available.

Automated Flexible Conveyor afcspiralfeeder.com

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Acrison | acrison.com

SYSTEM DELIVERS DOUBLE INSPECTION ADVANTAGES Offering output speeds of 120 to 140 ppm, the Fortress Technology customdesigned system includes a dual-aperture detector and a checkweigher that work in unison with a dual-head vertical form/fill/seal bagging machine. The system utilizes a modular, plastic chain radius conveyor belt to provide lane spacing. The detector simultaneously inspects products on two lanes that remain programmed to run independently. Using air blast nozzles between the two outfeed conveyors, the checkweigher independently removes contaminated products into lockable, stainless-steel reject bins; its load cells weigh, analyze, capture, and report data, all at the same time.

Fortress Technology | fortresstechnology.com

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Dry Processing SOLUTIONS RECEIVER ACCOMMODATES MULTIPLE INGREDIENTS Combining conveying and weighing operations, the Coperion K-Tron receiver batches dairy powders or raw ingredients prior to blending.

Whether a single ingredient must to be delivered to multiple destinations, or multiple ingredients are being delivered to a single destination, the batch weigh receiver sequentially accommodates the application. The system features one or more receiver hoppers suspended on three load cells, with an accuracy of ±0.5% of full scale capacity. The controls can include recipe and inventory capabilities.

VACUUM CONVEYOR OFFERS FASTER CHANGEOVERS

Coperion K-Tron | coperion.com

Piab | piab.com

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With each new conveying cycle, the Piab vacuum conveyor utilizes machine learning to configure and optimize the flow of materials.

Strategically placed sensors assist the PiFlow p Smart self-optimizing conveyor’s auto-tuning system to control and fine-tune the unit in accordance with environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity, eliminating the need for manual adjustments at the feed point. Suitable for a range of powders and granules, the standalone system has two level sensors that constantly monitor filling levels.

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NEW PRODUCTS

Dry Processing SOLUTIONS

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CONVEYING SYSTEM TRANSFERS BULK MATERIALS HUNDREDS OF FEET VERTICALLY The Gericke conveying system automatically transfers powders, pellets, and other bulk materials up hundreds of feet of vertical lift for the loading of silos, mixers, hoppers, reactors, and other discharge points. Engineered for transferring food ingredients and other dry, fragile materials and mixtures, the dense phase Pulse-Line PTA PL pneumatic system uses one or more high-pressure vessels with an external air injection system to generate high conveying action. The system is custom engineered and includes a feeding hopper, pressure vessel, pipeline, activators, air supplies, and touchscreen control system. Optional explosion-proof and sanitary versions are available.

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Gericke | gerickegroup.com

BAG SLITTER PREVENTS ALLERGENS AND PATHOGENS FROM ENTERING FOOD CHAIN

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Capable of opening up to six 25-kg bags of different types and sizes per min, the Luxme International bag slitter is constructed to FDA standards; all the internal components are designed to USDA standards. The MiniLux automated, food-grade bag slitter conveys, slits, and empties bags before compacting them. It features multiple cleanout access points and includes a self-contained dust collection package. The system comes with an optional recovery tumbler that opens, rotates, and tumbles empty bags numerous times to release any remaining product.

Luxme International | luxme.com

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Bucket Elevators.

Configured to YOUR Needs.

MAGNET AUTOMATICALLY CLEANS OFF FERROUS METAL FRAGMENTS The Powder-Solutions self-cleaning magnet pneumatically retracts its rods, rotates them, and wipes the magnetic materials to the end and into a collection chamber. Automatic cleaning can take place during, before, or after production runs. Applications include the extraction of work-hardened stainless steel, wear iron, and tramp metal. The USDA Dairyaccepted Mag-Ram magnet offers 10,000+ gauss reading.

Units can be sized to suit existing chutes and hoppers.

Powder-Solutions | powder-solutions.com

Ryson’s Bucket Elevators combine vertical and horizontal transportation of bulk materials in one integral unit.

Ryson Bucket Elevators are designed for gentle handling and well-suited to transport a broad range of bulk products. Our signature feature is that they are completely enclosed with overlapping pivoting buckets, that prevent spillage and helps mitigate foreign debris.

CONVEYING SYSTEM IS READY TO PLUG IN AND RUN The Flexicon unloading and conveying system transfers contamination-sensitive bulk solid materials from intermediate bulk containers to downstream processes. The discharger frame of the sanitary IBC system is mounted on casters for in-plant mobility; the hinged subframe can pivot down for maneuvering through doorways and low-headroom areas.

Material flowing from the system into the charging adapter of the flexible screw conveyor is propelled at an incline and discharged into elevated process equipment and storage vessels. The system comes in carbon steel with a durable industrial coating, with stainless-steel material contact surfaces, or in all-stainless steel finished to food or dairy standards.

Flexicon | flexicon.com

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Their modular design enables us to customize with ease. They can be configured with multiple inlets or outlets that can individually be emptied. The design makes them easy to install and modify.

Available in three standard bucket sizes, yielding capacities up to 300, 700 or 1,800 cubic feet per hour. They can also be delivered in powder-coated carbon-steel, stainless-steel or washdown versions.

No matter the application, the Ryson team is up to the challenge of finding solutions for your conveying needs. For application assistance or more information, give us a call or visit www.ryson.com.

