ProFood World June 2022

SSV Drum Motors

Reduce Water and Time for Washdown by 50%

JUNE 2022

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(888) 326-1476 • vandergraaf.com/PF

6/1/22 4:22 PM

SSV Drum Motors

Reduce Water & Time for Washdown by 50%

The SSV Series Drum Motor with the belt profile machined directly onto the drum, drives modular, wire mesh, and monolithic thermoplastic conveyor belts without the use of sprockets, reducing washdown time and water usage by 50%.

With all drive components enclosed inside the drum, and designed for 80,000 hours of continuous operation before maintenance, the sprocketless SSV Drum Motor is the most hygienic and efficient drive solution for belt conveyors.

Drum profile available for a variety of belt manufacturers, including Cambridge®, Gates®, Habasit®, Intralox®, Volta®, and Wire Belt®.

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6/1/22 4:23 PM

June 2022

MANUFACTURING INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR

MARK ANTHONY BREWING GOES FOR THE GOLD STANDARD Use Automation Roadmap for Project Success Digital Sorter Helps Reduce Manual Labor Tech Today: Supply Chain Intelligence

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Reduce and Distance Plant Personnel while Boosting Output and Preventing Contamination with automated, enclosed bulk equipment and systems from Flexicon

Automated, sealed BULK-OUT® Discharger-Conveyor Systems replace multiple workers dumping hand-held bags manually, while preventing contamination.

Enclosed Bulk Bag Weigh Batch Systems feed a central weigh hopper mechanically, and remove weighed batches pneumatically, requiring labor only to attach/detach bulk bags.

Bulk Bag Discharging Systems can loosen solidified material and meter it into liquid streams (shown), screeners, size reduction equipment and continuous blenders—automatically.

Dual SWING-DOWN® Bulk Bag Fillers fed by weigh hoppers fill up to 40 bags per hour with only one operator connecting empty bags and one forklift removing full bags.

Flexicon Bulk Bag Filling Lines automatically dispense pallets, fill bulk bags, and disconnect/accumulate filled bags, minimizing operator involvement.

TIP-TITE® Drum/Box Dumpers seal, tip and mate a discharge cone to a gasketed hopper lid, open a slide gate and feed downstream processes— automatically and dust-free.

Flexicon automated equipment and systems can move your bulk materials at higher capacities with fewer personnel, cutting costs while distancing operators from one another.

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1/12/2211:08 4:36AM PM 6/1/22

Plant-based fish stick

Plant-based sausage

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Plant-based burger

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6/1/22 11:09 AM

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6/1/22 2/15/21 11:11 3:11 AM PM

JUNE 2022

CONTENTS 19

25 41 DEPARTMENTS 6 From the Editor

We’re back on the road again.

9 In the News

Sustainability, supply chain, and export markets are key topics among dairy producers.

ON THE COVER Mark Anthony Brewing Goes for the Gold Standard The largest and most technologically advanced brewery built in the U.S. in the past 28 years, a 1.3 million-sq-ft highly automated, fast-track greenfield facility wins a Manufacturing Innovation Award from ProFood World.

14 OpX Intel

Automating your plant is a marathon, not a sprint.

19 Packaging Technology

Coca-Cola and Suntory have crossed the finish line for 100% plant-based bottles.

52 Plant Floor New Products 63 Case Study: TruFood

A sanitary conveyor improves food safety and uptime.

67 Case Study: Jones Potato Farm

A digital sorter helps to overcome workforce and yield issues.

71 Case Study: Casa Sauza

Digital transformation improves efficiency in tequila production.

77 Case Study: Simmons Foods

FEATURES 41 Tech Today: Supply Chain Intelligence

Supplies are being disrupted both coming and going for food and beverage manufacturers.

Shifting philosophies, combined with a range of digital technologies, could help make operations more predictable and resilient.

REFRIGERATION & FREEZING SOLUTIONS 48 Case Study: Pierino Frozen Foods

Freezing technology saves time and labor for a pasta maker.

50 New Products

Flooring maintains its anti-slip properties in a wet, greasy plant.

83 Tech Perspective

This digital recorder replaces cumbersome paper charts. 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 VICE PRESIDENT, CONTENT AND BRAND STRATEGY JIM CHRZAN 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 PUBLISHER, OEM MAGAZINE JIM CHRZAN jchrzan@pmmimediagroup.com • 847/830-2915

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.

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PROFOOD WORLD

| June 2022 | www.profoodworld.com

6/1/22 8:28 AM

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5/19/2211:14 3:35AM PM 6/1/22

FROM THE EDITOR AARON HAND | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Back on the Road Again Like the Zoom meetings for day-to-day conversations, we got used to attending conferences virtually in 2020 and 2021. Now we’re back in full force to in-person meetings.

T

ahand@pmmimediagroup.com

he gates started to open a bit last fall when almost all of PMMI Media Group’s staff editors went out to cover PACK EXPO Las Vegas. But the rush back to civilization has been palpable in 2022. Here’s just a taste (so to speak) of what I’ve been learning.

Bourbon tour: Early this year, Flottweg let me join their staff on a tour of three bourbon distillery customers in the Lexington, Ky., area. Buffalo Trace, Bulleit, and Four Roses are all racing to figure out how to keep up with skyrocketing demand.

International Production & Processing Expo: Later in January, it was IPPE in Atlanta, where I learned a lot about technology trends in meat processing, and shot a few videos of equipment on display. Check out the link below for a Take 5 roundup of some of those trends.

TopPop Packaging factory tours: TopPop has seen a growing trend toward the ready-to-drink (RTD) and ready-to-freeze (RTF) space it serves. At the beginning of March, I joined the co-packer’s investors for a tour of its existing and new stateof-the-art facility in New Jersey. It was a peek into how much impact even small amounts of automation can make.

PACK EXPO East: Many of our editors were in Philadelphia for the regional PACK EXPO East in late March. We had all manner of coverage there, much of which you can explore in our print and online pages.

Cheese Expo: By April, I was at the Cheese Expo in Milwaukee, getting my fill of good cheeses as well as some insight into the U.S. dairy industry. Our second link below will take you to a Take 5 video about what I learned there.

BevTech: In Frisco, Texas, in early May, the key theme at BevTech was sustainability. Very interesting insights about the pressures all beverage manufacturers are under to not just pay lip service to a greener way of operating.

Plant-Based Foods & Proteins Summit: In Chicago in midMay, I heard some of the latest from the plant-based movement. In many ways, they seem still to be trying to define themselves and learn what they need from the industry.

See the latest meat processing innovations revealed at IPPE 2022.

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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

Watch video highlights from the Cheese Expo, with a U.S. dairy expert panel.

| June 2022 | www.profoodworld.com

6/1/22 10:49 AM

RIBBON/PADDLE/PLOW BLENDERS HANDLE POWDERS TO PASTES

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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).

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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.

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ROTARY LUMP BREAKERS REDUCE AGGLOMERATES, FRIABLE MATERIALS

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NEWS

IN THE

Sustainability, Supply Chain, Export Markets Key Topics Among Dairy Producers AARON HAND | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

W

HEN THE U.S. DAIRY Export Council was formed almost 27 years ago, the U.S. was exporting only about 2% of its production. Today, it’s closer to 18%. If not for some of the headwinds being created by shipping issues, it would’ve been more like 20% last year, according to Krysta Harden, president and CEO of the council.

“People love our products, they want our products, they want to be able to afford our products,” Harden told an audience at the recent Cheese Expo in Milwaukee.

“It’s up to us whether we’re going to step up and meet that demand.”

Joining Harden on stage for the keynote discussion were a handful of cheese and milk execs—all of whom lamented the supply chain woes that have befallen this industry along with just about every other industry since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. David Ahlem, president and CEO of Hilmar Cheese, says that supply chain issues were a leading challenge for his company. “We’ve been selling a lot of stuff, but we can’t get it to customers right now,” he says.

There’s underlying optimism that goes along with that.

“Customers want to purchase our products even at current price

levels. I’m excited about the longterm demand in the marketplace,” Ahlem says. But there’s also concern that the situation cannot continue if Hilmar wants to continue to get business. “Long term, it affects our ability to be a reliable supplier.

Customers need to know whether we can be that predictable supplier. And we need to be.”

From Harden’s perspective, it’s a concern worth losing sleep over.

“I’m a good sleeper,” she says. “But the thing that wakes me up is this shipping situation.”

It used to be that U.S. dairy producers would export only what they happened to have leftover.

“The industry worked so hard to change that narrative,” she says. “Is there concern that this is going to flip back some of that narrative?”

No, says David Lenzmeier, CEO of Milk Specialties Global. Looking at the outlook in key competing geographies, such as Europe and New Zealand, the capabilities come from North America, he says.

“This is the place to be. We have the most competitive milk producers in the world in terms of size, scale, and efficiency.”

The spread of sustainability The U.S. is in a pretty good position when it comes to the sustain-

FDA Issues Draft Action Levels for Lead in Juice The FDA is moving to limit lead in ready-to-drink apple juice and other single-strength juices and juice blends, supporting its Closer to Zero action plan.

Kind’s Bee-Friendly Almond Sourcing Commitment Progress Since setting its bee-friendly commitment in 2020, Kind has encouraged the expanded usage of bee-friendly practices across the almond industry. Beefriendly farmland in California has grown to more than 125,000 acres.

McCormick Names Brendan Foley as President and COO Brendan Foley has been appointed as McCormick’s chief operating officer and president, effective June 1, when he will assume responsibility for all of McCormick’s business units and its supply chain worldwide.

Mondelēz Plans to Sell Chewing Gum Business Suffering a severe decline in gum brand sales during COVID-19 lockdowns, Mondelēz International announced it’s selling this business segment, including Dentyne, Stride, Trident, and other brands, in developed markets.

Anheuser-Busch to Invest $50 Million in St. Louis Brewery The company is adding a dedicated building that will house new systems and equipment, and upgrading a can line with advanced technical equipment, to expand the site’s seltzer and packaging capabilities and streamline the addition of flavors to the seltzer liquid.

www.profoodworld.com

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5/31/22 3:44 PM

IN THE NEWS

Krysta Harden (right) of the U.S. Dairy Export Council led a panel discussion at the Cheese Expo in Milwaukee.

ability perspective, a narrative that is increasingly spreading from Europe. “We’re globally positioned pretty well, from a productivity and efficiency standpoint,” Ahlem says. “Our greenhouse gas emissions intensity is the lowest in the world.

We beat every other dairy region. And we’ve only just begun that process. We can do more and reduce that going forward.” The U.S. dairy industry owns the science; now it needs to own the narrative, he adds.

The industry needs to use the data it has to tell a better sustainability story, insists Marshall Reece, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Associated Milk Producers. “Dairy farmers have always been sustainable,” he says. “It’s hard to measure or reduce what you aren’t tracking. But we’re doing a much better job of tracking what we’re doing. With data, we can tell a great story.”

Milk Specialties began tracking more of its efforts about five years ago, Lenzmeier notes, beginning to understand better how to send fewer trucks down the road and how to better reutilize water in the plants. “The great thing is there’s always an ROI there—and it’s the right thing to do,” he says. “Everyone’s got to double down on their commitment to sustainability.” Freight and water reuse continue to be at the top of the list for Milk Specialties, he adds.

Having recently published its 12th sustainability report at Hilmer Cheese, Ahlem has seen the evolution along the way. “We were doing some good things, but we weren’t talking about them,” he says.

“Now we’re setting science-based targets, working 10

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toward goals, and providing transparency.”

Asked by an audience member about water reuse in whey production, Ahlem commented that, while it becomes more of a priority in drier regions, it’s always the right thing. “We’re finding new ways to reuse more water,” he says. “As we expand what you can do with that polished water, we have the potential to move to almost a zero water footprint. That’s an aspiration and a goal.

We’re not there yet, but it’s on the horizon.”

Food and worker safety The bar has risen in terms of food safety and sanitation as well, Ahlem says. “Also the technology and sophistication of the products we make,” he adds. “With that also the training and skillset of our workers. We’re also building a culture of food safety in plants.”

The difficulty in finding labor makes all of this more challenging, Ahlem adds. “There’s much more investment in skill and the culture side than we did 10 to 15 years ago,” he says.

The comfort level that employees have gained with Zoom as a result of the pandemic is providing more opportunities for training workers, Lenzmeier says. “We have more tools than ever to do that,” he says. “We also have more tools to manage a lot of challenging situations. Conflict resolution is one of the most important tools a manager has to have.”

Reece adds, “As an industry, we do continue to invest in our people. And our people continue to invest in themselves.”

| June 2022 | www.profoodworld.com

5/31/22 3:45 PM

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6/1/22 11:17 AM

IN THE NEWS

Craft Brew State of the Industry: Is the Pint Glass Half Full or Half Empty?

MATT REYNOLDS | EDITOR, PACKAGING WORLD

T

HE CRAFT BREW INDUSTRY bounced back in 2021, with 8% growth over the unavoidably abysmal pandemic year of 2020. That sounds good, but only if you conveniently ignore 2019 (prepandemic) trend lines. The bounce-back was real, and gains were strong for taprooms, brewpubs, and microbreweries, but the landscape has changed.

Even without the ongoing pandemic reverberations, longer-term demographic and behavioral shifts mean breweries face opportunities, hurdles, and growing new challenges (and challengers).

The biggest picture snapshot doesn’t tell us much: Half of the breweries responding to a Brewers Association survey are at or above their 2019 numbers, and half are at or below. So, it takes some economist-level digging into the numbers to start to see actionable trends.

“Like the proverbial pint half full or empty, you can look at what happened in the past year and have very different views depending on your size, business model, geography, and more,” said Bart Watson, chief economist for the Brewers Association, said in his annual State of the Industry Address at the 2022 Craft Brewers Conference.

“Obviously, our top line number of 8% is a very positive growth number, but it’s cycling a -10% given the huge channel shifts we saw in COVID away from draft, away from at-the-brewery sales. And so what we’re seeing is a rebound as much as true growth.”

Beer ceding territory to competitors While craft beer grew in 2021, the industry has growth challenges. The answer for the largest brewing companies in the country has increasingly been to pivot into products that they see growing: wine, hard liquor, and ready-to-drink (RTD) beverages.

“Some brewers are clearly going to move into these other beverage products, moving into the fourth category and trying to grow like the large brewers into wine, hard liquor, or other beverages.

Others are going to try to stay in beer,” Watsons said.

I think we’re reaching a call-to-action moment for those who really want to grow the beer category.”

Consider the big picture of beverage alcohol share, comparing overall beer (not just craft) to 12

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Bart Watson of the Brewers Association: ‘That mature phase doesn’t mean the end to growth, but what it does mean is that industries are going to need to find innovation.’

overall hard liquor. A few decades ago, beer had nearly a 30-point share lead on hard liquor. Fast forward to today and that lead has largely eroded.

And if these trends continue, beer is no longer going to be the No. 1 alcoholic beverage in the U.S. In a classic example of a maturing market approaching saturation, the total brewery count is still growing, but the pace of growth is slowing.

That’s typical of industries that get rapid innovation and growth, followed by a more mature phase.

“That mature phase doesn’t mean the end to growth, but what it does mean is that industries are going to need to find innovation, new models to break out of that pattern that we’re starting to see emerge of fewer and fewer breweries growing.”

Supply chain challenges “Unfortunately, the last six months have really been a perfect storm in supply chain disruption,” Watson said. “And I see four dimensions right now where we’re getting hit in all directions.”

