Food & Beverage Industry News - Apr/May 2019

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APR/MAY 2019

Foodtech and Agritech What Australia needs to do to become a world leader

PLUS: The biggest dairy exporter embraces the IoT

WELCOME

Managing Director: John Murphy Publisher: Christine Clancy Managing Editor: Syed Shah Editor: Mike Wheeler

Australia: set to lead the way with foodtech and agritech

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ustralia has always seen itself as an innovation hub. And why wouldn’t it? It has been at the centre of some great inventions over the years – including spray-on skin, the black box flight recorder, the pacemaker and of course the pavlova.

When it comes to food and agricultural technology, while we seem to have some great ideas, the execution of said ideas is less strong.

In this edition of Food & Beverage Industry News, we talk to Austrade’s Karen Caston about some of the hurdles we put in front of ourselves when it comes to taking a global leadership role in this area.

It is for this reason that Austrade has put in place the Agriculture 4.0 initiative, which is designed to bring all the various government and non-government stakeholders together to have a united front working with foreign investors who are looking to Australia when it comes to new technologies in our sector.

Another major story in the magazine is one that involves the world’s biggest dairy exporter, Fonterra.

A co-op that is owned by the dairy farmers that supplies its milk, this leviathan of a company, headquartered across the ditch in New Zealand, knows that if it is to keep its place at the top, it has to embrace new technologies.

Three years ago, the company’s Infrastructure and Global IT engagement manager, Dave McPherson, knew very little about the IoT. Now, he has the company embracing it in an almost evangelical way.

Why? Because he can see the benefits and cost savings associated with the technology.

As he mentions in the article that starts on page 18, it hasn’t always been an easy sell to all the stakeholders in the company, but once the benefits became tangible, it became easier for everyone to embrace.

Mike Wheeler

INSIDE 18

34

44

8 NEWS

34 QUALITY CONTROL

46 WOMEN IN INDUSTRY

18 INTERNET OF THINGS

36 THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

48 INDUSTRY UPDATE

22 AGRITECH/FOODTECH

39 MOTORS AND GEARS

49 AIP

26 SAFETY IN FOOD

40 PRODUCTION PROCESS

50 DAIRY REPORT

28 FOOD FACILITIES

43 OCCUPATIONAL HYGIENE

51 MARKETWATCH

30 CONSUMER

44 SUPPLY CHAIN

52 NEW PRODUCTS

32 AFGC

45 WASTEWATER

4 Food&Beverage Industry News | April/May 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au

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02

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Value-added food will pave way for Australian exports As a commodity wheat can sell for $100 a tonne, but as a value-added product, it can reach up to $5000 a tonne.

A

nthony Pratt, chair of packaging and recycling giant Visy, said that processed foods are what drives investment and jobs in the food and beverage sector. Making the keynote address at the 7th Global Food Forum in Sydney, Pratt – who has been a champion of the forum since its inception – had the facts and figures to back up his point.

When the forum first started in 2013, it challenged the industry to double Australia’s food exports by 2030. After seven years, the country is 75 per cent of the way there, according to Pratt.

“Despite this year’s drought, our farmers and food processors managed to grow our safe, highquality food exports from $29 billion to $40 billion over that time,” he said.

“This is testament to the constant focus of the food community, our world-class farmers, food processors and governments who have got free trade agreements with Japan, Korea, Indonesia and China.”

However, his speech centred around encouraging food processors and farmers to work together and to start adding value to our primary food resources. Something that he is passionate about.

“Value adding drives Australian investment and jobs,” he said. “For example, wheat sells for a $100 a tonne. If you turn it into flour it sells for $500/t, and if you turn that flour into bread, it sells for $5000/t. Adding value through further processing, or adding value at horticulture, is better than selling bulk commodities like wheat, which undersells the value of

8 Food&Beverage Industry News | April/May 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au

our farmer’s expertise.”

And, it’s not just because that a food in the form of a commodity undersells the potential monetary yield a particular food resource can maximise, but there is evidence that even when there is a trade war, added valued products do better.

“Because of the current US-Sino trade war, America’s commodities soya bean exports to China took a 46 per cent hit,” he said. “But incredibly, America’s exports of higher value foods to China, increased, with cheese up five per cent and ice cream up 20 per cent during the same trade war period.

“What is the difference between soya beans and ice-cream? It is the difference between bulk commodities and high-value processed foods.”

Pratt’s final point when it came to the food sector, was that of productivity. Something he believes will be enhanced by new technologies coming through.

“The problem with low hanging fruit is that it is getting harder to get pickers who want to do the back breaking work,” said Pratt. “As a result, sometimes up to 20 per cent of produce is left on the vine, which is why I am championing the productivity campaign called “No Fruit Left Behind”.

“Productivity can be helped if we lift the amount we spend on agtech.

Everyone believes that agtech is our future, yet we currently spend only $0.12 cents per person a year on agtech. In America, they spend $5.80 per person per year. That is 50 times more…than Australia.”

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Research partnership established for WA grain industry W estern Australia’s grain industry is set to benefit from a $48 million scientific research partnership between the Western Australian government and the Grains Research and Development Corporation.

A major new research program will attempt to unlock the potential of West Australia’s grain belt soils and exploratory projects to boost oat, canola, lupin and pulse production and value for Western Australia growers.