300 Newsome Drive • Yorktown, VA 23692 Phone: (757) 898 -1530 • Fax: (757) 898 -1580 VERTICAL CONVEYING SOLUTIONS

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NEW PRODUCTS

Dry Processing SOLUTIONS

LEVEL SWITCH IS FIELD-PROVEN Providing high- or low-point level detection of bulk solids, the Dynatrol level switch is suitable for applications such as baghouses and cyclone separators, or above airlocks. The DJ level detector contains no moving parts, gaskets, or seals, and relies on mechanical oscillations to determine if the probe is covered. Mounted through a ¾-in. half-coupling at the point of desired level detection, it is approved for Class III services, as well as Class I, Groups C and D; Class II, Groups E, F, and G; and Class III. Automation Products - Dynatrol Division dynatrolusa.com

DUST COLLECTOR INTEGRATES DIRECTLY INTO PRODUCTION LINES Designed to remove airborne dust and large quantities of small particulate solids from working environments, the Delfin dust collector also is suitable for direct extraction from production equipment.

The Zefiro EV AP 560 dust collector includes an antistatic polyester filter and a largecapacity 26.4-gal container.

Able to be individually controlled or hard wired into a PLC for automated control, the ATEX 22-certified, allstainless-steel dust collector can be used as a portable or fixed unit.

Clean, safe conveying FlexLink’s high-performance production flow delivers results.

Our solutions for the food and dairy industries are safe and modular with a one-week shorter ramp-up compared to the competition and reduced cleaning time by over 25%.

The Flexlink offer, including conveying solutions, handling functions and line control, lowers your total cost of deployment, and increasing your overall equipment effectiveness by one percent or more.

Read more at Flexlink.com or contact us at info.us@flexlink.com

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Delfin Industrial delfinindustrial.com

FlexLink is part of Coesia, a group of innovation-based industrial and packaging solutions companies operating globally, headquartered in Bologna, Italy. www.coesia.com

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| August 2022 | www.profoodworld.com

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Rely on Urschel Expertise in Protein Processing

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Urschel engineers and manufactures rugged, high-output precision cutting machinery. Heavy-duty parts are specially designed to overcome protein processing challenges.

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PLANT FLOOR NEW PRODUCTS

DEPALLETIZER ELIMINATES HEAVY MANUAL LIFTING Capable of handling complex tasks, the ABB robotic depalletizer uses machine vision software, advanced machine vision, and machine learning algorithms to process pallets up to 2.8 m high. The palletizer software uses the information gathered by the vision sensor to provide the robot with a suitable grasping point for each box. Working at a peak rate of up to 650 cycles per hr, the robot detects specific carton boxes on pallets, allowing depalletizing of pallets comprised of a single type of box in defined layers; “rainbow” pallets containing different box types; and mixed pallets with boxes of varying weights, shapes, and materials. The robot is available with four or six axes.

CONTROL CABLES ALLOW EASY ROUTING AND INSTALLATION

ABB Robotics | abb.com/robotics

Lutze control cables meet all UL and FDA requirements for cabling used in food and beverage facilities. Available in sizes ranging from 20 to 12 AWG and in shielded and unshielded versions, the Silflex FBP cables have a phthalate-free jacket that is resistant to oils and fats. The cables can be cut to length in 1-ft increments with a 20-ft minimum and can be run without a conduit in some areas due to their external wiring approval, washdown certification, and food-contact rating.

AutomationDirect | automationdirect.com

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PLANT FLOOR NEW PRODUCTS

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SHUTDOWN VALVE CONTROLLER IMPROVES SAFETY, UPTIME

Certified for operation in harsh and hazardous applications, the Emerson shutdown valve controller provides detailed valve assembly data and diagnostic information. The TopWorx DX PST discrete valve controller with HART 7 integrates seamlessly with existing valves and control systems. Its partial stroke test ensures the system’s reliable function without shutting down the process. To prevent critical failure in upset conditions, the unit overrides testing to perform an emergency shutdown.

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Emerson | emerson.com

SERVO AMPLIFIERS CAPTURE AND ENABLE REUSE OF REGENERATIVE ENERGY Mitsubishi Electric Automation amplifiers offer a servo-based solution for applications that handle regenerative energy. Available in 400 V and 1 to 7 kW capacities, Melservo-J5D common DC bus servo amplifiers are suitable for medium to large servo applications that require multiple drive units capable of managing regenerative energy. In a typical common DC bus servo system, the servo amplifiers are connected on a DC bus bar connected to an MR-CV power regeneration converter unit, which converts 400 VAC power to DC that can then be shared among the different servo drives or recaptured and returned to the power supply for other power requirements.

Mitsubishi Electric Automation | us.mitsubishielectric.com

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SOLIDS REDUCTION TECHNOLOGY IS DESIGNED FOR EXTREME-DUTY APPLICATIONS Gorman-Rupp solids reduction technology is designed for Super T Series self-priming centrifugal trash pumps. The Eradicator Plus technology cuts and tears organic solids, such as trash bags, wipes, mop heads, hair, industrial byproducts, and agricultural wastes, in liquids when their entering the pump is required. The unit includes a removable inspection cover; a back cover plate that incorporates an obstruction-free flow path; a G-R hard iron continuous vane impeller with a thick back shroud; a G-R hard iron wearplate with notches, grooves, and oversized lacerating tooth; and a stainless-steel, load-bearing shaft.

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Gorman-Rupp | grpumps.com

SYSTEM SUPPORTS RAPID ROBOT ASSEMBLY AND PROGRAMMING Available with a variety of modules, the Beckhoff robot system allows users to create a range of custom robot designs—from a single-axis rotary indexing table application and delta kinematics up to multi-axis articulated robots. The adapted structures are scanned by the control software, and the TwinCAT robotics functions automatically create the corresponding control application, including a digital twin. Based on EtherCAT, the Atro fully automated robot system is directly integrated into PC-based control technology. Data, power, and other lines, such as compressed air, vacuum, or water, are guided internally.