The first is demand, and the behavioral changes resulting from COVID-19. We experienced a channel shift where consumers stopped going to bars and restaurants, started buying more cans, and now the supply chain is reacting with can availability and price issues. Logistics are another matter, with workforce issues damaging key industries like trucking, and increased costs everywhere. Finally, a double whammy of climate change and war in breadbasket countries like Russia and Ukraine make the basic ingredients of beer harder to get hold of, and pricier. This is especially true for craft brewers who lack the scale and supply chain muscle of their big beer contemporaries.

Craft brewers have been slower than any of their beer peers in passing along costs to consumers.

| June 2022 | www.profoodworld.com

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DESIGN-BUILD SOLUTIONS F E ATU R E D TO PI C

THE NEW WAY TO LOOK AT CONSTRUCTION: CONTINUOUS FLOW

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any industry insiders will quietly tell you that the U.S. lags behind European countries on construction innovation and quality.

They point to poor procurement, siloed and sub-optimized collaboration, and disjointed work as the reason for this inefficiency. But a principle popular in Europe coming to America is that of Continuous Flow, which eliminates waste and adds value to the design and build of food processing plants and distribution centers. The result is a project finished on time, of the highest possible quality, and at the lowest possible overall total cost. The following are key indicators that your design/build partner is implementing the principle of Continuous Flow from start to finish.

Internal collaboration

Designing and constructing food facilities requires collaboration. Unfortunately, many design/build departments – sales, pre-construction, estimating, design, field construction – operate as individual silos. Continuous Flow optimizes these functions, so they collaborate and share information throughout the design and build process to deliver value to the customer.

“When we collaborate, we can see and prevent problems that will affect the customer’s project,” says Brad Barke, President of ESI Group USA, which is implementing Continuous Flow. “That is the value proposition we can offer.”

Plan early with external partners

One would not ask a baker for the recipe after a cake is made. Similarly, a design/build company should bring in vendors and trade partners before a plan is executed to reduce re-work and ensure a faster, lower cost project.

“If these experts are not brought in early, it can become too late for owners to make key decisions about their food processing plant or distribution center,” says Barke.

Rhythmic scheduling

Certain work should occur at a specific place and time.

The sequence of work will enable Continuous Flow. A planning system, such as Takt, can be used by a design/ build company to map this work, identify bottlenecks, build in buffers for the unexpected, and ultimately develop a robust and achievable schedule. This is especially critical operating in today’s supply chain.

“Rhythmically scheduling building materials to be

2021 Beef and Poultry Production

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where and when we need them, at the exact right moment, enables us to plan and prepare proactively versus becoming reactionary victims,” says Jason Schroeder, owner and lead consultant, Elevate Construction IST, a project management consulting company. “We can use Continuous Flow to connect the dots from beginning to end to mitigate and identify risk and take back control of the design/build process.”

Incomplete project means lost sales

Continuous Flow is a new way to look at construction in the U.S. As a food processor and/or distributor, choose a design/build partner that has these processes in place to deliver your project on time and under budget.

“Every day a project is not complete is a day of lost sales for owners,” says Barke. “At the end of the day, that building is only valuable to an owner if it gets built on time, on or under budget, and is the best quality – and they can start reaping revenue benefits.”

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GRANULAR LEVEL PLANNING IDENTIFIES CONSTRUCTION BOTTLENECKS

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SI Group is using the Takt planning solution on a 250,000 sq. ft. design/ build greenfield project for a Midwest beef packer. Takt creates what-if scenarios and maps them in a quick and efficient manner for the project plan. This helps to provide a resource standpoint for each aspect of the project and allows for flexible updating, explains Denise Peters, assistant project manager for ESI Group USA. This system has proven particularly useful for incorporating safety into this design. ESI has been tasked with incorporating state-of-the-art hygienic air units to keep interior and exterior air quality to the safest industry standards. And employee separation considerations have resulted in sanitation stations and socially distanced welfare areas. The new facility will also incorporate more eff icient process equipment and will harvest and process up to 1,200 heads per day.

“Takt is helpful as we plan for the manpower and process activities at any given time and space,” Peters explains. “And, it offers a granular view on all project areas and gives us the ability to move phases and activities quickly to see how all areas are affected by changes.”

She adds that Takt is also a great team-building exercise in that it gets all trade partners involved to val-

CONTACT ESI Group: ESI_template.indd 1

idate that work durations and schedules are correct.

“Having all partners involved minimizes roadblocks during the project.”

Peters says that the traditional critical path method (CPM) of construction does not allow for this type of granular planning. They explain that, with CPM, the project manager generates the draft and sends it out for bidding, but there isn’t review with everyone at the same time and no consensus to ensure something isn’t missed or considered.

“Today’s construction market is challenging and competitive and requires upfront work and a good team,” she concludes. “Continuous improvement allows us to become more efficient and become better business partners for our clients, trade partners, and co-workers.”

Find us at an event: esigroupusa.com/about-esi/events Talk to us: esigroupusa.com/contact-us or call (866) 369-3535 6/2/22 3:28 PM

Great Resignation Driving Employee Poaching SEAN RILEY | SENIOR NEWS DIRECTOR, PMMI MEDIA GROUP

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T PMMI’S TOP TO TOP SUMMIT in March, CPGs were almost unanimous in pinpointing as a critical challenge the labor shortage caused by employees not returning to work after COVID-induced shutdowns. Furthermore, turnover of staff who have returned is high.

While quit rates in manufacturing are lower than in certain poorly paid service sectors, the number of people leaving manufacturing jobs accelerated from 1.9% of the workforce in August 2020 to 2.5% in August 2021—a loss of more than 80,000 workers in an industry that was already in crisis mode pre-pandemic. To make matters worse, many CPGs continue to cite a lack of skilled labor capable of operating and troubleshooting complex machinery.

“We continue to struggle with workforce shortages and the difficulty in training on equipment,” one respondent notes. “As things become more complicated, it becomes more difficult to ‘plug and play’ when training new employees.”

CPGs suggested that OEMs need to provide more and better online training resources. But training takes time, and staff turnover—even of trained staff—continues to rise. As a result, facili-

ties are racing faster to poach each other’s workers to increase production.

CPGs consider automation the long-term solution to the labor shortage as long as the technology also engages staff, keeping them on board.

“We need to automate every operation we can,” one CPG team leader says. “Frankly, any manual operation is being discussed, as labor appears to be a challenge for the foreseeable future.”

The situation is already critical in some areas.

Food industry production lines are reportedly standing idle because of a lack of staffing, where processors specifically pinpointed high retirement rates.

Visier data from January to August 2021 highlights that it’s not just young people quitting jobs. There has been a significant increase in the number of people leaving in the 40-to-45-year-old age group and who have five to 15 years of tenure.

Read more about labor and other key issues in the full PMMI Business Intelligence report, 2022 Shaping the Future of Packaging Operations.

Packaging and Processing Hall of Fame Deadline Extended

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HIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE to nominate someone who made a difference in your packaging or processing career, or someone who made a positive impact on the industry as a whole. The prestigious Packaging & Processing Hall of Fame has extended its deadline for nominations for the 2022 Inductee Class to July 1, 2022.

The Packaging & Processing Hall of Fame recognizes career packaging and processing professionals for their significant contributions to the industry and education. The honor, which PMMI coordinates, has been awarded since 1971.

The Packaging & Processing Hall of Fame is the top honor a packaging or processing professional can receive in his or her career. Past inductees are packaging leaders who have dedicated themselves to the industry through expanding knowledge

and volunteer leadership and have personally advanced the field of packaging.

Nominations are simple and quick. Just visit www.pmmi.org/hall-of-fame, and be prepared to respond to how your nominee has done one or all of the following: • Advanced the science, technology and practice of packaging or processing • Expanded packaging or processing knowledge and understanding beyond the industry • Been a remarkable volunteer leader in the packaging and processing community After July 1, a committee of prominent industry leaders will carefully weigh submissions and select the 2022 Packaging & Processing Hall of Fame Induction Class, to be honored on October 24 at PACK EXPO International. www.profoodworld.com

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OPX INTEL BUILDING PROJECT SUCCESS STEPHEN C. SCHLEGEL | CO-FOUNDER, MANAGING PARTNER, FSO INSTITUTE

Automating Your Plant Is a Marathon, Not a Sprint An automation roadmap identifies the key steps that help define the process of developing your automation strategy and includes a formal decision-making process on how to proceed properly.

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OU PROBABLY WOULDN’T wake up one day and decide to compete in a marathon.

It takes planning, training, preparation, and commitment. Automating your plant is no different.

For example, consider the technology in the car you drive. It generally works the first time, every time, and meets your expectations.

Why can’t it be that way in the plant? Fundamentally, your car has been designed and assembled as one complete package. Your plant and workforce have evolved over the years. Chances are, you have an interesting blend of legacy equipment with new lines and changing workforce demographics.

You may think you’re stuck, but the truth is you need to discover where you are on your automation journey and design plans that help you get to where you need be.

Most automation projects fail because, too frequently, basic questions like these aren’t addressed: • • • •

Where do I start?

Are my people ready?

How will it pay for itself?

What is critical to my business?

To help bring some clarity to this complex problem of launching (or relaunching) your automation journey, FSO Institute asked John Giles, former engineering manager for Amway, to share his insights.

His responsibilities at Amway included developing and leading the company’s automation teams in robotics and line modernizations, while engaging with plant personnel at all level of the company.

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FSO INSTITUTE: What is a brief explanation of the automation roadmap?

GILES: The automation roadmap defines key steps to help define the process of developing an automation strategy. The roadmap uses the toll gate process (an effective project management tool), where each toll gate is a review or decision point that provides for communication, oversight, and a formal decision-making process on how to proceed.

The first step, discovery, is all about using your specific manufacturing data, along with surveys to help identify where to start. Once the path is identified, the second step, the feasibility assessment, digs more deeply into specific deliverables and a rough order of magnitude costs and justification, and sets guidelines for the potential project. The next step, strategy development, dives more deeply into project specifics, with the goal to deliver a project scope, capital requirements, and financial justification. The fourth step is proof of concept, which is the automation project execution phase and is typically the longest phase due to equipment and startup timing. The last step is to evaluate and replicate, which essentially applies lessons learned to roll out additional automation projects.

FSO INSTITUTE: Many automation projects fail to meet stakeholder expectations. According to many experts, companies are drawn to the excitement of that shiny, new object and overlook those crucial problems that need resolution. Can you provide more insight into the value of the discovery phase?

GILES: The discovery step is crucial, as it helps narrow down the right automation strategy for your situation and focuses attention on a specific

| June 2022 | www.profoodworld.com

6/1/22 8:30 AM

project that will yield results where most needed.

Every automation application is different, and this step allows the team to gather important information and to get everyone on board with the overall direction. By using production data, forecasts, corporate strategy, and survey data, this step helps create the approach that makes the most sense and will yield the most benefit.

Another key step during the discovery phase is identifying and evaluating resources at all levels to ensure they’re available. Internally, this includes manufacturing, engineering, maintenance, safety, quality, purchasing, and yes, human resources. Externally, this would include integrators, programmers, suppliers, fabricators, machining, etc. Competent individuals and companies are a requirement for automation success, and in our experience, these resources are typically underestimated at the beginning of the project.

FSO INSTITUTE: What will the feasibility assessment phase provide the company?

GILES: The feasibility assessment is typically the most creative portion of the roadmap and is one of the best times to look at different methods of applying automation to the specific area in need.

An example would be to address the specific bottleneck areas on a packaging line, whether they’re due to equipment problems, manpower, or potentially safety concerns. Casepacking and palletizing are typically common areas, as they tend to cover all three of these bottleneck areas.

Many solutions can be investigated during this phase, followed by some key decisions to narrow down the best approach, so the team isn’t spending valuable time on solutions that may not be viable.

The challenge here is not to get too detailed during the feasibility assessment. The goal is to deliver a framework for a business plan, with ballpark project costs and a schedule, to help decide whether the project should proceed to the next step. A competent project lead is important to keep the team functioning at the correct level and leaving the specific details to be defined during the strategy development step.

For these reasons, a project charter is viewed as a key deliverable at this step in the process, particularly as it defines both what is included and excluded in the overall project. This is important at this stage, as it creates a formal agreement and method of communicating exactly what the overall objective is and what will be delivered in the overall project.

I remember a comment Greg Flickinger, senior www.profoodworld.com

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| June 2022 | PROFOOD WORLD

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OPX INTEL BUILDING PROJECT SUCCESS

vice president operations and supply chain of Green Thumb Industries, noted in a previous article: “To make a meaningful impact on the organization’s performance, our teams must also have the resources to take action. The resources of today are centered in technology—technology in the form of tools, data, and analytics. Technology is the great enabler, accelerating results and cementing sustainment, when [it is] placed on a solid foundation of empowered and skilled teams.” This previous article can be found at pfwgo.to/nbUXx. The best way to get started is to plan thoroughly in the discovery and feasibility assessment phases. To train smartly for your success, select a meaningful and manageable project that will build confidence and establish an early win, leading to an eventual track record of wins. This is important for the people involved and, more importantly, in setting and engaging your culture for automation

success. As you build competency through these wins, you’ll find that those larger and more complex automation projects will become very achievable.

It’s the straightforward concept of learning to walk before you run, and don’t forget to prepare for the unexpected.

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 over-

Read previous comments on technology from Greg Flickinger and other industry experts.

all manufacturing health and collaboration with OEMs and other suppliers. Learn more at www.opxleadershipnetwork.org and www.fsoinstitute.com.

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PACKAGING TECHNOLOGY ANNE MARIE MOHAN |

SENIOR EDITOR, PACKAGING WORLD

Coca-Cola, Suntory Cross the Finish Line for 100% Plant-Based Bottles After more than a decade of rigorous R&D work and significant investments with their respective partners, Coca-Cola and Suntory each unveil first-of-their-kind beverage bottle prototypes made from 100% bio-based PET.

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INCE 2009, when Coca-Cola announced the launch of the first PET bottle made partially from plants, the race has been on among beverage brands to crack the code on developing a commercially viable, 100% bio-based PET bottle with the same functionality as a petroleum-based bottle. Earlier attempts by other drink companies to use bioplastics—specifically cornbased polylactic acid—for beverage PHOTO COURTESY OF COCA-COLA bottles had proven disappointing to invest $750 million in a biomass manufacturing because the material lacked stability and contamifacility in Louisiana. nated PET recycling streams. So, when Coca-Cola’s In 2012, Japan-based Suntory Holdings, whose PlantBottle, made partially from a “drop-in” bioplastic more well-known brands include Orangina, having identical properties to virgin PET, including reSchweppes, Ribena, and Lucozade, became the new cyclability, came on the scene, it was a game-changer. challenger when it entered into a strategic partnerThe first PlantBottle was 30% bio-based, using ship with bio-sourced chemical company Anellotech Braskem’s sugarcane ethanol; the other 70% used to develop and commercialize a cost-competitive, petroleum-based chemicals. At the time of the 100% bio-based plastic beverage bottle. In 2013, it launch, Coca-Cola made it known that its vision was introduced its own partially plant-based PET bottle, to continue innovating to achieve a bottle made 30% of which was derived from molasses. with 100% plant-waste material while remaining Now, more than a decade after the first PlantBottle completely recyclable. hit retail shelves, and after years of research, pilots, In 2011, PepsiCo announced it had developed a prototypes, and investments, both Coca-Cola and prototype “green PET bottle,” which it said was the Suntory have unveiled 100% plant-based PET bottle world’s first PET plastic bottle made entirely from prototypes, each through different partnerships and bio-based raw materials, including switchgrass, technologies, ready for commercial scale-up. pine bark, and corn husks. Its goal was to commercialize the packaging by 2012, but news of the initiative quickly faded.

Coca-Cola innovates and refines In 2018, PepsiCo joined the NaturALL Bottle PET consists of two molecules: mono-ethylene Alliance, a research consortium formed one year glycol (MEG) and terephthalic acid (PTA), which earlier by Danone, Nestlé Waters, and bio-based respectively make up 30% and 70% of the polymer material development company Origin Materials to by weight. PTA is produced by the oxidization of accelerate the development a bio-PET bottle. Since an aromatic chemical called paraxylene. For both then, there has been no news from the alliance, Coca-Cola and Suntory, the route to finding a bioalthough in early 2022, Origin announced plans based replacement for MEG was a short one. The www.profoodworld.com

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Coca-Cola produced a limited run of 900 bottles made from 100% bio-based materials, using two newly developed technologies.

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road to developing a cost-competitive, commercially viable plant-based replacement for PTA, which required the development of bio-based paraxylene (bPX), was much longer.

Coca-Cola’s journey also involved several detours before the company found the best path to a bPET (biomass PET) bottle. In 2015, after its PlantBottle had been on the market for six years, Coca-Cola unveiled its first 100% bPET bottle prototype, produced at laboratory scale, at the World Expo in Milan. The bottle was made from two renewable feedstocks: sugarcane-based MEG from Braskem, and bPX made using sugar from corn from Coca-Cola partner Virent. The prototype proved a fully bio-based PET bottle was possible, but it was not ready for commercialization.

With its recently unveiled bPET bottle, CocaCola has moved from sugarcane, which is also used to produce bioethanol, to wood-based biochemicals to produce bio-based MEG (bMEG). “The inherent challenge with going through bioethanol is that you are competing with fuel,” explains Dana Bred, global R&D director of packaging and sustainability for Coca-Cola. “We needed a next-generation MEG solution that addressed this challenge, but also one that could use second-generation feedstock like forestry waste or agricultural byproducts.”

The technology behind the production of the bMEG was co-developed by Coca-Cola and Changchun Meihe Science & Technology and is based on feedstock that cannot be used as a food source—specifically hardwood taken from sawmill side streams and forest thinnings. According to Coca-Cola, “The technology takes a sugar source and removes the step of creating ethanol as part of the conversion process to produce plant-based MEG. This means the process is simpler than incumbent processes and provides flexibility in feedstock choice.”

The technology was validated at demonstration scale in 2017. Currently, Finland-based paper producer UPM is building the world’s first biorefinery to produce wood-based biochemicals using this jointly developed technology. The biorefinery will use beechwood from regional forests, as well as residues from the sawmill industry, to produce a range of biochemicals, including bMEG. The facility is expected to be operational by the end of this year, with a total annual capacity of 220,000 metric tons.

The bPX portion of the bottle prototype is made using the same material Coca-Cola employed for its 2015 bottle: Virent’s BioFormPX. Coca-Cola’s relationship with Virent dates back to 2011, when the beverage giant announced multimillion-dollar partnerships with three biotech firms, one being Virent, 20

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PHOTO COURTESY OF SUNTORY

PACKAGING TECHNOLOGY

Suntory unveiled a bottle for its Orangina brand that uses 100% plant-based PET, produced in cooperation with Anellotech.

to accelerate the development of bio-based plastics.

In 2014, Coca-Cola made an additional investment to support an expansion of Virent’s demonstration plant capability to help scale up the separation and purification steps of the BioFormPX production process and produce larger quantities of the material.

BioFormPX is produced through Virent’s patented BioForming catalytic process, which converts aqueous carbohydrate solutions into mixtures of drop-in hydrocarbons. The process has been demonstrated with conventional sugars obtained from existing sugar sources such as corn and sugarcane, as well as a wide variety of cellulosic biomass sources. The bPX for the Coca-Cola prototype was produced at Virent’s facility in Madison, Wis., using sugar from corn that was then converted to plantbased terephthalic acid (bPTA).

According to Coca-Cola, lifecycle analysis (LCA) studies for the commercial production of Virent’s bPX indicate up to a 75% reduction in carbon emissions compared with petroleum-based paraxylene, with the potential to achieve net-zero or better reductions in the future.

Alpek Polyester produced the bPET for the prototype bottles, 900 of which were manufactured and filled within The Coca-Cola System. “We have been working with technology partners for many years to develop the right technologies to create a bottle with 100% plant-based content—aiming for the lowest possible carbon footprint—and it’s exciting that we have reached a point where these technologies exist and can be scaled by participants in the value chain,” says Nancy Quan, chief technical and innovation officer for Coca-Cola.

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Suntory comes in a very close second In early December 2021, Suntory revealed it had also successfully created a prototype bPET bottle, ready for commercial scale-up. The prototype was produced for the company’s Orangina brand in Europe as well as its Suntory Tennesui mineral water in Japan.

The bottle is the result of Suntory’s 10-year strategic partnership with Anellotech, into which Suntory has invested $25 million. Anellotech’s proprietary Bio-TCat thermal catalytic biomass conversion technology produces BTX aromatic chemicals—benzene, toluene, and xylenes, including the paraxylene needed for PTA—from loblolly pine wood chips.

“We saw two key competitive advantages in Anellotech’s technology,” notes Tsunehiko Yokoi, senior general manager of Suntory’s packaging department. “First, it uses non-food feedstock such as wood chips, avoiding competition with the food supply chain. Second, compared to other technologies used by other companies, it includes a simple process of converting biomass to aromatics, such as paraxylene, in one step by using a single pyrolysis process and catalysts. The technology also has a competitive advantage in terms of cost, carbon emissions, and future potential.”

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According to Anellotech, an in-depth LCA conducted by Jacobs Engineering Group of its BioTCat process revealed that the process has a CO2 emission-reduction potential of 70% or more when compared to petroleum-derived equivalents.

The first successful production of bPX by Anellotech was at its Silsbee, Texas-based TCat-8 pilot plant in 2019. Along with its joint development partners, IFPEN and Axens, Anellotech processed the renewably sourced aromatics into high-purity bPX. At the time, the samples produced were found to meet all of the ASTM International specifications for downstream derivatives in conversion to PET. In late 2021, the TCat-8 pilot plant produced the bPX used for Suntory’s 100% plant-based prototype bottles. Suntory says the next step is to commercialize the bottle as soon as possible to meet its goal of using only 100% plant-based or recycled PET bottles globally by 2030. “In order to commercialize this technology, we will need an external partner to build a commercialized plant, and this requires time for thorough consideration,” Yokoi says.

In the meantime, Suntory has an exclusive license through Anellotech for a contracted period of time to use the bPX to make PET. “However, other com-

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PACKAGING TECHNOLOGY

panies will be able to use this for other applications, such as polyester and fiber,” Yokoi says.

Why bio-based bottles?

When Coca-Cola first introduced the PlantBottle, sustainability in packaging was a different conversation, mostly focused on carbon emissions, climate change, and preserving limited natural resources.

Back then, bioplastics were seen as a silver-bullet technology, the answer to decoupling packaging from petroleum. But times have changed, and so has the sustainability discussion. In the past several years, the focus has shifted dramatically to the damage plastic pollution has wrought on the environment, especially on the world’s waterways. This has prompted brands to make commitments around decreasing their use of single-use plastics or eliminating them entirely, particularly virgin plastics.

With this new focus, enthusiasm over bioplastics began to wane, especially as questions emerged as to whether they actually were lower in GHGs and as the costs of virgin plastics stabilized. The slow adoption of the technology also meant a significant premium for those companies interested in using the materials for their packaging. But the news

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from Coca-Cola and Suntory that they are ready to pursue commercial scale-up of bPET bottles has brought the conversation full circle. As brands struggle to source the needed supply of recycled PET to meet their virgin plastic-reduction goals, bioplastics can provide a complementary path for them to meet their commitments.

“From an environmental standpoint, our basic approach is to use as much rPET as possible. But since used PET bottles cannot be fully recovered due to reasons such as loss at the time of collecting and purifying back to food-grade level, we will always need to compensate that loss with an alternative sustainable material,” Yokoi says.

For Coca-Cola, its World Without Waste vision, which includes a goal of using 3 million fewer tons of virgin plastic from oil-based sources by 2025, depends on a range of strategies. Among them are new recycling technologies, packaging improvements, and alternative business models such as refillable systems, as well as the development of new, renewable materials. In Europe and Japan, Coca-Cola aims to eliminate the use of oil-based virgin PET from plastic bottles altogether by 2030, using only recycled or renewable materials.

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MANUFACTURING INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR JOYCE FASSL | SENIOR EXECUTIVE EDITOR

MARK ANTHONY BREWING Goes for the Gold Standard The largest and most technologically advanced brewery built in the U.S. in the past 28 years, a 1.3 million-sq-ft highly automated, fast-track greenfield facility wins a Manufacturing Innovation Award from ProFood World.

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OLUMBIA, S.C., is the home of Mark Anthony Brewing’s (MAB) newest stateof-the-art brewery. The company needed to quickly expand production capacity as demand continued to grow for White Claw Hard Seltzer, Mike’s Hard Lemonade, Mike’s HARDER, Cayman Jack Cocktails, and MXD Cocktails.

MAB is the fourth largest brewer in the U.S. and provides supply chain management and brewing services for The Mark Anthony Group of Companies, an international drinks company with a portfolio of beverage brands.

During the global pandemic, while other busi-

nesses paused operations or were implementing cost-savings measures, MAB took a different approach. The private, entrepreneurial company made the decision to invest $1.4 billion in its three breweries and to construct the most technologically advanced brewery built in the U.S. in the past 28 years to support the demand for White Claw Hard Seltzer. The largest of these facilities is the new $490 million, 1.3 million-sq-ft state-of-the-art brewery and packaging facility in Columbia.

The MAB site selection task force looked at 18 possible locations in five states and narrowed the field down to two locations, according to the www.profoodworld.com

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MAB’s new facility makes Mike’s Hard Lemonade, White Claw Hard Seltzer, and other ready to drink brands and will provide increased capacity to keep up with consumer demand in the eastern U.S. PHOTO COURTESY OF MARK ANTHONY BREWING

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MANUFACTURING INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR

Variety packs are placed in final cartons that are loaded and palletized again, ready to send to market.

PHOTO BY SAM FENTRESS

brewing company. One of the primary reasons MAB decided to build in Columbia was the spirit of collaboration and engagement from the State of South Carolina, the Department of Commerce, and the Richland County Economic Development Council that embraced its vision and timeline to transform the location from initial concept to a fully operational facility in record time.

A project of this size would normally take four to six years to plan and build. MAB’s ambitious timeline saw the site transform from initial groundbreak to production of the first saleable case of product in just 346 days.

To fast-track the project, MAB required an integrated design-build team to make its vision come to fruition. The brewer chose engineering firm Clayco to meet the speed and high build quality experience needed for the challenging project.

A high-speed completion timeframe was demanding for all project partners, explains Joe Crawford, Clayco project manager for the facility design. “Creating the engineering and getting the equipment ordered and shipped in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic was a huge challenge,” he says. In fact, construction began just 30 days after the project was awarded to Clayco, and substantial

Get to Know White Claw WHITE CLAW is a ready-to-drink alcoholic beverage that was introduced in the U.S. in 2016. It is the No. 1 hard seltzer brand in the U.S., featuring a variety of natural flavors, only 100 calories, 1 g of sugar, and 5% alcohol. It was developed in Ireland by Mark Anthony Brands International and follows Mike’s Hard Lemonade and other brands that have created and disrupted traditional beverage categories. In the summer of 2019, White Claw accounted for more than half of all total hard seltzer sales in the U.S. New flavors were introduced for the U.S. market in 2020 and 2021 along with iced tea seltzers and an 8% alcohol version brand called Surge. White Claw Hard Seltzer Surf is MAB’s newest product.

White Claw is made from a blend of seltzer water, a gluten-free alcohol base, cane sugar, and a hint of natural fruit flavor. MAB has manufacturing operations in Glendale, Ariz.; Hillside, N.J.; and the new plant in Columbia, S.C.

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| June 2022 | www.profoodworld.com

6/1/22 8:35 AM

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MANUFACTURING INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR

PHOTO COURTESY OF MARK ANTHONY BREWING

WORKERS ON SITE DURING PEAK CONSTRUCTION

ACRES OF LAND

600+

EMPLOYEE AND FAMILY PARK 29 acres with 200 trees

SIZE AND SCOPE OF THE COLUMBIA PROJECT

planted and

$4 million

invested in landscaping

SHIPPING BAYS

69

160

LASER GUIDED VEHICLES

EMPLOYEES

310

LINES 4 can lines 1 glass line 2 can variety

pack lines 1 glass variety pack line

46

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Cartons of Surf, the newest MAB product that combines various flavors of White Claw, roll off the packaging line.

completion was reached in less than a year.

At peak production, the facility can produce 6 million barrels of finished product and package 80 million cases per year, with a packaging speed of almost 1,000 barrels per hour. A glass bottling line fills 50,000 bottles per hour. The Columbia facility produces White Claw Hard Seltzer, Mike’s Hard Lemonade, Mike’s HARDER, and Cayman Jack Cocktails, and will provide the increased capacity to keep up with consumer demand in the eastern U.S. MAB conducted its first meeting with Clayco in October 2020. A month later, MAB gave Clayco approval to proceed on the greenfield project. With groundbreaking in December 2020, process installation began in April 2021. By using point cloud modeling, Clayco created an online replica of the facility in a 3D environment, providing MAB and its project partners access to a fully immersive plant before the plant was fully operational.

Collaboration fast-tracks installation MAB carefully assembled teams of engineers and international OEMs on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. The complex project was purpose-designed and -built with technology that in part had to be

| June 2022 | www.profoodworld.com

6/1/22 8:35 AM

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MANUFACTURING INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR

PHOTO COURTESY OF MARK ANTHONY BREWING

2022 Manufacturing Innovation Awards at PACK EXPO International

The presentation of ProFood World’s sixth annual manufacturing innovation awards is planned for Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022, during PACK EXPO International at McCormick Place in Chicago.

The 2022 winners are: ■ Mark Anthony Brewing: The 1.3-million-sq-ft highly automated, fast-track greenfield brewery located in Columbia, S.C., is the largest brewery built in the U.S. in the past 28 years. It produces White Claw Hard Seltzer, Mike’s Hard Lemonade, and other beverages.

■

Sugarlands Distilling: The $28 million expansion project features state-of-the-art automation that streamlines operations and delivers increased throughput, quality, and asset utilization for the Kodak, Tenn., facility that produces moonshine, rum, cream liqueurs and rye whiskey.

Learn more at www.pfwgo.to/mia.

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KHS supplied two variety pack can filling lines that can produce a four-flavor or six-flavor product mix into the final packaging.

developed and designed as the facility was being built. Throughout it all, safety and high-quality build standards were paramount.

To accomplish its goal, MAB had to throw out convention and work hand-in-hand with partners to engineer, design and innovate at lightening speed.

From the outset, MAB challenged its partners to think differently and innovate in ways they had never done before. In some instances, the project included competing suppliers that focused on fufilling MAB’s vision.

Ziemann Holvrieka oversaw the project’s processing technology and worked in close contact with packaging line suppliers KHS and Krones to coordinate all items on the pipe rack into the building, the location of feeds, and utilities that each pipe required.