Beckhoff Automation | beckhoff.com

www.unifiller.com 1 888 733 8444

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PLANT FLOOR NEW PRODUCTS

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IN-LINE VACUUM FILLER SAVES CLEANING, CHANGEOVER TIMES

Available with configurable options, the JBT linear vacuum filler comes in one-, two-, three-, four-, and six-head models. The PLF Virtus in-line filler has a nozzle design that delivers higher throughput per head and no moving parts that come in contact with product. It is designed to handle a range of milk-based nutritional powders, including infant formula and specialized medical nutrition.

JBT | jbtc.com

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PLANETARY DUAL DISPERSER OFFERS UNIQUE PROCESSING FLEXIBILITY

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The Ross planetary dual disperser offers high shear intensity and the rapid dispersion of dry powders into viscous batches. Two stainless-steel, high-viscosity stirrer blades and two high-speed shafts with saw-tooth dispersers enable solid additions to be made quickly. When equipped with removable disperser shafts, the PDDM disperser can be used as a regular double planetary mixer for processing more viscous applications, including stiff, dough-like formulations. Sizes range from lab scale to full production models.

Charles Ross & Son | mixers.com

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PROFOOD WORLD

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PRODUCT CLEANS SMOKEHOUSES WITHOUT SCRUBBING

Madison Chemical liquid cleaner cleans smokers and smokehouses of all types and sizes without scrubbing or brushing and rinses off completely with all potent water types. Incorporating wetting and soil dispersion properties, ProClean Smokehouse foaming, heavy-duty, alkaline cleaner can be sprayed on, used with a foamer, or applied with an internal steamer. The product also can be used as an A2 compound in soak tanks or with steam or mechanical cleaning devices.

Madison Chemical | madchem.com

The Secret to Safe, Smooth Conveying is Volkmann

DOOR OFFERS DURABILITY, SAFETY, AND EFFICIENCY Made from ¼-in. styrene-butadiene rubber, the Rite-Hite door covers interior and exterior openings up to 20-ft tall by 20-ft wide. A soft bottom design helps the Raptor Max door conform to uneven surfaces for a tight environmental seal. The door can be controlled by the Rite-Hite graphic user interface, which also allows the integration of safety communication products, such as the LED countdown timer, LED pre-announce, and LED virtual vision. A breakaway feature automatically refeeds the door back onto its track if a forklift impacts it.

Rite-Hite | ritehite.com

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A lot of our customers can’t talk about their secret to safe, smooth, gentle conveying but everyone knows the secret is Volkmann. Our patented pneumatic vacuum conveyors automatically transfer powders and other bulk materials from one point to another in fully enclosed, dust-tight, explosion-proof systems.

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Automated, hygienic and quiet Easy to use, easy to clean No tools disassembly Stainless steel as standard Fast lead times, easy to install

See action videos, get free test at Volkmannusa.com Volkmannusa.com | 609-265-0101 | 1900 Frost Road, Suite 102, Bristol, PA 19007

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PNEUMATIC CLAMPS ARE LONG-LASTING AND EXACT

Winco pneumatic clamps have hardened, ground bearing-bushings; a tempered bearing pin; structural reinforcement of the sheet steel housing; and a one-way restrictor in the cylinder. They come in versions for horizontal (GN 860 clamp) and vertical (GN 862 model) installation. The GN 862.1 version permits manual operation.

JW Winco | jwwinco.com

BLOWER SOLUTIONS FOR YEAST AND ENZYME PRODUCTION DISCHARGE SYSTEM ADJUSTS AUTOMATICALLY The Syntegon discharge system consists of one or more discharge stations equipped with belt slides and arranged one behind the other. The Distribution Continuous Slide (DCS) system takes round cookies, crackers, and biscuits from the cooling conveyor and distributes them onto the belt legs, each of which has a belt slide that arranges the straight product stream into an S-shape. If product buildup on a leg belt becomes too long, the system automatically discharges fewer products onto that leg and distributes the surplus to the next stations, automatically increasing their discharge capacity. The system packs product flat or on-edge into pile, slug, or tray packs.

Syntegon Technology | syntegon.com

LET’S TALK David Salazar, Application Manager 484-718-3516 david.salazar@aerzen.com

Aerzen offers three blower technologies with reliable process control while requiring low maintenance for yeast and enzyme production. Aerzen Blowers feature: • Side-by-side Installation to reduce footprint • Quiet operation for operator safety • Energy efficient providing cost savings LET’S TALK about the best blower technology for your yeast and enzyme production process. www.aerzen.com/en-us

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BOWL CUTTER INCLUDES TECHNOLOGY FOR BETTER PERFORMANCE AND CONTROL The GEA bowl cutter is used to prepare different kinds of sausage and a range of poultry, fish, plant-based, vegan, and vegetarian products, as well as processed cheese. The CutMaster Generation 3 bowl cutter comes with integrated AC technology and features a reinforced machine frame and knife shaft bearing arm. Equipped with an upgraded control system and software with heating and cooling options, the machine meets 3-A Sanitary Standards. Available with or without a vacuum, the unit comes in 200-, 325-, 500-, and 750-L sizes. It handles cutting, emulsifying, chopping, mixing, vacuumizing, cooking, and cooling operations.

FOOD SAFETY FO

GEA | gea.com

CONCERNS? Rely on 99 years of sanitary protein bagging experience

• 3-A certified forming tubes • Electropolished frame with continuous weldments • Patent-pending dye-filled film rollers

DECKING BEAM LIFTS ITSELF TO CEILING HEIGHT Released and adjusted by hand, the Doleco decking beam can be released with a common dock hook or fifth wheel puller. Once released, the Level Deck self-leveling decking beam can be moved asymmetrically and up and down its tracks. After one side is at the desired set height, the opposite side can be slid up or down and automatically self-levels, locking itself into horizontal position. Each die-cast nickel aluminum foot assembly is equipped with a spring-assist mechanism that counterbalances the beam’s weight.