“Getting the space ready for the OEMs—Krones, KHS, and Ziemann Holvrieka—was one of our biggest challenges,” says Daniel Botts, Clayco project director. “We broke ground on Dec. 1, and we turned approximately 40,000 sq ft over to Ziemann on April 15. One month later, we turned over about 400,000 sq ft to the Krones and KHS teams.”

Ziemann Holvrieka provided 56 purpose-built stainless-steel tanks, with total capacity to hold nearly 4 million gallons of liquid. The tanks traveled by barge down Germany’s Rhine River, where they were loaded on a vessel and shipped to the Port of Charleston. Then the tanks had to take a very specific, safe route to arrive at the MAB site in Columbia, which is more than 100 miles from the harbor.

The tanks have about a 2,000-hectoliter capacity, equivalent to 1,700 barrels. “The outside diameter is a little over 4 m, which is the max that you could put on a truck and ship down a highway and, hopefully, not have to remove traffic lights and other things along way,” states Greg Norris, sales and business development director, North America for Ziemann Holvrika.

On-the-fly variety packing is unique, high-tech Krones provided the bottle filling lines running 50,000 bottles an hour, according to Krones Project Manager Dylan Hansen, and the variety pack line that includes different flavors of Mike’s Hard and Cayman Jack, for example.

“One of MAB’s growing products is beverages in glass bottles,” states Claudius Eichhorn, Krones AG

| June 2022 | www.profoodworld.com

6/1/22 8:40 AM

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MANUFACTURING INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR

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Ingredients like flavors and sweeteners are unloaded via a rail spur at MAB’s Columbia facility.

PHOTO COURTESY OF MARK ANTHONY BREWING

project manager. “We can make the single-flavor glass packs for the Mike’s Hard and Cayman Jack products,” he says. “At the same time on the same line, we can make variety packs, which are four different flavors in the same carton of Mike’s Hard.”

The Krones line also integrates the variety packs into the line that makes the single flavors in nonreturnable glass bottles.

The facility contains two Krones Varioline machines, which combine up to six machines into one to create cartons and six packs. “We have a work-in-progress depalletizer that separates the four flavors into certain streams, that then feeds to the Varioline to create various 24 packs,” Hansen explains.

Packs can be either single stream, single flavor for a Mike’s Hard or Cayman Jack’s six pack, or four flavors for a 24 pack, for example.

KHS provided technology solutions for the facility’s four mono pack lines. “There are four can lines that will drain at 90,000 cans per hour each, and the heart of those systems is our DVD 144 filler,” says Jayme Flood, KHS senior project manager.

“It’s top-of-the-line performance,” he adds, “and I think that’s one of the main reasons that MAB selected KHS for these can lines.” The filling system is enclosed in a hygienic housing.

KHS also supplied two variety pack can filling lines that can produce a four-flavor or six-flavor product mix into the final packaging, explains Jens

BUILDING MATERIALS AND CONSTRUCTION STATISTICS 27 MILES of stainless-steel piping 33 MILES of steel roof framing and racks 56 PURPOSE-BUILT STAINLESS-STEEL TANKS with total capacity to hold nearly 4 million gallons of liquid 126,000 TONS of concrete A RAIL SPUR built specifically to connect the plant to the main railway line STATE-OF-THE-ART ENERGY-EFFICIENT UTILITIES POWER with backup systems to ensure the facility remains in operation 24/7 32

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| June 2022 | www.profoodworld.com

6/1/22 8:40 AM

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MANUFACTURING INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR

Brenner, KHS USA director of sales administration development.

“In the depalletizing area, materials flow from the warehouse, because we have mono flavor packages like only cherry or mango coming in, and

MAB Suppliers Among PACK EXPO International Exhibitors The following suppliers are exhibiting at PACK EXPO International, Oct. 23-25, 2022, at Chicago’s McCormick Place.* Alfa Laval

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it’s unloaded in the depalletizer,” Brenner states.

“Then, with other flavor mix the LGV [laser-guided vehicle] is providing, we create a package of four different flavors, like mango, black cherry, lemon, and another flavor.”

Automated, integrated packaging systems provide flexibility Cans enter the warehouse on a pallet with no lid ends. The E80 automated warehouse system brings the product based on a call from the control system.

The facility contains automated tunnels to the warehouse, where the E80 LGVs bring product to the packaging area as required. The automated warehouse takes finished goods away based on whether it’s a mono product (single-flavor product) or a product for a variety pack system with multi-flavors.

In between the two KHS canning lines is a lane providing LGVs access to both lines. These packaging lines are mirrored but operate in a combined manner, so plant floor operators can move and access the lines. Both lines are capable of running 120,000 cans an hour. “It’s a huge capacity, and it’s very unique,” says Brenner.

The integrated packaging system allows greater

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flexibility. Operators run the equipment and load raw materials into the automated delivery systems. On the filler side, an operator takes a sleeve of lids from the pallet delivered by the E80 LGV and places it in a lidding machine. On the packer side, cardboard blanks are delivered by LGV, and an operator takes the cardboard blanks and loads them on the machine. “There are no humans on fork trucks,” says Flood.

Pre-equipment build-out and schedule The 1.3 million-sq-ft, highly automated fast-track greenfield facility features a 300,000-sq-ft brewing area and a 400,000-sq-ft packaging area. In the five-month period prior to turnover, Clayco got the slabs poured and epoxy flooring installed prior to the OEMs starting their work. A monumental effort was made on design to coordinate the flows, determining which drives were required, sizing the pipe, and completing concrete sloping to accommodate foot adjustments to keep the equipment level.

At week 20 of the project, about 60,000 sq ft were ready for brewery equipment. Four weeks later, Clayco turned over the initial, big area to the packaging suppliers and some additional brewery areas. As the 400,000-sq-ft space was ready for

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the packaging vendors, Clayco continued to build the warehouse.

Tanks for the Columbia facility were fabricated in Germany by Ziemann Holvrieka. “Each tank base had 5-ft-long bolts that stuck up through a concrete roof. These tanks had to line up with the holes that were in the bottom,” states Norris.

“You can imagine when that first tank was in the sky over top of this tank table, and the fact its 12 bolt holes went right through those 12 holes perfectly created a huge sigh of relief for a lot of people,” Crawford says.

At other MAB facilities, tanks are mounted to the ground, and essentially, each tank has its own enclosure room. At the new Columbia facility, a tank table allows for pumps and piping underneath it. “All the tanks are insulated and jacketed, and glycol runs through the jackets to cool down the fermentation process a little bit,” states Crawford.

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MANUFACTURING INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR

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MAB’s greenfield facility in Columbia, S.C., is the largest and most technologically advanced brewery built in the U.S. in the last 28 years.

PHOTO COURTESY OF MARK ANTHONY BREWING

YOUR

HARD SELTZER BRAND

Along with the tanks, Ziemann Holvrieka supplied a spiral staircase that interconnects the catwalks on top. The tanks sit on a 20-ft raised concrete slab provided by Clayco. “They don’t have anything supporting them except the roof of this concrete bunker or gable. It leaves this beautiful open space underneath for all the equipment that needs to pump everything in and out of the tanks,” explains Norris. “It also serves as a perfect structure on which we could seamlessly integrate all of the utility tie-ins, which included extensive electrical, refrigeration, and steam generation options.”

Most of the utilities were completed by the Clayco team, who collaborated on installation of the

boilers and chillers with Ziemann Holvrieka, KHS, and Krones for their line requirements. A lot of the chilling load is for the plant’s 24 jacketed fermenters, plus chilled water needs in the packaging area.

Sustainability is a passion at MAB The underground sewers are attached to the lift station with different pipes. “There are four 250 gallon a minute pumps back to the wastewater treatment plant,” states Crawford. “They pump up to 6,900 gallons a minute back to that plant.”

A moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) tank treats the solid waste. The waste goes through a dissolved air flotation (DAF) system and through a centrifuge

CONGRATULATIONS TO MARK ANTHONY BREWING ON RECEIVING PROFOOD WORLD’S MANUFACTURING INNOVATION AWARD! WE ARE PROUD TO BE YOUR PARTNER!

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that solidifies it into a dumpster. Finally, a truck hauls the solids away.

Another sustainable aspect of the plant is eliminating emissions instead of buying CO2. “The ultimate goal here is to be 100% self-sufficient by collecting the CO2 that’s produced during fermentation, storing it, and then reusing it at the end of the process to carbonate the product,” says Crawford.

As a family business, MAB is passionate about sustainability. In fact, the brewer invested $10 million to install a system that captures all CO2 emissions and recycles them to supply 90% of its CO2 requirements. MAB also invested $15 million on an advanced technology for its wastewater management system.

Alfa Laval www.alfalaval.us

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Krones www.krones.com

Centec www.centec-usa.com

Inductive Automation www.inductiveautomation.com

LSI www.logicalsysinc.com

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KHS www.khs.com

Ziemann Holvrieka www.ziemann-holvrieka.com

ŽŶŐƌĂƚƵůĂƟŽŶƐ Mark Anthony Brewing Company DĂŶƵĨĂĐƚƵƌŝŶŐ /ŶŶŽǀĂƟŽŶ ǁĂƌĚ tŝŶŶĞƌ

Pushing the boundaries The new facility has already generated more than 300 new jobs in South Carolina.

To create an environment that focuses on health and wellness for its team members, MAB has purchased additional land adjacent to the site and dedicated more than 29 acres to build parkland and a recreation area with a pond and walking paths for employees. More than 200 trees have been planted and MAB committed a further $4 million for landscaping.

With the current manufacturing labor shortage, MAB has created a supportive, people-first culture that gives employees the opportunity to build progressive and rewarding careers and provides continuous investments in training and skills development.

One of the most outstanding aspects of the project was its completion during COVID-19. MAB pushed the boundaries to create this facility while ensuring the safety and well-being of everyone involved.

MAB says it is important to acknowledge and thank every tradesperson who worked on the site during the pandemic, in what was an enormously stressful and unprecedented period in our lifetime.

With an integrated packaging system, state-of-the-art processing, and a highly automated process in place, MAB is well positioned to continue its winning streak of pioneering new beverage categories and creating inspirational beverage brands. www.profoodworld.com

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| June 2022 | www.profoodworld.com

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2022

Manufacturing Innovation Award Supplier Profiles

Sanitary valves, fittings and accessories Sanitary Solutions is THE GO-TO-SOURCE for stainless steel sanitary fittings, gaskets, hangers, tubing and custom fabrications. Serving bakery, beverage, cosmetic, dairy, food process industries and stocking distributors.

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American made heat exchangers Achieving the balance between energy efficiency, optimal performance, and dependability is a complicated equation that is easily solved with Thermaline’s decades of industry experience, and the understanding of your process needs.

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Individual Process Technology & Tank Solutions ZIEMANN HOLVRIEKA provides tailor-made tanks and process technology for the beer, beverage and liquid food industries from a single source. The services are offered worldwide, with the highest quality. ZIEMANN HOLVRIEKA has been a reliable partner for over 170 years.

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TECH TODAY SUPPLY CHAIN INTELLIGENCE HANK HOGAN | CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

How to Tame an Unpredictable Supply Chain

PHOTO COURTESY OF DELMIAWORKS

Supplies are being disrupted both coming and going for food and beverage manufacturers. Shifting philosophies, combined with a range of digital technologies, could help make operations more predictable and resilient.

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LACK SWANS—so named because they are rare events, often with severe consequences— have become increasingly common. A global pandemic and a European land war are by no means common events, but both have disrupted supply chains and altered demand over the past couple years, greatly affecting how food and beverage manufacturers manage both incoming and outgoing supplies.

Two other black swan events impacting the food and beverage industry have been trade wars involving tariffs that tangled supply chains, as well as catastrophic weather related to climate change, notes Ara Surenian, vice president of product management at Plex, a smart manufacturing company.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” he says.

The effects are being felt heavily up and down the food and beverage supply chain. Not only are consumers seeing empty shelves at the grocery

store, but delays in processing or transportation combined with limited shelf lives can lead to spoilage and waste. On the other side of the equation, issues with the supply chain can make it difficult to get new equipment or replacement parts used in processing—freezers and refrigerators, mixers and blenders, conveyors, and other machines.

“Potentially, both the goods themselves and the infrastructure that makes up the supply chain function are at risk,” says Mahesh Veerina, CEO and president of ParkourSC, a company specializing in supply chain intelligence software.

There are a variety of technologies available that can help manufacturers overcome such supply chain issues and mitigate their effects. Artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, digital twins, the cloud, Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, and track-and-trace and other types of software www.profoodworld.com

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Getting supply chain management and planning right is one of the most effective shock absorbers any food and beverage processor can have, shielding them from fluctuations in availability and demand.

| June 2022 | PROFOOD WORLD

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so we can get products into the market faster, better serve our customers and, ultimately, deliver on the sustained and growing consumer demand our iconic brands continue to experience,” said Carlos AbramsRivera, executive vice president and president, North America for Kraft Heinz, in a statement.

A centerpiece of the collaboration is Kraft Heinz’s Supply Chain Control Tower. Powered by Azure’s AI, IoT and data analytics capabilities, it will provide real-time visibility into plant operations and automation of its supply chain distribution across the company’s 85 product categories.

“The past two years have highlighted the urgent need for digital-first supply chain solutions across every industry,” says Judson Althoff, executive vice president and chief commercial officer for Microsoft.

The more data the better PHOTO COURTESY OF DELMIAWORKS

The greater the supply chain visibility food and beverage processors achieve, the more efficient shop floors run with higherquality products produced.

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can all play a role. To be most beneficial, however, these technologies require improved collaboration among all the players along the chain.

Kraft Heinz’s predictive strategy In the past, food and beverage was typically reliable and demand foreseeable. Making predictions about the future was relatively simple just by examining what had happened in the past. There was no need for advanced technologies to help companies squeeze inefficiencies out of the supply chain.

Already made less resilient by a changing climate and unpredictable weather events, the supply chain was really upended by the COVID-19 pandemic.

What had happened in the past became less useful when trying to peer into the future.

Efforts are being made now to use technologies that will help spot patterns in the data—patterns that are not so easily recognizable by humans. Kraft Heinz, for one, is investing heavily in a more digitized approach to create a more predictive strategy and rapid response model. Its ambitious Agile@Scale approach creates a continuous improvement cycle in part by partnering with technology giants.

In one of its latest moves, Kraft Heinz has partnered with Microsoft to help improve the resiliency of its supply chain by migrating the majority of its data center assets to the Microsoft Azure cloud platform. This will provide real-time predictive analytics to improve inventory transparency and anticipate consumer and channel demand.

“Our collaboration with Microsoft is a critical piece of our transformation strategy, providing us with the machine learning and advanced analytics to drive innovation and efficiencies across the supply chain

Several technology suppliers are approaching the changing supply chain environment in a similar way. “Infor in general is turning more toward AI and machine learning,” says Valerie Tardif, vice president of product management for the supply chain group at Infor, which provides enterprise resource planning (ERP) software.

Machine learning technology takes in data—the more the better—to deduce an outcome. After constructing a model, the system runs it to classify items. Or a more complex system could anticipate supply chain problems by monitoring prices and lead times of various ingredients. A machine learning system examining the data could uncover such links between measured parameters and supply chain performance, thus enabling predictions of future trends and the spotting of future problems.

The input for machine learning, however, has traditionally been based on past data, making it difficult to deal with the black swan events that have been prevalent in recent years. One way that Infor better handles rare and unusual disruptions is to do trend spotting with more than a customer’s own internal data.

Food and beverage processing requires many inputs—all of the raw ingredients, for example—that might come from many different suppliers. Each material has its own shelf life, and each supplier might be using a different transportation method to get that material to a processor. The supply chain is complex and influenced by numerous factors, some far removed from what is evident using a process line’s own internal information.

To better reflect this reality, Infor brings in market signals, such as oil prices, that affect demand.

Other factors fed into the machine learning system are signals such as weather patterns along with geographical or political disruptions. “We have a

| June 2022 | www.profoodworld.com

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TECH TODAY SUPPLY CHAIN INTELLIGENCE

Just like the real thing

PHOTO COURTESY OF PARKOURSC

Technology can help processors deal with supply chain disruptions though the application of machine learning, the use of digital twins, and other innovative technologies.

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model now that incorporates all of that and predicts much more accurately based on those signals, reducing the weight of past data,” Tardif says.

Getting the data right Machine learning requires as much data as possible during the training phase. Dealing with massive amounts of data and looking for patterns in it means that the system needs large amounts of computing resources during this time. Once built, though, a model typically requires much less in the way of computing power to scan incoming data for a telltale signal. Cloud technology allows an easy expansion or contraction of computing and storage resources.

It’s important that the data used to build the model is clean, Plex’s Surenian cautions. There will always be some noise and error, although automating data entry and reducing manual record keeping will eliminate some of that. Machine learning systems can actually clean up input data, thereby improving prediction performance, he adds.

Testing the system on events outside of the training data can help validate it, Surenian notes.

Thus, users can run the model against past data and see how well it predicts known history. Feeding a model more data further refines it, and this cycle of improvement can repeat over and over.

No model is perfect, so a machine learning-based approach might be only marginally better at predictions compared with what another approach, like using historical data, achieves. A minor increase in accuracy might nonetheless be worthwhile.

“Even a 1% accuracy improvement in projecting what can happen has a cascading effect on efficiencies, productivity, on gross margin, and so on,” Surenian says, adding this can be particularly beneficial in the food and beverage industry because profit margins tend to be tight.

Digital twins take the data, AI, and machine learning to another level. By leveraging cloud technology, these digital replicas of real-world systems can enable the digitalization of the entire end-to-end supply chain, monitoring it at multiple levels, notes ParkourSC’s Veerina. Embedding intelligence in digital twins builds transparency and allows collaboration.

“Any variance or disruptions to the plans can be identified and flagged quickly,” he says. “Better yet, using digital twins to model scenarios where disruptions may occur allows organizations to prepare for them proactively.”

The partnership that Kraft Heinz announced with Microsoft includes a plan for digital twins as well.

The food processor is creating digital twins for its 34 owned manufacturing facilities in North America to help test and perfect solutions before applying them on the plant floor.

Fueled by Azure Digital Twins, the technology will help predict outcomes that identify optimal product capacity and reduce mechanical interruptions by proactively addressing issues before they occur.

Likewise, digital twins could be used to explore what might happen if there were new lockdowns throughout the world due to COVID-19, extensive flooding or fires in the U.S. caused by climate change, interruptions in the supply of raw materials such as wheat or sunflower oil because of Ukraine’s war with Russia, or any other scenario that might arise. This virtual stress testing of the supply chain can point out weaknesses and suggest actions to take to address them before, during, and after an event.

Digital twins, like any simulation of the real world, are more useful the closer they are in terms of behavior to the real thing. By providing ample storage and computing power cost-effectively, cloud technology allows more detailed digital twins, making them better at mimicking their physical counterparts.

IoT, another attention-attracting technology, plays a role in solving supply chain problems because IoT sensors collect and communicate data, with this information fundamental in generating a complete and accurate assessment of product manufacturing and distribution. Both machine learning and digital twins gain from such data.

Supply chain analytics all begin from the same basic data, Surenian points out. “Everything we’re talking about starts with a company’s transaction system,” he says.

The information from this system makes possible such investigations as looking at a product’s bill of materials and teasing out contribution of each ingredient or component to the revenue generated

| June 2022 | www.profoodworld.com

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TECH TODAY SUPPLY CHAIN INTELLIGENCE

by that product. Armed with this knowledge, companies can look at the sourcing of those inputs and determine which inputs look to be in good shape and which seem shaky, in this way assessing the health of the supply chain. Such an analysis could completely change how a company goes about reducing risk, Surenian says, because it could show that what seems like an unimportant and inexpensive component might actually be critical.

Collaboration is essential Technologies can also help supply chains become resilient by combining a variety of functions to improve data visibility. DelmiaWorks’ software, for example, integrates ERP with manufacturing execution system (MES) functionality, providing end-to-end visibility across the supply chain, says Louis Columbus, senior industry marketing manager for DelmiaWorks.

But technology alone isn’t enough. “Food and beverage companies also need to create stronger collaborative partnerships with suppliers and be transparent with them to create more trust,” he says. “The goal needs to be sharing ownership of the current challenges with their suppliers so they can act as a team, reducing risk in the process.”

Achieving that kind of close cooperation can be challenging. Build-to-stock manufacturing could involve inventory intended for many parties, with processing taking place at many different sites, Infor’s Tardif notes. This co-mingling of different supply chains means that some of that inventory could be going to food processors that are competitors.

Naturally, then, the intermediate processors might be reluctant—or even contractually forbidden—to reveal much detail. But even if the available information is just shipment numbers along with general production figures and raw materials purchased, sharing could be beneficial, according to Tardif. “It helps,” she says, adding that information exchange related to supply chains works best when it’s a two-way transaction. “It’s a quid pro quo.”

Limited supply chain visibility leads to such problems as seemingly separate sources actually depending on only one supplier, with this single point of failure perhaps several steps removed from the food brand owner. An example is what’s happened recently to cooking oil, with the price of olive, sunflower, and other oils doubling or tripling—if they’re available at all. This happens across all cooking oils as manufacturers begin substituting other oils in their prod-

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ucts. The resulting issues impact food, hygiene, and personal care products that use these oils.

Track-and-trace software can find such hidden points of failure by examining the movement of ingredients, materials, assemblies, and components through a supply chain, Columbus says. Typically, this approach involves capturing every event, including every transition point in the supply chain.

In food and beverage processing, track-and-trace brings the added advantage of playing a role in stopping the use of counterfeit ingredients.

Getting to this level of information, though, is difficult and time-consuming. Smaller organizations might lack market clout to push suppliers to reveal information or might not have the staff to make use of the transaction information if obtained. “Supply chain networks are complex, and very few organizations can trace their supply chain beyond Tier 1 suppliers,” Columbus says.

To up supply chain resilience, he advocates pursuing a multi-source strategy, with technology mapping supply chain interdependencies. Secondary sources could be domestic or at least near-to-shore as a way to improve visibility, response time, and control. Track-and-trace technologies can help in

assessing the trade-off between buying from a nearby vs. remote supplier.

In addition to technology innovations, Tardif points to a move taking place from a just-in-time to a just-in-case philosophy, an observation echoed by others in the industry. Such a shift involves a change in corporate goals, requiring such modifications as allowing inventory levels to rise. This adjustment to previous practices, though, should also align with other goals, such as meeting sustainability targets, Tardif says. Once a processor makes such a change to a just-in-case objective, then technology can help optimize the supply chain.

Thus, machine learning, digital twins, the cloud, IoT, and track-and-trace software are not the total solution to supply chain challenges, but they are fundamental pieces to the fixing the supply chain.

“Automation and information technology systems are the foundations of success,” Columbus asserts.

DelmiaWorks www.solidworks.com/ delmiaworks-manufacturing-erp Infor www.infor.com

Microsoft www.microsoft.com Plex www.plex.com

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CASE STUDY PIERINO FROZEN FOODS AARON HAND | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Freezing Technology Saves Time and Labor for Pasta Maker The family-owned Pierino Frozen Foods had relied on Messer freezers for the past 15 years, including its previous wave technology. Now the Wave Impingement Freezer is improving throughput and nitrogen efficiency.

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INCE PIERINO GUGLIELMETTI founded his premium pasta company more than 50 years ago, Lincoln Park, Mich.-based Pierino Frozen Foods has passed on not only to newer generations of Guglielmettis, but to newer generations of Messer freezers as well. With its first Messer Modular Tunnel Freezer installed in 1996 to handle the company’s frozen spaghetti, linguini, ravioli, and a wide range of other filled pasta varieties, Pierino is now using Messer’s newest individually quick frozen (IQF) freezer to achieve new levels of throughput and efficiencies.

This isn’t Pierino’s first foray into wave freezers.

Gianni Guglielmetti, president and COO of Pierino, s

PHOTOS COURTESY OF PIERINO FROZEN FOODS

Shown here are Pierino gnocchi entering (top) and exiting (bottom) a Messer Wave Impingement Freezer.

The wave-like action helps keep the product separated while the impingement gas flows increase throughput, cryogen efficiency, and operating leverage for the premium pasta maker.

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took over leadership of the company from his father in 2014. By 2015, the company’s sales had increased by more than 25%, and the pasta maker had simply outgrown its existing freezing tunnel. As a result, Pierino adopted the latest Messer freezing technology at the time and became one of the first prepared foods processors to install the Messer Wave Freezer for IQF pasta. This adoption improved throughput by up to 30% and kept the gourmet pastas separated as they moved down the freezing line.

Messer continued to develop its freezer technology as Pierino also continued to grow. Increasing production costs had Pierino looking for a way to improve freezing efficiency, reduce expenses, and thereby increase its profitability. Messer was working on a next-generation technology for IQF freezing that would help Pierino to achieve the increased freezing production that it was looking for—in the same footprint with more efficient cryogen and labor usage.

The new cryogenic technology After doing some baseline testing onsite, Messer modeled the new production increase and cost to freeze with the new Messer Wave Impingement Freezer. The Pierino team also took advantage of Messer’s Technical Center in Cleveland, Ohio, to get a firsthand look at the new freezer. “Seeing the equipment firsthand helped give us the confidence we were making the right decision,” says Gianni Guglielmetti. He was impressed with the freezer’s design that focused on long-term reliability, maintainability, and cleanability. | June 2022 | www.profoodworld.com

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Refrigeration&Freezing SOLUTIONS s

Like the previously installed Messer Wave Freezer, the Wave Impingement Freezer uses a wavelike motion in its conveyor belt to help keep the pasta separated. Added to that technology are impingement gas flows that increase heat transfer. This improves capacity in the same footprint as the previous freezer, and it also reduces nitrogen consumption and overall cost to freeze. The new freezer also provides easy access for cleaning with a top that lifts vertically, making it easy to maintain.

Improvements in throughput and efficiency Since installing the Wave Impingement Freezer in September 2021, Pierino has seen a 20 to 30% increase in throughput and has also improved nitrogen efficiency by 10%. Most importantly, Pierino has increased its operating leverage.

“We can run at full capacity and at the same time shorten our workday,” Guglielmetti says.

“Employees originally assigned to the freezer line have been repurposed to preparation.”

Messer worked with Pierino to set up a different recipe for each of its product lines so that the freezer’s wave action could be changed automatically with

PHOTO COURTESY OF MESSER

The Messer Wave Impingement freezer is the latest IQF freezing technology for improved throughput, efficiency, and labor savings.

each change of product. This enables Pierino to more easily deliver perfectly cooked, high-quality pasta.

With the Wave Impingement Freezer, Pierino can run custom orders with minimal stocking time and inventory, helping the producer to grow its business and maintain its profitable growth trajectory.

“Our partnership with Messer goes back to my early days in the business,” says Guglielmetti, who grew up with the company. “If we run into a problem, we contact Messer and get prompt support.”

Messer www.messer-us.com

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FREEZER HAS DRUM-FREE DESIGN FOR FLEXIBILITY Suitable for 400, 600 and 750 mm wide lines, the GEA spiral freezer provides freezing capacities of 460 to 3,600 kg/hr of fully cooked products. The GEA ProEdge Drive freezer has a drum-free design that uses fewer components and offers flexibility in adding tiers. An intelligent system, the freezer synchronizes its drives in all operating environments, while the positive-edge drive limits belt tension and product movement. Up to 14 days of operation is possible without stopping to defrost the unit. Multiple belt widths and layout options are available.

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COOLER CONVEYOR ELIMINATES NEED FOR SEPARATE CHILLING STATION

CHILLERS AVAILABLE WITH BUILT-IN REDUNDANCY

Designed to cool products from 1,000°F to 100°F while simultaneously conveying them, the Luxme cooler conveyor features jacketed pipes containing cooling fluid to reduce product temperature, while variable-speed drives enable heat transfer to be increased or varied as required. Available in 4-, 5-, 6-, 8-, or 10-in. diameters, the tubular chain cooler conveyor provides a dust-free environment.

Ranging from 1 to 15 tons of cooling, Delta T Systems air- and water-cooled process chillers are available with two compressors, two evaporators, two condensers, two water pumps, and two controllers; two full chiller circuits share a single tank connected to and from the process. The redundant chillers alternate between the two water pumps every 100 hr. Both refrigeration circuits constantly run, each at 50% of the required cooling. If one refrigeration circuit goes down, the other runs at 100%.

Regularly using both circuits in the cooling process equalizes compressor runtime and confirms the backup circuit is fully functional.

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VALVE REDUCES SYSTEM COMPLEXITY Engineered for oil-free chillers and heat pumps, the Danfoss check and stop valve incorporates a damped nozzle check valve, stop valves, and diffuser function. The OFC nozzle check valve remains open at minimum flow and closes quickly if the system stops generating refrigerant backflow. The lock ring design prevents unintentional ball valve closes. A built-in sight glass provides direct visibility to check valve functioning, while the pressure port connects to a high-pressure cut-out as an added safety measure. The valve can be set up vertically, horizontally, or at a 45-deg angle.

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HRS reciprocating heat exchangers create a gentle action to preserve the quality and integrity of delicate food products, such as cheese, yogurt, ice cream, meat paste, and products containing whole pieces of fruits or vegetables.

Each of the Unicus scraped surface heat exchangers’ tubes contains a stainless-steel rod to which the appropriate scraping elements are fitted. The speed of the stainlesssteel scrapers can be optimized for the product being processed. Incorporating a range of food-safe materials, including Teflon and polyether ether ketone (PEEK), the heat exchangers are fully scalable by increasing the shell diameter and adding more interior tubes up to 80 in one shell.

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MIXING MODULE MEETS REQUIREMENTS FOR EXPLOSION-PROOF PROCESSING ATEX certified as standard, the Gericke mixing module is suitable for installation in zone 20 internal and zones 21 and 22 external in areas where an explosive atmosphere with a cloud of combustible dust is likely to occur or remain present continuously or for long periods of time during normal operation. The Turbo compact module includes a gravimetric loss-in-weight in-line feeder that automatically meters amounts of dry material into the companion continuous mixer.

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ENERGY EFFICIENT

DRYING X-RAY MACHINES PROVIDE COMPLETE INSPECTION OF FILLED PACKAGES Suitable for use with filled packages, such as thermoformed trays, cans, standup pouches, or jars, Heuft detectors inspect top-down or from the side, below, or different perspectives at the same time. The eXaminer II end-of-line systems utilize pulsed X-ray technology and image processing to automatically inform users of findings. In addition to glass-in-glass or metal detection, the systems provide targeted identification of weaker absorbing foreign bodies, such as bone fragments in petfood or plastic particles in yogurt pots. Additional detection modules, such as a 360-deg closure inspection or marking verification, can be integrated into the systems.