As either side of the beam is pulled down, its spring is loaded. If the spring is released, the beam automatically travels to its ceiling height storage position.

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PLANT FLOOR NEW PRODUCTS

COUPLING OFFERS TORSIONAL STIFFNESS AND STRENGTH The Miki Pulley stainless-steel coupling features a “sliced” body structure that handles high rotation speeds in high temperature ranges.

Corrosion resistant, the Ask coupling compensates system misalignment in a shaft-to-shaft connection. The coupling features a maximum rpm of 11,500; a 295 ft-lb maximum allowable torque; a bore size range of 0.118 to 2.17 in.; and a -40 to 248°F ambient operating temperature range.

Miki Pulley US | mikipulley-us.com

BEARING HELPS MAINTAIN MACHINE PERFORMANCE AND HYGIENE STANDARDS Pre-filled with food-grade NSF H1 grease, the SKF bearing incorporates a deep-groove ball and integral seal. Halal and Kosher certified, the grease complies with FDA and European Community recommendations. The food-grade, low-friction seal is blue in color for easier detection. The Food Line series bearing has a high load-carrying capacity.

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SAFETY RENOVATION TREADS MAKE STAIRS NON-SLIP Wooster Products treads offer an easily applied anti-slip surface to interior or exterior stairs. The extruded aluminum base is covered with anti-slip tape, which is chemically bonded onto the extrusion with an adhesive matrix capable of a 7.3 lb per sq in. peel strength, and provides a high coefficient of friction, whether wet or dry. The Flexmaster safety renovation treads are available in lengths to 12 ft and with a variety of depths. The abrasive surfaces are level with extrusion surfaces for enhanced safety and comfort. Various colors, including fluorescent and Niteglow Glow in the Dark, are available.

Wooster Products | woosterproducts.com

AIR COMPRESSORS ELIMINATE RISK OF SYSTEM OR PRODUCT CONTAMINATION Rogers air compressors provide ISO 8573-1, Quality Class Zero air for oil aerosol, liquid oil, and oil vapor. The KNW Series rotary screw compressors include an independent motordriven oil pump for pre-lubrication of gears and bearings, solid-state reduced voltage motor starting, PTFE-type coating on the rotors, and compression housing internals for corrosion prevention. The compression elements have a cooling jacket incorporated into the castings and non-wearing, free-floating air seals. A labyrinth seal with two vents to the atmosphere prevents oil from migrating into the compression area.

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PLANT FLOOR NEW PRODUCTS

FORKLIFT IMPROVES SAFETY IN WAREHOUSES AND FACILITIES The Otto forklift navigates traffic and obstacles to deliver materials to the right place, at the right time. The Lifter forklift has autonomy software that makes intelligent, real-time decisions for dynamic path planning, lane tending, pallet detection, and stretchwrap piercing. The unit determines whether a pallet is properly seated, centered, or skewed, and if stretchwrap is covering entry notches. The forklift also matches its speed to the environment, speeding up when safe to do so and slowing down accordingly. It has a 2,640-lb payload capacity; 3.4-mph travel speed; and 106-in. (30-in. in autonomous mode) reach height.

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Three 9-in. two-blade propellers made from 319 aluminum attach to the 15-in. long shaft with set screws. Powered by a 1-hp, totally enclosed fancooled motor, the FGM-1T electric mixer operates at a fixed speed of 350 rpm. Additional impeller options and motor options, including fractional horsepower fixed- and variable-speed electric versions, and variable-speed airpowered models, are available.

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Designed for gummy applications, the Cremer counting and dispensing machine has a 12-lane counter that apportions gummies of all shapes and sizes to a downstream bottler or single belt setup. The HQS 1250 machine utilizes optical counting to achieve an average output of 150 bottles per min on a 60-count product. Delivered pre-assembled with all wires quick-locked, the unit is compact in size and can be placed directly atop a packaging machine for bottle filling applications. It integrates seamlessly with Spee-Dee equipment.

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PROFOOD WORLD

| August 2022 | www.profoodworld.com

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AUTO DIVERTER IMPROVES OPERATOR SAFETY AND ERGONOMICS

The Key Technology auto diverter for its Iso-Flo vibratory conveyors splits product flow to two downstream systems and changes the proportion of product going to each of the two lanes as needed.

Positioned underneath the conveyor bed, the diverter features scalloped welds throughout its stainless-steel frame and blade. A pneumatic hold-down system anchors the bolted blade to the surface of the bed. Available for beds up to 72-in. wide, the diverter can be equipped with a blade up to 47-in. long to handle a range of free-flowing products, including fruits and vegetables, such as cut and whole potatoes and cut and whole corn, as well as nuts, candies, and snacks.

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| August 2022 | PROFOOD WORLD

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CASE STUDY PIM BRANDS JOYCE FASSL | SENIOR EXECUTIVE EDITOR

New Vibratory Conveyor Resolves a Sticky Situation With their sanitary design and compact footprint, robust vibratory conveyor systems move fruit snacks correctly, safely, and efficiently for a top candy producer.

L

OCATED IN THE HEART of New Jersey is the maker of Welch’s Fruit Snacks. Founded in 1979 as Promotion in Motion by CEO Michael Rosenberg, the company was renamed PIM Brands last year. With its large customer base and multiple product offerings, including Welch’s Fruit Snacks, Original Gummi FunMix, Sun-Maid Milk Chocolate Raisins, Sour Jacks, Nuclear SQWorms, Toggi Fine European Wafers, and Tuxedos Chocolate Almonds, the company is one of the largest candy and snack makers worldwide.

PIM Brands recently upgraded the packaging lines at its Somerset, N.J., facility, where it produces different varieties of Welch’s Fruit Snacks. Because of the challenging nature of the product, standard belt conveyors and transition points present many difficulties with conveying.

The fruit snack maker was looking for a vibratory conveyor solution when Layton Systems happened to cold call PIM Brands about its manufacturing equipment needs. After vetting other vendors, PIM Brands chose Layton Systems to provide a vibratory conveyor to resolve the sticky situation.

One plus with Layton machinery is its design, according to Chris Greco, engineering project manager for PIM Brands. “The Uni-Vibe conveyor doesn’t have a bunch of rubber strips or something that they have to hang in,” he states. Layton’s design includes a post that is connected to the vibratory motor. “It’s a very compact piece of equipment that doesn’t have many moving parts at all,” he adds.

Another feature of the Uni-Vibe is sanitary design, Greco says. “I see it as more sanitary than a belted conveyor. You can truly wipe down a UniVibe, where with a belt conveyor, you’d have to take it apart and clean the machine and rollers.”

Since there are minimal moving parts on a vibratory conveyor compared to a conventional conveyor belt, operator safety issues are diminished. “It’s a lot safer as far as moving parts are concerned,” Greco says.

PHOTO BY JOYCE FASSL

Constructed of all stainless steel, there are no rubbing parts on the Layton conveyors. Greco also appreciates the fact that the Uni-Vibe has no hidden parts or hang-up points, and everything on the machine is visible. “Maintenance is easy, too. With the first Uni-Vibes we put in, I haven’t heard many problems with them,” Greco adds. “It’s two pieces— the vibratory motor and the controller—and there’s really nothing else that you have to pay attention to.”

When PIM replaced one of its lines, it also replaced some of the equipment that conveys the product with what the company calls its “shakeout line.” The candy maker also used a vertical ribbon wall conveyor with flights.

Layton’s unique belt allows easy product release and has a thumping mechanism inside of the belt as it dumps product. From there, PIM has another UniVibe machine that brings the product to a conveyor that goes both forward and in reverse. “We have two lines, basically one to do our oiled product, and www.profoodworld.com

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One of the Layton Systems Uni-Vibe conveyors installed at PIM Brands safely moves fruit snacks.

| August 2022 | PROFOOD WORLD

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PHOTO BY JOYCE FASSL

Pouched Welch’s Fruit Snacks are ready for cartoning at PIM Brands.

one to do our sanded product that gets the sugar sand on it,” says Greco.

PIM mainly produces oiled product, which goes to another vibratory that moves into an oiling drum to make it shiny. “Product moves to another Uni-Vibe for discharge then feeds another ribbon wall conveyor, where the sugar sanding line and the oil line come together to feed that second ribbon wall conveyor,” he adds. Here, product is collected in trays that are taken to the warehouse and later moved to other packaging lines.

In another line upgrade project with Layton

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PIM Brands’ Chris Greco checks production settings on one of the many HMIs provided

by Multipond.

that PIM calls Mogul 5, processed goods directly feed the packaging lines producing finished goods. Interlocked takeaway conveyors collect pouches from the packaging machines. “They run underneath the packaging machine, and the pouches move to the GEA bagging lines,” states Greco. “Then they’re conveyed up and onto the rapid return reversing conveyor, a linear motion conveyor from Layton that either puts the product forward toward the cartoning line or is directed to bulk collection. “The system collects product if our cartoning line goes down, so our baggers don’t have to stop producing,” he adds.

All of PIM’s Uni-Vibes are mounted, providing support structure. With that, some of the other line equipment can sit on those support structures. “Layton works with the other vendors to make sure that machine vibrations don’t interact with each other,” explains Greco. “For example, we have a support structure made by Layton that holds Multipond scales. Vibrations from the scales aren’t going to be affected by the vibrations from the vibratory conveyor.”

Layton integrates machine communications in the human-machine interfaces (HMIs), so end users can troubleshoot the entire system through the control panel.

Productivity-wise, cleaning and maintenance has become easier with the Uni-Vibe machinery, Greco says. “They’re very reliable, there’s very little maintenance that needs to be done, they don’t break down as easy, and there’s nothing that can break.”

There are also few replacement parts required.

Yet another production line has three packaging or pouching cells, with a group of six baggers.

Two groups of six pouching lines feed a cartoner directly. In Mogul 5, eight pouching lines feed a cartoner directly.

PIM Brands is currently undertaking several new mogul and packaging projects to meet continually increasing demand for its Welch’s Fruit Snacks.

GEA www.gea.com Layton Systems www.laytonsystems.com

PHOTO BY JOYCE FASSL

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Multipond www.multipond.com

| August 2022 | www.profoodworld.com

7/27/22 2:16 PM

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CASE CASE STUDY STUDY TASTEFUL COMPANY SELECTIONS NAME AARON HAND | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Small Potato Producer Gets a Grip on Growth via Robotics Using robotics to fuel growth while staying competitive, a leading North American grower, shipper, and packer of bite-sized potatoes is keeping costs down and employment and production up.

T

HE MULTI-GENERATIONAL POTATO FARMERS of Tasteful Selections began in Nebraska, relocating to Arvin, Calif., to take advantage of the rich farmland and year-round growing season.

The journey since has been not only geographical but one of innovation as well. Always searching for business growth opportunities, the company pioneered the category of bite-sized potatoes to offer consumers a simpler and more convenient source of nutritious potatoes.