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A visual management tool, the Rite-Hite dock timer monitors the total duration of loading activities. The Dok-Lok timer automatically begins when the Dok-Lok vehicle restraint safely secures a trailer to the facility. The intuitive control interface indicates crucial loading time milestones, such as timer not running, timer running, shipping window within 30 min, shipping window exceeded, and load complete.

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ROBOT IMPROVES SAFETY AND PRODUCTIVITY Capable of transporting finished goods and raw material components, the Bosch Rexroth autonomous mobile robot can work in process on pallets or shelves within a factory or warehouse, without additional infrastructure. CE and ETL certified, the MP1000R robot features hybrid navigation with simultaneous localization and mapping technology, 360-deg obstacle detection, anticollision bumpers, and e-stop buttons in the front and rear. It can lift a maximum payload of 1,000 kg on a standard rack or shelf base, and interface with customer-specific equipment using a square- or roller-top conveyor at customized heights.

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PLANT FLOOR NEW PRODUCTS

INSPECTION MACHINES HAVE WIDE-RANGING TECHNOLOGIES Suitable for both trays and flow packs, Antares Vision Group inspection machines have an in-line system, based on infrared spectroscopy or gas sensors, to detect micro-holes in modified atmosphere packaging. X-rays detect fragments of glass, bone, metal, plastic, or stones in the product, while hyperspectral technology detects the presence of food in the seal in transparent, colored, and opaque packaging. The All-in-One machines also check product weight, as well as labels and codes. A single user interface allows every inspection to be checked.

Antares Vision Group | antaresvision.com

IN-LINE SPLICING CONNECTORS HAVE SLIMMER DESIGN Wago in-line splicing connectors allow universal conductor connection and a visibly secure conductor contact. The lever-actuated 221 Series in-line splicing connectors come with intuitive orange levers for tool-free wiring for solid, stranded, and fine-stranded conductors from 12 to 20 AWG. Equipped with springpressure Cage Clamp connection technology, they can be placed on 15- or 35-mm DIN rails.

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WEIGHER MEETS NEEDS OF FRESH PRODUCE, READY-TO-EAT INDUSTRIES Engineered for the high-speed weighing of a range of processed food products, such as fresh and dried fruit, snacks, and frozen foods, the Newtec weigher handles large quantities of product with a giveaway of less than 0.4%. The 2008PCM mini weigher can run as a single unit or be networked to run multiple products. It weighs up to 70 portions from 50 to 500 g per min.

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HMI IS EASY TO INTEGRATE FOR ANY TYPE OF INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION The IDEC HMI utilizes projected capacitive touch panel technology that prevents accidental input due to water droplets, resists scratches, and tolerates dirt deposits. The HG2J Series 7-in. touchscreen HMI supports over 100 serial and Ethernet industrial communication protocols, including Modbus. Rated for operation in a temperature range of -4 to 140°F, it carries IP66/67, UL, and CE ratings, as well as a Class I Div. 2 hazardous location rating. The HMI supports simultaneous use of up to four protocols, while a built-in web server provides remote access functionality for PCs and mobile devices. Requiring no batteries, the HMI uses MRAM to maintain data stored in internal data registers in the absence of power.

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MONITORING SYSTEM MINIMIZES PRODUCTION DOWNTIME The Ashworth monitoring system provides real-time remote monitoring using predictive analytics to minimize production downtime. The SmartSpiral monitoring system allows access to multiple spiral/plant locations from a phone or tablet to continuously monitor spiral temperature, belt tension, and cage power.

Ashworth | ashworth.com

BLOWER SOLUTIONS FOR YEAST AND ENZYME PRODUCTION

SANITARY CONVEYOR OPERATES SAFELY IN CLOSE PROXIMITY TO EMPLOYEES Designed to fit in tight spaces, the Dorner low-profile conveyor has a stainless-steel frame with 1.25-in. diameter end-roller pulleys. The AquaGard LP sanitary conveyor for dry or wipedown applications features a standard tip-up tail design; V-guided belting for belt and product tracking, and an enclosed tensioning system. Suitable for confectionery, bakery, and other packaged food products, the conveyor comes with widths between 2.75 and 18 in.; 27.5-in. to 18-ft lengths; and load capacities up to 50 lb. It is available in straight configurations and with a variety of FDA-approved belt types.

Dorner | dornerconveyors.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.

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BELTED CHAMBER MACHINE ALLOWS FASTER CYCLE TIMES

Intended for high-volume vacuum packaging of products in pouches, the Multivac belted chamber machine has two 51-in. seal bars, with 25 in. between them. The B425 chamber machine delivers up to 3.5 cycles/min at maximum vacuum level. It is suitable for applications such as wedge cheese, cheese rounds, and smaller cheese blocks.

Multivac | multivac.com

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• • • MIXERS MINIMIZE AGGLOMERATION, FLOATING POWDERS, AND DUSTING Ross multi-shaft mixers with solids/liquid injection manifold (SLIM) technology enable large-scale powder dispersion into low-viscosity liquids, including resins, oils, melted waxes, emulsions, and aqueous solutions. Designed for deep vacuum levels, the VersaMix Model VM-600 dual-shaft mixer includes a rotor/stator assembly that draws solids sub-surface, directly into the highshear zone. A second agitator, a two-wing anchor equipped with hinged Teflon scrapers, provides consistent heat transfer across the vessel sidewalls and bottom. Operated from a 15-in. HMI touchscreen with a customizable recipe system, the 600-gal capacity mixer allows batching based on speed, time, temperature, and vacuum pressure.

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TECHNOLOGY IS SUITED TO MONOMATERIAL CUP PACKAGING Used with IMA form/fill/seal machines, IMA Dairy & Food USA Zero technology utilizes a punch process that provides cutting and pre-cutting of eco-conscious materials, such as PET, PP, and PLA, and allows for breaking multipacks into individual units.

Using an interchangeable cutting elements setup allows individual tool components to be replaced on-site. The technology, which uses independent sleeves, allows cup design changes without the need to manufacture new thermoforming molds.

IMA Dairy & Food USA | imadairyfood.com

HEAT EXCHANGER STREAMLINES CRITICAL REDUNDANT PROCESSES The Thermaline unit is two independent heat exchangers in a single automated frame, allowing it to run two process lines. Due to the modular design of the TagTeam unit, any Thermaline single-sided automated heat exchanger can be converted to a dual-sided TagTeam heat exchanger. The automated plate heat exchangers utilize hydraulics to open and close them. A twist lock system mechanically holds the units closed indefinitely.

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The Assured Automation flow meter measures temperatures, as well as flow rates and totals of conductive media at rates up to 160 gpm. The Mag Series volumetric magnetic flow meter has a rugged meter body incorporating electronics, a display, user interface, and output signal generation.

Providing accuracy up to ±0.5% over a wide flow range, the meter is suitable for applications such as brewing, liquid processing, CIP, and tank cleaning.

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METAL SEPARATOR CAN BE INTEGRATED INTO COMPLEX LINE CONTROL SYSTEMS

CONVEYOR SYSTEM PROVIDES NEARLY 100% VIBRATION ISOLATION EFFICIENCY

Able to detect and separate magnetic and non-magnetic metal contaminants from liquid or pasty products, the Sesotech metal separator has a short installation length and optional quick-release fasteners for attachment to vacuum fillers and pumps. Designed for applications with very high product effects, such as meat and sausage products, the Liquiscan VF IC separator features a control that compensates for product effects via multi-simultaneous frequencies. Options include an artificial intelligencebased software that independently draws conclusions from large amounts of data; and a compliance software package with a range of functions.

Sesotec | sesotec.com

The PPM conveyor system combines electromagnetic vibratory technology with loadcell scales to measure product by weight and volume. The Libra mass flow conveyor system has a loss-in-weight feedback system that provides continuous, real-time product load measurements and adjusts product speeds to ensure consistent feed rates. Constructed using FDA-approved stainless-steel contact surfaces, the unit has no pulleys or belts, and can be mounted to most existing substructures.

PPM Technologies | ppmtech.com

LINEAR GUIDE RAIL SYSTEMS PROVIDE LONG-RUNNING PRECISION Assembled from precisely matched components, Winco linear guide rail systems are 1.18 and 1.77 in. high.

Stainless-steel GN 2492 linear guide rails are produced in a rolling process and can be mounted using the typical bore pattern, up to a rail length of 97.64 in. Available in four heights, C-shaped GN 2422 guide rails are made of non-warping, zinc-plated, hardened, and ground steel. A simpler variation, the GN 1490 linear guide rail system comes in two heights as a complete set, including the rail and carriage, in zinc-plated steel or stainless steel.

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| June 2022 | PROFOOD WORLD

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DIGITAL SORTER ELIMINATES MORE FM AND DEFECTS IN LEAFY GREENS The Key Technology digital sorter for fresh-cut, hydroponically grown leafy greens has top and bottom sensors that inspect all sides of products entirely in air. Analyzing the color, size, and shape of every product, the Veryx digital sorter removes imperfect, misshapen, discolored, bruised, broken, or torn greens. The sorter features an open design, sloped surfaces, and minimal exposed fastener threads.

Key Technology | key.net

FOOD SAFETY

CONCERNS? Rely on 99 years of sanitary protein bagging experience ROBOT ENGINEERED FOR CHEESE PRODUCTION Developed for strict hygienic requirements, the Stäubli robot handles ultrasonic cutting, cheese mold flipping, and washdown applications. The TX2-90 HE six-axis robot can de-rind and coat irregularly shaped blocks of cheese, and routinely undergo cleaning with aggressive detergents. It includes a fully enclosed, pressurized structure; hygienic design with smooth, rounded, and tilted surfaces; and compatibility with NSF H1 foodgrade lubricants. The robot comes with four or six axes, and ranges in size and payload from 1 to 150 kg.

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VALVE POSITIONERS DELIVER HIGH DEGREE OF VERSATILITY

Emerson valve positioners integrate communication via a 4-20 mA loop signal and HART protocols to monitor for trends that offer predictive maintenance insights. Capable of operating in a variety of environmental conditions, TopWorx PD Series smart valve positioners have a compact, lightweight design to allow installation on rotary and linear actuators. They are suitable for industrial energy, on-site utilities, power generation, waste and wastewater, and food and beverage applications.

Built to transport smaller conveyed goods, as well as boxes or polybags weighing up to 50 kg, Interroll conveyors can be constructed from factory-preassembled and predefined modules, and put into operation via an autonomous machine control system; connection to an external PLC with user-specific programming also is possible.

The light conveyor platform (LCP)-based belt conveyors feature an integrated emergency shutdown at the push of a button and comply with all relevant safety regulations.

Interroll | interroll.com

Emerson | emerson.com

CONTINUOUS PROCESSORS PREVENT EXPOSURE TO DUST, PESTS, AND HUMIDITY Readco Kurimoto continuous processors feature a sealed design that safeguards materials and products from contamination due to exposure to the plant environment. Built for products processed in a sanitary environment or where product contamination must be avoided, the processors automatically mix, encapsulate, crystallize, and/or chemically react multiple powdered, liquid, and/or viscous ingredients in a single step. The design directs the materials onto twin shaft, co-rotating screws set within the closed barrel to achieve a homogeneous product.

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6/1/22 11:55 AM

CASE STUDY TRUFOOD AARON HAND | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Sanitary Conveyor Improves Food Safety, Uptime for Co-Manufacturer As the nutrition bar market took off and TruFood embarked on expansions, Luxme’s SaniLux conveyor provided an improved ingredient delivery system to speed production and sanitation, while reducing allergen cross-contamination.

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S A CO-MANUFACTURER for the nutrition and protein bar market, Pittsburgh-based TruFood provides a range of processing capabilities—from mixing, extrusion, and slab forming to enrobing, inclusions, topping, and decorating, along with fully automated wrapping and display packing.

TruFood collaborates with startups and established brands alike to develop and produce nutrition bars to be sold at retail and club stores throughout North America and Europe, PHOTO COURTESY OF TRUFOOD as well as through online distributors. It’s a market Changeovers in about 10% of the time that has taken off tremendously, expected to grow Though efficient changeovers might be important from $4.66 billion in 2019 to $7.03 billion by 2027, for any number of food producers, they are particuaccording to Fortune Business Insights. larly so for co-manufacturers, which tend to switch That growth prompted TruFood to launch an from product to product quickly, depending on the expansion project beginning in 2019, to boost its manever-changing needs of their customers. ufacturing capabilities to better serve the increasing “As we speak, I have a changeover going on customer demand. High on the list for improvement somewhere in our company,” Berko comments. was the company’s ingredient delivery system. It was “We have 13 production lines, so we’re constantly a multi-step manual process that required significant adjusting, whether it be production schedules, custime and labor to prepare and transfer fine and coarse tomer needs, their orders, whatever it may be. So ingredient powders and inclusions such as chocolate we go through quite a few changeovers. It’s somechunks, soy crisps, and cookie pieces to the mixer. thing that we’ve gotten good at. But any time we TruFood required an automated ingredient come across something that’d be helpful to speed transfer solution that would increase yield and that along is obviously a value to us.” improve line efficiency, but it also needed to guarChangeovers become more complex when dealantee food safety by reducing the risk of allergen ing with allergens such as whey proteins or peacross-contamination between changeovers for nuts. As a producer of nutrition bars with a wide different product ranges. What they found was range of certifications and claims—including kosher, Luxme’s SaniLux Tubular Chain Conveyor, which non-GMO, organic, halal, gluten-free, fair trade, could not only efficiently transfer screened and and sugar-free—TruFood takes its commitment to weighed powders and inclusions to the mixer, but avoiding allergen cross-contamination extremely also greatly reduce the time needed for a sanitary seriously. To ensure proper sanitation, typically changeover. “Their willingness to work within our everything needs to be fully broken down to expose constrained space requirements also impressed us,” all product surfaces, Berko notes. “Everything will says Mike Berko, project engineer for TruFood. need to be validated, all food contact surfaces get www.profoodworld.com

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TruFood produces millions of nutrition bars each week, which are sold at retail and club stores throughout North America and Europe, and online.

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having to break the system down. “The benefit of not having to remove components, with the potential for them to get lost or reinstalled improperly— it’s really adding a lot of value to our process.”

There was some apprehension from TruFood’s food safety team about just how effectively the SaniLux conveyor could clean itself in CIP mode— whether it could remove allergens and bacteria to TruFood’s standards on a consistent and sustainable basis.

“When we did the testing in Montreal at Luxme, one of our quality managers came with me to witness those tests, and actually performed swabs on the equipment there. That did help things once we got everything back here and were able to run through a couple of cleans,” Berko says. “It’s not something that we worry about. We’re very confident in it.”

Automatic conveying PHOTO COURTESY OF LUXME

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The SaniLux can go from dry to dry, fully allergen sanitized, in just one hour—about 10% of the time it took TruFood previously when the process was manual.

The SANILux tubular chain conveyer significantly reduces the risk of product recall due to crosscontamination.

swabbed and checked for proper cleanliness and removal of the allergens,” he says.

PHOTO COURTESY OF LUXME Sanitary design and ease of cleaning were critical as TruFood considered a more automated conveyance of its ingredients. With the kinds of allergen scenarios TruFood often deals with in its changeovers, the SaniLux conveyor, with automated clean-in-place (CIP) technology, has the potential to go from what was a multi-shift clean to just hours, Berko says.

“We don’t have to break down the system, which is a huge benefit of the clean-in-place technology.