Tasteful Selections also employs state-of-the-art production technology. To maintain high standards of quality, flavor, freshness, size uniformity, and best practices for sustainability, the company owns the entire planting, growing, harvesting, and packaging process. And when it wanted to expand and optimize its potato production, robotic automation was seen as the key.

“We are constantly planting, harvesting, and picking the freshest product for our customers,” says Nathan Bender, chief operating officer for Tasteful Selections. “We’re growing so fast that without automation, we can’t keep up.”

Fanuc robots have been a big part of Tasteful Selections’ journey, including 11 Fanuc M-410iB palletizing robots and five Fanuc M-3iA delta robots for case packing. “What we’re trying to do is flatten our curve of our costs, so we can provide a great service to our customers and keep our pricing down,” says Ernie Waldo, plant manager for Tasteful Selections. “As we’ve rolled out automation, it has been a real blessing to our employees to bring consistency to the line and bring consistency to our costs.”

Tasteful Selections got its start in robotics with the help of Schneider Packaging Equipment, a Fanuc Authorized Systems Integrator. The potato company liked Schneider’s OptiStak, which creates recipes for the layers of boxes to be stacked on the pallets. Based on Fanuc software, OptiStak quickly optimizes pallet configurations and enables opera-

PHOTO COURTESY OF TASTEFUL SELECTIONS

tors to change patterns on the fly.

“They have been turnkey, out of the box, minimal programming that we needed to do on our end, and super, super successful on creating consistencies throughout our plant,” Waldo says.

In just a few years, Tasteful Selections has grown from 100 workers to close to 900. The robotic palletizers have also made a difference in employee accidents and injuries. Previously, workers stacked 50-lb boxes onto pallets up to 92 in. high, but now the robotic palletizers perform that task. “We were able to come up with a very modular, unique design for our palletizers,” says Justin McHenry, vice president of plant operations for Tasteful Selections.

“It’s capable of picking up any one of our boxes in this facility, stacking a pallet as high as will fit in the back of any refrigerated truck, and does all that without requiring any tooling change.”

Finding the right robotic gripper As the company increased the speed of the processing lines, manually packing the bags of potatoes in www.profoodworld.com

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Shifting mesh bags of small potatoes presented handling challenges, ultimately tackled by Soft Robotics’ mGrip soft gripper.

| August 2022 | PROFOOD WORLD

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CASE STUDY TASTEFUL SELECTIONS

on how the product settles on the belt, it can end up in lots of different shapes or sizes. We were able to handle all of this with a single end-of-arm tool.”

Plus, the unique gripper material allows the bags to be grabbed without any concern of damaging the product by applying too much force or using a rigid gripping tool. “We chose Soft Robotics because of the softness of the plastic and its integration with the Fanuc robot,” says Emilio Lemus, automation manager for Tasteful Selections. “It speeds up the process a lot, and at the same time, takes care of our product the way we want it.”

The pneumatic actuated tool allows the operators to control the air pressure to either tighten or loosen the grip on the bags of potatoes. It also knows exactly the correct number of bags to fill a box as well as where to place them in the box.

“It helps with the quality—hands aren’t being harsh on them—and it helps with the overall efficiency because we are sending what we are supposed to be sending out, so it eliminates a lot of human error,” Mebane says.

PHOTO COURTESY OF TASTEFUL SELECTIONS

Tasteful Selections began its robotics journey with Fanuc palletizers from Schneider Packaging Equipment.

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boxes became an issue. The packing space did not allow for additional line staff. Additionally, the company wanted to minimize the human touch points to ensure the best food safety and quality practices.

“We want to make sure our potatoes are the safest they can be from farm to fork,” says Lindsey Mebane, food safety manager for Tasteful Selections. “Before we had the robotics, everything was done by hand. For food safety, that is a little bit of a concern because there are more hands touching the product. Granted, they are wearing gloves, but there’s still human contact.”

Robots handling the potatoes, however, was cause for concern as well, since they could potentially cause more bumps and bruises than human handling. Having not only a food-safe but also gentle robotic solution was of utmost importance.

Tasteful Selections approached Soft Robotics— which makes advanced technologies that enable automation of a wide variety of products—to find a robotic gripper that could reliably grab a shifting bag of potatoes while easing the positioning tolerance requirements of the robot and the machine vision imaging system guiding it. The solution was Soft Robotics’ mGrip soft gripper.

“The end-of-arm tooling for this application needed to be able to handle a lot of variability,” explains Ben Gibson, applications engineering manager of packaging solutions for Soft Robotics.

“These are mesh bags of baby potatoes. Depending

PROFOOD WORLD

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Innovation gets results As a result of the mGrip-enabled robotic work cell, Tasteful Selections was able to exceed 45 bags per minute and increase its packing line’s overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) by 15%, achieving 100% return on investment (ROI) within nine months.

Adding robotics also enabled the company to achieve another advantage in 2020—a way to easily social distance employees on the production line.

“Because of the robotics, we had less people on the line, so that really helped with the social distancing,” Mebane says. “It allows the people to be farther apart because the person putting the bags in boxes isn’t standing right next to the person putting boxes on the pallet.”

With the investment in automation, Tasteful Selections has been able to grow very quickly as well as maintain the quality of its small potatoes for customers. And it’s all been done at an attractive price point.

“If we don’t innovate, we’re not going to be competitive. Our prices will go up,” McHenry says. “We haven’t taken a price increase in 10 years on our product. We’re able to maintain that through automation.”

Fanuc America www.fanucamerica.com Schneider Packaging Equipment www.schneiderequip.com Soft Robotics www.softroboticsinc.com

| August 2022 | www.profoodworld.com

7/27/22 2:20 PM

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AD INDEX COMPANY / WEBSITE

PAGE

Aerzen USA, Inc www.aerzen.com/en-usa

54

ANRITSU INFIVIS INC http://anritsu.com/infivis

8

COMPANY / WEBSITE

PAGE

PMMI 365 http://www.pmmi.org

67

PMMI Emerging Brands Summit http://www.emergingbrandssummit.com

68 70

Apex Motion Control, Inc. www.apexmotion.com

57

PMMI ProSource http://www.prosource.org

Atkore International http://www.atkore.com/calbrite

64

PACK EXPO International http://www.packexpointernational.com

BUNTING http://www.buntingmagnetics.com

63

PPM Technologies Holdings LLC http://www.ppmtech.com

C3 AI c3.ai

12-a (select issues)

Cov-3 2

Radar Process, S. L. www.radarprocess.com

16

Central States Industrial https://www.csidesigns.com/

33

ROSS Mixers www.mixers.com/food

23

Coperion K-Tron http://www.coperion.com/foodtransfer

36

Ryson International Inc. http://www.ryson.com

45

CPM Wolverine Proctor https://www.cpmwolverineproctor.com/

43

Sani + Matic http://www.sanimatic.com

Eriez Magnetics http://www.eriez.com

44

Schenck Process http://www.schenckprocess.com

Flexicon Corporation www.flexicon.com

Cov-2

SEW Eurodrive, Inc. www.seweurodrive.com

Cov-4

FlexLink Systems, Inc https://www.flexlink.com

46

Shick Esteve www.shickesteve.coom

25

Frain Industries http://www.frain.com

59

Spokane Industries https://www.spokaneindustries.com/

50

Starview Packaging Machinery http://www.starviewpackaging.com

56

GEA www.gea.com/skinpackaging

1

11 60

General Oil Equipment http://goe-asf.com

37

Triangle Package Machinery Company http://www.trianglepackage.com/

55

Graphite Metallizing www.graphalloy.com

58

Unifiller Systems Inc. www.unifiller.com

51

IKA Works, Inc. http://www.ikaprocess.com

52

Urschel Laboratories, Inc. http://www.urschel.com

47

Industrial Magnetics, Inc. https://www.magnetics.com/

41

VAC-U-MAX http://www.vac-u-max.com/

38

King Plastic Corporation https://www.kingplastic.com

40

VDG http://www.vandergraaf.com

Cov-1

5

VEGA Americas http://www.vega.com/vegapoint

48

Linde https://www.lindefood.com/innovations

29

Veritiv Corporation http://www.veritivcorp.com/food

49

Lubriplate Lubricants http://www.lubriplate.com

35

Vibra Screw Inc http://vibrascrew.com

27

Mettler Toledo North America http://www.mt.com/pi

18

Volkmann, Inc. https://www.volkmannusa.com/

53

7

Wire Belt Company of America www.wirebelt.com

17

Klockner Pentaplast, Food Packaging http://www.kpfilms.com

Munson Machinery Co. Inc. http://www.munsonmachinery.com/

ProFood World ® (ISSN 2476-06760, USPS 22310) is a registered trademark of PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies. ProFood World ® is published 7x a year (February, April, June, August, September, October, December) by PMMI Media Group, 401 North Michigan Avenue Suite 1700, Chicago, IL 60611; 312.222.1010; Fax: 312.222.1310. Periodical postage paid at Chicago, IL, and additional mailing offices. Copyright 2022 by PMMI. All rights reserved. Materials in this publication must not be reproduced in any form without written permission of the publisher. Applications for a free subscription may be made online at www.profoodworld.com. Paid subscription rates per year are $55 in the U.S., $80 Canada and Mexico by surface mail; $130 Europe and South America. $200 in all other areas. To subscribe or manage your subscription to ProFood World, visit ProFoodWorld.com/ subscribe. Free digital edition available to qualified individuals. POSTMASTER: Send address corrections to: ProFood World, 401 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 1700, Chicago, IL 60611.

PRINTED IN USA by Quad Graphics. The opinions expressed in articles are those of the authors and not necessarily those of PMMI. Comments, questions and letters to the editor are welcome and can be sent to: ahand@pmmimediagroup.com. We make a portion of our mailing list available to reputable firms. If you would prefer that we don’t include your name, please write us at the Chicago, IL address. Volume 6, Number 4.

www.profoodworld.com

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| August 2022 | PROFOOD WORLD

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TECH PERSPECTIVE AARON HAND | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Cloud-Based Software Modernizes Cleaning System Reporting

S

EEKING TO MODERNIZE clean-in-place (CIP) and clean-out-of-place (COP) processes by automating cleaning system reporting, Sani-Matic introduced SaniTrend Cloud software as a service (SaaS). The software is designed to help food and beverage and other industries convert from a largely manual, paper-based data collection process to one that enables customers to capture cleaning-cycle data and quickly generate the reports and notifications needed to meet regulatory requirements such as the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).

To achieve this, Sani-Matic partnered with Rockwell Automation and PTC’s ThingWorx to develop a cloud-based Internet of Things (IoT) software solution that enables customers to automatically generate cleaning cycle reports and analyze operational data. This enables manufacturers to troubleshoot more effectively, analyze cleaning cycle overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) over time, and gain insights into system operation.

SaniTrend Cloud is available with any new PLCcontrolled, automated cleaning system from SaniMatic. It can also be retrofitted with any existing Sani-Matic automated cleaning system that has an Allen-Bradley CompactLogix or higher PLC processor. Peter Barrie, product management director for Sani-Matic, explains how the software works and why it’s needed in the food and beverage industry.

PFW: Tell me about Sani-Matic’s partnership with Rockwell Automation and PTC. How did you end up developing SaniTrend Cloud?