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The conveyor itself uses a fixed drive and tension assembly, which automatically tensions the chain continuously during the process and regulates it according to friction, product flow, and variation in atmospheric/product temperature. Capable of 300, 500, or 1,100 ft3/hr capacities, the system is suited for the automatic conveying of all types of food, at any stage of receiving, processing, and packaging.

The SaniLux’s enclosed chain-in-tube construction creates a sealed conveying solution, eliminating waste spillage and the risk of external pathogens or allergens entering the material flow to the mixer.

“This increases confidence in product integrity during the dry ingredient processing function, as well as reducing risk to personnel,” Berko says. “The chance of water spillages and associated slips and falls, or contact with harmful chemicals during sanitation, have been eliminated.”

In addition, the design of the SaniLux conveyor is inherently gentler to the materials it’s conveying, Berko notes, meaning ingredients retain their size, shape, and appearance, and are delivered to the mixer intact. “There are essentially pockets that the product rides within inside the tube, so it’s not tumbling around; it’s not being agitated,” he says. “It’s just kind of sliding along inside the pipe until it’s discharged.”

The inside of the pipe is polished so that it’s very smooth, explains Rick Leroux, Luxme’s vice president. “There’s very little abrasion associated with moving that product over the pipe surface to the outlet,” he says. “You have a product that basically is received by the conveyor in a natural state and is discharged from the conveyor in its natural state.”

The conveyor transfer runs at a relatively low speed compared with some conventional technologies such as pneumatic conveying, Leroux adds.

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“The running speed here is anywhere between 40 and 60 feet per minute; we’re not in the hundreds or thousands of feet per minute,” he says.

“So, if we have a change of direction, it’s very smooth, it’s very calm, and it’s very gentle.”

The slower speed does not affect TruFood’s throughput, however, because the system was designed to optimize the diameter of the pipe, Berko says. “So that allows the volume to keep pace with our production.”

Pandemic timing Like so many of the case studies we’ve talked over the past year or so, TruFood was faced with installing the system during COVID-19 lockdowns. The SaniLux has been running successfully at TruFood’s facility since its installation in May 2020, just as the pandemic was spreading around the globe.

Berko had travelled to Montreal (where Luxme is headquartered) to do some in-house testing of the system just prior to COVID. But by the time TruFood was ready to take delivery, international borders had been shut down, and Luxme engineers were prevented from traveling from Canada to be on-site for set-up and commissioning.

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TruFood had to rely on virtual rather than in-person help from Luxme for installation. TruFood’s in-house engineering team completed the installation work, and Luxme did the virtual commissioning. “It went remarkably smooth,” Berko says.

“Luxme had prepared a very detailed package with installation directions, and they were available pretty much every step of the way. If we needed anything, we were able to get in contact and sort out any issues that we came across.”

It went so well, that Berko is not particularly opposed to doing it the same way again. “I understand the world’s changing, and it’s probably something we’re going to see a lot more of,” he says.

“There is a lot of value in having someone with experience physically with you to do these things, but I would be less apprehensive to do a virtual install.”

At the end of the day, the SaniLux conveyor has improved TruFood’s ability to win new contracts for its business through increased uptime. “It’s allowed us to confidently plan for increased line availability,” Berko says. “We’ve been able to plan for that, and we’ve been able to deliver on that.”

Luxme www.tubularchainconveyors.com

6/1/22 12:14 PM

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CASE STUDY JONES POTATO FARM AARON HAND | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Digital Sorter Helps to Overcome Workforce, Yield Issues A Veryx B175 digital sorter from Key Technology has helped Jones Potato Farm not only move past the difficulties of manual inspection of its green beans, but has also improved efficiencies.

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HE U.S. AGRICULTURE INDUSTRY has faced decades of declining farmworkers, both among family and hired hands. As available workers have become scarce, wages continue to rise. “The lack of available labor is a major concern for all agricultural producers right now,” notes Alan Jones, president and CEO of Jones Potato Farm. “It’s very difficult and expensive to recruit and retain 20 good workers to manually inspect our green beans, especially during our peak season when we regularly operate seven days a week.”

Along with potatoes, beans, citrus, and cattle, Jones Potato Farm in Parrish, Fla., produces more than 250,000 bushels of green beans every year. Jones needed a system to quickly and reliably sort its fresh pack green beans, which go to market under the V.L. Walker and Sons brand. Given the workforce situation, in PHOTO COURTESY OF KEY TECHNOLOGY 2020, Jones opted for Key Technology’s Veryx B175 digital sorter for its green bean line—not Inspection from all sides only reducing manual labor but also ensuring high The Veryx B175 sorter at Jones Potato Farm is a product quality and maximizing yield. belt-fed system that can process up to 15,000 lb “While there will always be a place for great of green beans per hour on its 1,750-mm wide employees here in our facility, we needed a highly inspection zone. Equipped with top- and boteffective, reliable sorter to improve our operating tom-mounted off-axis cameras, top-mounted laser efficiencies,” Jones says. sensors, and Key’s Pixel Fusion detection module, The farm did its due diligence before choosing the Veryx achieves all-sided surface inspection of the Veryx system. Jones was familiar with Key each green bean with no blind spots. By positioning Technology’s reputation for quality equipment and bottom-mounted sensors, lightsources, and backservice, as well as the supplier’s expertise in green grounds away from product splatter, this system bean processing, and has had positive experiences maintains its inspection performance throughout with Key in the past. “We visited one of their cuslong production cycles. tomer sites to see Veryx sorting green beans in perUpstream of the Veryx system, green beans are son,” Jones recalls. “As soon as we saw it perform, graded and cleaned. Size graders remove small, we knew it was the right solution for us.” curled, and broken beans, and small foreign materiwww.profoodworld.com

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Jones Potato Farm produces more than 250,000 bushels of green beans a year, which go to market under the V.L. Walker and Sons brand.

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CASE STUDY JONES POTATO FARM

The Veryx B175 digital sorter enables Jones Potato Farm to reduce manual labor while improving product quality and maximizing yield of its green beans.

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common issues,” he says. “We like that our Veryx can be programmed to focus on the specific defects common to our region. By fine-tuning its settings, we reject exactly what we want to and no more. It’s entirely customizable for our specific application.”

Adjustments are easy to achieve, Hernandez adds. “It’s easy to adjust the settings so Veryx is programmed to remove all FM and the ideal amount of defects,” he says. “The user interface is straightforward and intuitive. If you can operate a smartphone, you can operate Veryx.”

Featuring next-generation four-channel cameras and high-resolution laser sensors, Veryx recognizes the color, size, shape and structural properties of every object.

Pixel Fusion combines pixel-level input from cameras and laser sensors to produce higher contrasts between objects, which enables Veryx to identify the most difficult-to-detect FM and product defects without false rejects. This sorter finds and removes insects, animal parts, PHOTO COURTESY OF KEY TECHNOLOGY paperboard, wood, rocks, plastics, glass, and extraneous vegetative matter (EVM) such as al (FM). An air cleaner blows off stems, leaves, and weeds and other plant materials, as well as any other light material, while rocks and other heavy FM product defects. drop out of the production line. Veryx’s ability to “Our Veryx is great at handling high defect loads inspect product entirely in-air with top and bottom without sacrificing good product to the reject sensors enables it to find and remove more FM and stream,” Hernandez says. “This means we’re able the right amount of product defects to make grade to consistently achieve our final product specificawhile maximizing yield. tions, regardless of incoming product quality, while The Veryx at Jones Potato Farm features threewe maximize yield.” way sorting that separates product into three streams to maximize efficiency and yield. The “reject” stream collects FM and green beans with High service levels defects, which go to waste. The “accept” stream “This sorter is very dependable, which is good, besends good green beans with no clusters or stems cause our line won’t run without it,” Hernandez says. on to packaging. The third sort stream is dedicated “If we ever do need support, our Veryx features a reto green beans with minor defects, such as attached mote monitoring capability, which allows Key service stems. These green beans are sent to a separate technicians to remotely access its settings and help two-way sorter from Key that separates rework from our sorter operate at peak performance. Sometimes waste. Product needing rework is circulated back to our shifts run until 4 a.m., and it’s good to know that the beginning of the line. “Separating rework helps Key’s remote services technicians are always availus recover an additional 1% of product, which adds able, even in the middle of the night.” up,” notes Ishmael Hernandez, production and farm Jones Potato Farm has seen tangible results manager at Jones Potato Farm. since initiating production with the digital sorter.

Hernandez also notes Veryx’s ability to be cus“Since we’ve installed our Veryx sorter, we haven’t tomized for the particular needs of green beans had a single customer reject a green bean delivin the region where Jones Potato Farm operates. ery—that’s a major marker of success,” Jones says.

“Green beans can present a wide variety of defect “Plus, we’ve reduced our manual labor requiretypes, depending on the growing environment. ments and improved our yield.”

Here in Florida, green beans are grown in light Key Technology sand, so wind damage and tip rot are the most www.key.net | June 2022 | www.profoodworld.com

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CASE STUDY CASA SAUZA LILIÁN ROBAYO | EDITOR, MUNDO PMMI

Digital Transformation Improves Efficiency in Tequila Production Casa Sauza, with the help of Festo, has adopted Industry 4.0 methods to advance the automation of its tequila production in Mexico.

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A shared experience Festo, a supplier of pneumatic and electric control and processing technologies, has played a significant role in Casa Sauza’s move toward greater digitalization of its production.

As much as Industry 4.0 is about technology, it also depends on the abilities of production line operators. To enhance Casa Sauza employees’ abilities, Festo implemented a program to develop specific operational and maintenance skills as well as “soft skills,” such as adaptation to change, accountability, resilience, and emotional intelligence—all of which are required to comprehend and successfully navigate the new panorama drawn by Industry 4.0.

“In the field of Industry 4.0, it does not suffice to own the technology, but also to have an understanding of the processes and to coach the

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EARLY A CENTURY AND A HALF of operations has made Casa Sauza, owned by the multinational Beam Suntory, a pioneer brand in the production of iconic Mexican tequilas. Since beginning operations in 1873, Casa Sauza, located in Tequila, Mexico, has used numerous distillation and preparation methods for its tequilas, ranging from manual production to fully automated processes.

The company is now focusing on integrating Industry 4.0 production concepts.

Industry 4.0 represents a transformation involving the use of advanced technologies such as robotics and artificial intelligence (AI), as well as integrating communications among all systems and connecting them to cloud or edge systems for data analytics, remote monitoring, and continuous operational improvements.

Since 2018, efficiency at Casa Sauza has grown by 20%, while critical defect cases have been reduced by 50%.

PHOTO COURTESY OF CASA SAUZA

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| June 2022 | PROFOOD WORLD

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CASE STUDY CASA SAUZA

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Casa Sauza is training all its members on data analytics, so they are able to interpret them, detect patterns, and keep improving.

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tivity and enhanced competitiveness for the company based on the optimization of worker skills. “One thing we now see is that our people have ceased to carry out routine, physical, or managerial activities that do not add any value,” Calderón says. “We are training all of our team members on data analytics, so they are able to interpret them, detect patterns, and keep improving based on these analyses. I am conPHOTO COURTESY OF CASA SAUZA vinced that this will truly differentiate us and push us ahead of our competitors.” team throughout the developments,” says Héctor An example of how this has already begun to Ramírez, Festo México applications engineer for the take shape is in the reorganization of production food and packaging market. lines at Casa Sauza in January 2022 to push proThe combination of technologies and personnel ductivity increases and eliminate operators’ nontraining carried out at Casa Sauza has translated value-add activities. One such change involves into greater levels of operator autonomy to conplacing a labeling machine directly alongside trol the equipment. For example, in the processing another labeling machine so that both labeling lines areas where manual adjustments or preliminary can be controlled by only one operator. inspections were made, such steps are no longer necessary. “It is what we call non-touch, non-stop manufacturing,” explains Servando Calderón, CEO Training specifics of Casa Sauza, “which leads us towards higher proFesto Didactic, Festo’s division specializing in auductivity with a four-zeros model: zero accidents, tomation technology education, played a large role zero defects, zero failures, and zero waste.” in training Casa Sauza personnel. Eduardo Ortiz In addition to the greater productivity and preVillagrana and Javier Eguía of Festo Didactic guided cise process control provided by Industry 4.0 techworkers in an array of training programs, ranging nologies, the elimination of waste, in every sense, from the functionality of programmable logic conis a critical factor for the company, according to trollers (PLCs) to failure management and analysis.

Calderón. “The most important loss is the waste of “Festo served as our business ally in learning what the human brain by using it for tasks that do not this new industrial model signifies and aiding our add any value,” he says. Eliminating this kind of development,” says Nancy Beatriz Montoya, Casa waste “is not only about adding value to the comSauza’s human resources director. pany, but also to the person who performs the job.”

Together, Festo and Casa Sauza designed a strategy for how each training subject would address workers’ needs while meeting the company’s vision Fiction becomes reality for future growth. To do this, two groups were orgaThe training supplied by Festo has helped Industry nized: One focuses on the fundamentals of mechan4.0 concepts trickle down from managers directly ics, pneumatics, hydraulics, servomotors, and PLCs; to Casa Sauza’s bottling operations and distillation the second is a special course on robotics designed processes. To highlight the most important teachto help workers better understand their functionalings the company has gleaned from these new perity. “Nowadays, one technician operates a producspectives, Calderón points to an “awakening among tion process in full, from a computerized equipment our team that what we used to contemplate as station, because it is all connected to operate in an something resembling science fiction—robotics and automated fashion,” says Perla Hernández, a memadvanced automation—is now within reach.” ber of Casa Sauza’s human resources team.

For Casa Sauza, the relevance of adopting Maintenance technicians and electricians Industry 4.0 is directly related to improved produc-

| June 2022 | www.profoodworld.com

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CASE STUDY CASA SAUZA

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Thanks to Casa Sauza’s move to Industry 4.0, the company is also progressing toward lean manufacturing to give it greater adaptability in the face of changing marketplace scenarios.

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Technology at the service of ‘tequilero’ art The process of tequila making has always included a high component of artistry to amaze the senses through taste and fragrance. But to fully comprehend, in real time, the chemical processes taking place during tequila production, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) levels of device and equipment connectivity are required to prePHOTO COURTESY OF CASA SAUZA cisely process and analyze data in a way that can contribute to a tequila maker’s ability received advanced training in PLC programming to surprise consumers. to better engage with programming pre-existing The presence of gas and liquid chromatographs and new controllers, as well as with aspects related in the production lines makes it possible to evalto other automated equipment, such as servomouate each one of the components, their behavior tors. Currently, 97% of employees are operations and contribution to the sensory profile of tequila, technicians whose purpose is the collection of data and guarantees a better understanding and precise through specific activities requiring knowledge of management of the process, from the extraction company procedures or techniques. of crude agave juice to its distillation. At stages such as the conversion of complex sugars into frucOperator flexibility tose and glucose, and of agave starch into simple Thanks to Casa Sauza’s move to Industry 4.0, the sugars, the use of these devices has replaced the company is also progressing toward lean manucontrols that previously took place in a laboratory. facturing to give it greater adaptability in the face “Now we can see the transformation processes of changing marketplace scenarios. “We have also minute by minute and detect points at which cookworked on staff flexibility, so they can move through ing must be stopped to avoid reactions that inhibit different teams,” Hernández says. “That way, a techfermentation,” Calderón explains. nician can operate two lines simultaneously, with Another level of analysis being pursued by Casa less probability of reductions in throughput due to Sauza via its Industry 4.0 technology adoption is lack of operator competence.” the detection of congeners (byproducts of alcohol Since beginning Industry 4.0 training with Festo, production), which provide aromatic and flavor Casa Sauza workers’ knowledge and skill levels characteristics to tequila. “Although the distillation have increased, both in distillery and bottling operwe perform is now done with more knowledge, it ations. “In the case of bottling, we are doubling remains an art form, and no one else does it like productivity, while in the distillery we have added Casa Sauza. That’s why generating information equipment without having to increase the number [from the production process] is not enough,” of technicians,” Calderón says.