Barrie: This was back in early 2019. For us, even further back in 2018, we started looking at IoT solutions in general. We build automated CIP, or clean-in-place, and COP, or clean-out-of-place, systems for food, beverage, personal care, nutraceutical, biopharm, and pharmaceutical industries. In all of those industries, there are regulatory requirements for recording that the equipment was cleaned properly—not only that

we did this cleaning, but we did it at these temperatures and chemical concentrations, and things like that.

With current methods, a lot of times it’s manual, sometimes it’s someone walking around with a clipboard. Paper chart recorders record temperature activity on these paper charts, but they’re super hard to interpret. They require paper storage and are not Peter Barrie, Sani-Matic a super-efficient method.

IoT stuff was starting to build and we looked at solutions for that. In 2018, we looked at a couple of different solutions. Then in early 2019, we were also on a path to and are now at the Gold OEM Partner level with Rockwell. So, at the time, we were sharing strategies and product development things. And one of them was this cloud-based product. That was right around when they were developing their relationship with PTC, developing the FactoryTalk InnovationSuite product line. We had some discovery sessions, and they brought in some technical folks and did some demos. They looked good and looked like something that we could make work.

We’re a manufacturing company—we have a lot of custom engineering and automation, but we’re not going to build, from the ground up, ISO-certified data security centers and things like that. We knew we had to partner with someone, and with Rockwell and the PTC relationship, they bring all of the data security, network structure, and knowledge of IoT solutions.

PFW: Tell me more about the need for something like SaniTrend Cloud in the food and beverage industry.

Barrie: The product delivers two things for customers. Back in 2018, when we started looking at this, the main thing was there’s a regulatory need for this.

When our sales team is talking about this product www.profoodworld.com

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PHOTO COURTESY OF SANI-MATIC

Sani-Matic worked with Rockwell Automation and PTC to develop a SaaS offering that replaces largely manual, paper-based data collection processes.

| August 2022 |

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TECH PERSPECTIVE

track record. There’s a lot of paper handling that can be avoided.

IMAGE COURTESY OF SANI-MATIC

SaniTrend Cloud works with Sani-Matic CIP and COP systems to make cleaning data readily available.

to our customers, that is the thing that lights up the light bulb in their mind, like maybe this cloud solution is a viable option. And then the other solution it’s providing is efficiency gains. That can be from the system itself, but also, more importantly, from the operators who are using the system.

We calculate OEE, overall equipment effectiveness. That’s traditionally on the production equipment, but we said, ‘Hey, why can’t we apply it to our cleaning cycles? Let’s take those OEE—availability, performance, quality—parameters and apply them to our cleaning cycles.’

What that allows us to do is monitor and optimize those over time, but also operational user-efficiency items like text and email notifications. On a clean cycle, there are quality people that have to look at that data before they release it back to production. If they can get an email after a cycle is complete, and they can go in and check that data and give it their approval or put comments on it within the portal, then everything just got more efficient. Right now, they have to walk down to the plant floor, check that paper record, bring it over to someone else, and all that kind of fun stuff.

PFW: You mentioned the paper charts. Explain the downsides of using this traditional method for tracking cleaning cycles vs. the technology that Sani-Matic has introduced.

Barrie: Interacting with those [paper charts] is very inefficient. A lot of times you can be running a bunch of different CIP cycles over the course of a 12or 24-hour period. When you’re looking at that, it’s hard to really interpret—was this good or not?

On the flip side, our product is very interactive. You can click on it, you can zoom in on it, you can review it really easily, you can export it and get the raw values in a table in Excel format, if you want. It conceptualizes each of those clean cycles into a report. You can see all the temperatures and all the conductivity.

You can access the portal on a phone, tablet, desktop… It allows a quality person working over in the office, not in the manufacturing space, or someone remote, to easily grab that stuff vs. a paper

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PFW: Are there other digital solutions that manufacturers are using already?

Barrie: In the last 10 years, companies have been starting to build their own reporting functions. A lot of times they will communicate with other plant equipment, and they can be tied into a plant historian or a custom-built data recording platform. That is a step in the right direction. The problems we’ve seen is if it’s a software company or a third-party integrator, they might grab a few data points. But we’ve built the solution that’s going to grab all your data.

I’ve seen situations where people go down the path of trying to develop their own custom-built solution, and it’s just failed. And they have to go back to paper chart recorders or something like that. When you can just easily get something from an OEM who does this every day—we feel we can provide a lot more value to it.

PFW: Explain more about how SaniTrend Cloud works.

Barrie: Our systems are automated CIP and COP systems, and they are equipped with a PLC and an HMI and the SaniTrend Cloud products. We add in the industrial edge device to that panel, and that edge device basically averages up all that data— there’s an internet connection, obviously—and then send the data off to the cloud, where it is securely put into a portal.

There are also live dashboards in there. So, with almost no delay, you can be standing next to your CIP system, and on your phone, bring up the dashboard and basically see tank levels and flow rates and all that kind of stuff, almost live.

For the cycle reports, if I do a two-hour wash cycle, after that’s completed, that gets all packaged up, and within about a minute, that data is then in the cloud to review. There are two areas of data.

You do a lot of live dashboard stuff, so you can see things on the fly. But then each of those clean cycle reports are packaged up about a minute after.

A quality person could be subscribed to an alert where they see this CIP cycle just finished, they can log in, review that data, add comments to it.

Operators can similarly add comments. If there were alarms on the system, the quality person would see that, and maybe an operator would want to explain what that alarm was. That hub is where the data is stored and where the users—whether operator, supervisor, quality, sanitation crew—that’s where they go in and interact with that data.

Sani-Matic www.sanimatic.com

| www.profoodworld.com

7/27/22 2:25 PM

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