Calderón says. The added information generated by According to data gathered by Casa Sauza, the company’s new Industry 4.0 processes enables efficiency has grown by 20%, while critical defect the company to develop profiles preferred by concases have been reduced by 50% since 2018. sumers based on the identification of components Another indicator of higher efficiencies achieved that affect the tequila production in accordance to under the Industry 4.0 model is the flexibility of the specific taste preferences, he notes. company’s filling lines, which can now run more than 100 different product types with diverse preFesto sentations and bottle shapes. www.festo.com

| June 2022 | www.profoodworld.com

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CASE STUDY SIMMONS COMPANYFOODS NAME MELISSA GRIFFEN | CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

Flooring Maintains Its Anti-Slip Properties in Wet, Greasy Plant A meat producer implemented SlipNot anti-slip flooring technology to protect its employees from slipping or tripping on wet, hazardous surfaces.

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OMMONPLACE INSIDE food manufacturing facilities are elevated surfaces— platforms, crossovers, catwalks, and ladders—allowing employees to maneuver around equipment.

It’s not uncommon, though, for these elevated surfaces to quickly become wet and slippery with liquids, greasy animal proteins and fats, blood, and oil spillover.

Simmons Foods, a supplier of poultry, pet, and animal nutrition products, has traditionally used stainless steel diamond plates on its mezzanines, which were then covered with neoprene mats to mitigate the slipping hazards common when diamond plate becomes wet. “But over time, as the oils reacted with the rubber [in the mats], they would wrinkle up and then became a trip hazard. And so people were tripping on the mats,” says Kyle Nieman, senior engineering manager for PHOTO COURTESY OF SIMMONS FOODS Simmons Foods. Nieman leads the engineering team that implements capital projects at nine facilities in the Maintaining anti-slip properties over time regions of Van Buren and Siloam Springs, Ark. The About six years ago, Nieman started using SlipNot mats are difficult to clean, and when they become flooring technology on mezzanines or platforms too old and wrinkled, they have to be replaced, that his team constructs at new facilities, as well as increasing their cost. on surfaces in older facilities being remodeled. The The food producer had known of SlipNot’s antiSlipNot coating technologies are a good fit for Simslip flooring for some time, but had not wanted to mons’ needs because they are compatible with the spend the extra cost. However, as mat after mat stainless steel surfaces required in food and beverbecame a tripping hazard and had to be replaced, age manufacturing. and as slips, trips, and falls became more of an The company even installed covers for trench issue, it became obvious the extra cost would be drains along its meat processing lines fabricated worth it. with SlipNot coating because those areas became

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Even when wet from liquids, detergent, and oils, the SlipNot surface retains its high-friction qualities, so production can continue despite the presence of liquids.

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CASE STUDY SIMMONS FOODS

PHOTO COURTESY OF SIMMONS FOODS

The SlipNot anti-slip flooring is used on all new elevated surfaces at Simmons Foods, including stairs, platforms, crossovers, catwalks, and ladders.

and sanitizer. Because the stainless steel of the SlipNot surface is prone to rusting, Simmons uses a passivation cycle after installation.

Unlike other anti-slip surfaces, which become more slippery as they wear down, the SlipNot antislip coating is made up of a random matrix of thousands of tiny peaks designed to maintain their antislip properties over time. “The oldest SlipNot-coated platform we installed six years ago doesn’t seem any different than the day we put it in,” Nieman says.

Even when wet from liquids, detergent, and oils, the surface retains its high-friction qualities, so production can continue despite the presence of liquids that would otherwise bring it to a halt.

SlipNot properties include: • Maximum bond strength of more than 4,000 psi • Can be prefabricated or manufactured to order in stock and custom sizes • Can be applied to materials supplied by the customer • Available in three grades (fine, medium, and coarse), three alloys (stainless steel, steel, and aluminum), four finishes (mill, painted, powder-coated, and customized), and various color options • Can be drilled, welded, masked, or detailed, and sheared or cut with flame, plasma, or laser to customize solutions for facility application and design considerations

Benefits of SlipNot surface installation

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The number of employee slips, trips, and falls has decreased tremendously since installing SlipNot surfaces, Nieman says, The company even and so have the worker installed covers for compensation claims. Simtrench drains along its mons is very happy with meat processing lines, the improvement in worker fabricated with SlipNot safety, and the company’s coating because those areas became slip risks. specification is that any PHOTO COURTESY OF SIMMONS FOODS and all platforms or drain covers—exceeding a certain width—will be installed with SlipNot coating. slip risks. Each facility has about a dozen SlipNot“You can’t put a value on keeping just one employcovered trench drains. Simmons has installed hunee safer than they were,” says Nieman. “We want to dreds of linear feet of the anti-slip trench covers. provide a safe work environment for everybody.”

The Simmons team can clean in place the abrasive SlipNot surfaces using standard sanitation SlipNot practices, which include high-pressure hot water www.slipnot.com 78

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| June 2022 | www.profoodworld.com

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AD INDEX COMPANY / WEBSITE

PAGE

COMPANY / WEBSITE

PAGE

COMPANY / WEBSITE

PAGE

Admix, Inc

46

Fristam Pumps Company

Aerzen USA, Inc

56

GEA

American Pasteurization Company

65

Gericke USA, Inc.

ANRITSU INFIVIS INC

45

Graphite Metallizing Corp

59

Shick Esteve

70

Apex Motion Control, Inc.

49

Inductive Automation

24

Thermaline

35

Assured Automation

61

Industrial Magnetics, Inc.

75

Tippmann Group

57

Atlas Copco Compressors LLC

33

Klockner Pentaplast

Triangle Package Machinery Company

60

Avure Technologies, Inc.

54

Linde

Universal Pure

69

Urschel Laboratories, Inc.

76

www.admix.com www.aerzen.com/en-us www.americanpasteurizationcompany.com http://anritsu.com/infivis www.apexmotion.com

http://assuredautomation.com www.atlascopco.us/air-usa www.avure.com

BEMA/IBIE

www.bema.com

C-3

BUNTING

66

Busch Vacuum Solutions

55

Cablevey Conveyors

21

Centec LLC

37

Central States Industrial

73

Clayton Industries, Inc.

58

Domino Amjet Inc.

52

ElectriCities of North Carolina

22

Endress + Hauser USA

27

Eriez Magnetics

16

www.buntingmagnetics.com www.buschusa.com www.cablevey.com

www.centec-usa.com www.csidesigns.com

www.claytonindustries.com www.domino-na.com www.electricities.com

www.us.endress.com/promass-q300 www.eriez.com

ESI Group USA

12-a

Flexicon Corporation

C-2

https://esigroupusa.com www.flexicon.com

Freudenberg-NOK Sealing Technologies www.fst.com/

Frick by Johnson Controls

www.johnsoncontrols.com/FRICK

18 31

www.fristam.com/usa www.gea.com

www.gerickegroup.com www.GRAPHALLOY.com

www.inductiveautomation.com www.magnetics.com www.kpfilms.com

www.praxair.com/industries/ food-and-beverage

Lubriplate Lubricants www.lubriplate.com

Munson Machinery Co. Inc. www.munsonmachinery.com

Sani + Matic

47

1

Sanitary Solutions Inc.

34

2

SEW Eurodrive, Inc.

29

5 51

www.sanimatic.com www.sanitarysolutions.com www.seweurodrive.com

C-4

www.shickesteve.com/clarity www.thermaline.com www.tippmanngroup.com

www.trianglepackage.com/ www.universalpure.com

62 7

www.urschel.com

VAC-U-MAX

8

www.vac-u-max.com

Paxton Products

53

VDG

C-1

PACK EXPO International

81

VEGA Americas

40

PMMI 365

79

Vibra Screw Inc http://vibrascrew.com

23

PMMI ProSource

82

Wire Belt Company of America

17

PPM Technologies

43

Ziemann Holvrieka

36

www.paxtonproducts.com www.pmmi.org www.pmmi.org www.pmmi.org

www.ppmtech.com

ROSS Mixers

www.mixers.com/web-app

www.vandergraaf.com www.vega.com

www.wirebelt.com

www.ziemann-holvrieka.com

11

MANUFACTURING INNOVATION AWARD SPONSORS

38-39

Atlas Copco Compressors LLC

www.atlascopco.com/air-usa

38

Frick by Johnson Controls

www.johnsoncontrols.com/frick

38

Fristam Pumps

www.fristam.com/USA

38

GEA

www.gea.com

38

Inductive Automation

www.inductiveautomation.com

38

Sanitary Solutions Inc.

www.sanitarysolutions.com

39

Thermaline

www.thermaline.com

39

Ziemann Holvrieka

www.ziemann-holvrieka.com

39

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 3.

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TECH PERSPECTIVE AARON HAND | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Digital Recorder Replaces Cumbersome Paper Charts With its Paperless Process Recorder and cloud-based Legendary software, Anderson-Negele aims to digitalize—without necessarily reinventing—the recording of process parameters in food and beverage plants.

PFW: With as much that has changed in food processing over the past 100 years, why are these paper chart recorders still so much in use today?

Kauffman: When you think about the advancement in food processing, and even up to the implementation five years ago of FSMA, the Food Safety Mod-

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APER CHART RECORDERS have been around for more than 100 years, with one of the earliest examples patented in 1915 for use in environmental monitoring. The chart recorders used back then—colored pens scratching out process data onto a circular paper—are not drastically different than the charts still prevalent in food processing plants today, according to Natalee Kauffman, sales manager for Central States Industrial (CSI). “Of course, there are digital transmitters that are telling this chart what’s happening, and there’s obviously increased accuracy and things like that,” she says.

“But at the end of the day, the principle and the tech itself are not different.”

CSI is the authorized distributor for AndersonNegele’s Paperless Process Recorder (PPR), a digital recorder system that can be used in pasteurization, clean in place (CIP), clean out of place (COP), raw silo monitoring, or any other food or beverage application that would typically use a paper chart recorder to monitor process parameters. With the Legendary cloud-based software, the records from the PPRs are securely stored in one location, enabling quality managers or other authorized users to conveniently access, review, annotate, and approve records remotely.

Kauffman joined Neil O’Connor, national key account manager for Anderson-Negele, and Nathan Collins, regional director of sales for AndersonNegele, to explain the need in the food and beverage industry for a digital version of the traditional paper chart recorder.

PHOTO COURTESY OF ANDERSON-NEGELE

ernization Act—all that brought to the table as far as everyone coming up to speed at the same time with best practices and cleaning and many other aspects of food processing, to think that we’re still using this tech that is from 1911 is surprising. I think that in many cases, we’re all just victims of ‘If it ain’t broke…’

But what’s sad is that it really is broken. It’s very time-consuming and it’s operationally cumbersome.

Collins: What I’m seeing is that, in this industry, anytime you change anything, there’s a certification process, essentially, that you’ve got to change along with it. If you’ve been doing this for a long time, and there’s a change, there’s a workflow in that process— it’s not just a single person that’s got to buy into this.

It’s an entire company. So, what is that process for change? What are the requirements?

One of our campaign slogans is ‘It’s easy.’ It’s so easy, it really is. But it’s change. Is change really ever easy?

PFW: Help me understand how a paper chart recorder typically works.

Collins: If everything was running 100% perfect all the time, that’s going to be almost a straight line coming through there. Then when you see a deviawww.profoodworld.com

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tion in that line, that’s going to be a change in the operating condition. Every time you see a change in that operating condition, somebody’s got to make a note on that chart, explaining what that deviation was and why it happened.

So then that operator, if you see a deviation in data, is going to have to take a pen and write down on the chart what the event was that happened.

This chart records for a period of time, let’s say 12 hours, and then this chart is taken to a quality assurance supervisor. That quality assurance supervisor goes through and looks at that chart—at all the annotations on the chart—and makes sure all the annotations are correct. A lot of times they’re not. So that quality supervisor then has to take this chart back out to the line supervisor or whoever’s running the line to make that annotation. The quality supervisor can’t make those annotations for the operator; that’s something the operator has to do.

Once that chart is fully annotated, then the quality supervisor puts the stamp of approval on that. And these are stored away for audits. I believe they have to be stored for seven years. So you can imagine— one chart every 12 hours for seven years.

Now, dairy plants, juice plants, where these are operating—what happens if you’re out collecting these and you drop one on the floor? The ink disappears, they tear. Just the workflow of going back and getting all of these charts annotated correctly, the potential damage to the charts, and then what happens if you’re audited? So now, I’ve got one of these charts for seven years, and somebody wants to see what happened six months ago. What’s the process that I have to go through—the storage boxes, literally storage units that somebody might have to go out to to find a particular chart is almost an overwhelming task Kauffman: So far, he’s only accounted for the human failure. But there’s lots of mechanical failure.

If the pen arm breaks, if the markers don’t work, or they’re dry, then it’s worthless. Mechanical failure is constant. Or they run out of charts.

PFW: What happens with the quality manager after the PPR is in place?

O’Connor: Well, their life is a lot easier. With the cloud, they can actually sit at their desk, instead of walking half a mile down the line to get the piece of paper and bring it back and forth. But also they can check everything on the computer to get all the information, and they can improve the charts.

Collins: The process becomes a lot easier. This box right here—physically, this is the box that’s

located out with the process equipment. The quality manager, they don’t work off of this box; they work off of a PLC in their office. So when that record is ready, that comes to a queue for the quality assurance person. They look that through, and if there’s something that isn’t right on the annotation, they send that back to the box. So the operator at the box now can make those annotations and those changes and then resubmit it to the quality supervisor. So everything is handled digitally now.

So now imagine you’re doing an audit. And instead of going out and looking for a box, you just go to the date and click on your chart. And instead of it coming in a round chart that is hard to read, it’s now a beautiful graph that you could project up onto a screen or email to the client. So now audits are not something that you have to go and prepare for. You can do audits in real time, essentially.

PFW: The Legendary cloud software goes hand-inhand with the PPR, correct? Are customers more open than they used to be about cloud storage?

Kauffman: Yes, because the only thing we’re not making more of is time. Everyone’s understaffed. So, if for no other reason, what would you do with your operator’s extra time, with your quality manager’s extra time? What would you do with the personnel hours? Because nobody’s in a position that they can spare any of that.

Collins: There might be some pushback to the cloud, but it’s usually not from the IT department.

You’ll get it from the operators, you’ll get it from the plant manager. But once you get to the IT department, that’s a different conversation because they understand the data integrity and how secure these sites are. At that point, that’s when it becomes less of an issue.

PFW: Are there any particular industries that need PPR more than others?

Kauffman: Quite simply, if you use paper charts, you’re a candidate for this. It comes back to food safety and product quality.

O’Connor: Everything that they were doing on that paper chart recorder is what we’re doing on a digital recorder.

Kauffman: That’s really where the change part becomes less hard. Because you’re not doing something different. You’re still collecting the same data.

All of those things are the same. You’re still going to annotate a chart, you’re just doing it a better way.

Anderson-Negele www.anderson-negele.com

Central States Industrial www.csidesigns.com

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