The West Australian government has committed $25 million over five years for the Western Australiabased projects led by the Department

of Primary Industries and Regional Development’s research arm.

The funding commitment includes $22 million to overcome soil constraints and develop transformational soil technologies.

A further $3 million will help examine new opportunities for the West Australia’s grain industry, including a fresh approach to matching genetics for early sowing opportunities for oats, canola and lupins in key environments.

“Scientific research is key to helping our growers change and adapt to produce better crops, increase productivity and export competitiveness, and in turn

A new partnership between industry and academia is designed to boost oat and pulse production.

10 Food&Beverage Industry News | April/May 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au

support our regional economies and communities,” said Western Australia’s Agriculture and Food Minister Alannah MacTiernan.

“This industry is hungry for technology to address Western Australia’s unique conditions and market challenges while striving for record growth like this season’s impressive 17.9 million tonne harvest – our second biggest crop ever.”

The six projects include: • re-engineering soils to improve water and nutrient flow to crops; • increasing farming system profitability and the longevity of benefits following soil amelioration;

• increased grower profitability on soils with sodicity or transient salinity in the eastern grain belt; • optimising yield and expanding the area of high-value pulses – lentil, faba bean and chickpea – in Western Australia; • evaluating milling oat varieties and optimising profitability from earlysown oats; and • expanding the sowing window for canola and lupins.

Western Australia’s grain industry is estimated to have injected $7 billion into the economy this season, by far the state’s biggest agricultural export and underpinning many rural and regional communities.

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New ARC Centre to future-proof Australia’s fresh food supply S upporting an industry that is being increasingly innovated by scientific advancements, The University of Sydney has launched a specialist training hub that will conduct research into food safety and develop methods to safeguard Australia’s fresh food and agricultural industries.

The Australian Research Council (ARC) Training Centre for Food Safety in the Fresh Produce Industry has been funded by the Australian Research Council, the New South Wales Food Authority and 18 industry partners from agricultural and retail sectors, which have aligned to promote food safety practices across all levels of food production and supply chains.

The centre is administered by the University of Sydney and consists of a multi-disciplinary team of academics with research areas spanning

genome editing, water management, horticulture, pathogen detection and food safety.

Officially opening the training centre was centre director and Professor of Horticulture, Robyn McConchie, who highlighted the university’s role in driving high-level research and researcher training that will be used to improve industry practices and standards.

“Working with a multidisciplinary team and a range of industry partners, the centre will be working towards improving commercial food safety practices, while minimising and preventing food safety risks such as human pathogen outbreaks,” she said.

“As our population grows and our country’s role as a global food producer increases, future-proofing our food supply and competitiveness through scientific and engineering

advancement’s is a welcome move.”

Speaking at the launch, University of Sydney vice-chancellor, Dr Michael Spence, drew on the vital role that researchers play in developing safety practices and maintaining integrity within Australia’s agricultural and food-production industry.

“Maintaining food safety in our supply chains is crucial for the future of Australia and our region. The new training centre is a tremendous opportunity for the university and our researchers to work and learn from real-world professionals who are already grappling with these issues,” he said.

“A big thank you to the Minister and the Federal Government for their support on this important project,” he said.

Internationally recognised food scientist, CSIRO Agriculture and

Food deputy director, Professor Martin Cole, welcomed the new centre, drawing on the importance of bolstering Australia’s food production capacity at a time increasingly impacted by environmental shifts and globalisation.

“There are several key trends impacting the way food is consumed both in Australia and our major export markets.

Climate change and shifts in dietary behaviour are two major drivers impacting the way food is cultivated and distributed,” he said.

“To build resilience, it’s essential we invest in the technology, science and practices that allow us to innovate all levels of supply chains, to decrease risks of food-borne diseases, strengthen our future food supply and promote Australia’s economic growth within this industry,” he concluded.

Wine Australia launching new online strategy to support exports E nhancing the perceptions of global wine consumers is the goal of new Australian wine website and other consumer-targeted activities from Wine Australia in 2019.

Wine Australia’s new “Australian Wine Made Our Way” brand platform will underpin investments, which are supported by the Australian Government’s $50 million Export and Regional Wine Support Package.

Wine Australia’s chief executive officer, Andreas Clark, said these activities are part of a broader strategy to build perception of, and demand for, Australian wine and wine tourism among the wine trade and consumers in Australia’s largest and fastest-growing export markets.

“We are excited to showcase the people, places and processes that

make Australian wines unique with consumers globally,” Clark said.

“Our targeted events, media and education campaigns – such as the recently launched Australian Wine Discovered education program – are amplifying positive sentiment, interest and excitement around the Australian wine category, and building trade and consumer demand for our wine and tourism offerings.”

Clark said Wine Australia was also increasing its presence on social media and e-commerce platforms globally to better speak with consumer audiences.

“In the past, our resources have been largely trade focused,” he said.

“The $50m package is allowing us to step up consumer engagement through digital media and connect with a larger audience.”

Wine is one of Australia’s fastestgrowing beverage exports.

www.foodmag.com.au April/May 2019 | Food&Beverage Industry News 13

NEWS

Strategic partnership for food security announced S ystech, a company that specialises in supply chain security and brand protection, and Foodmach, an Australian packaging automation and product traceability system integrator, have announced a strategic partnership.

The agreement allows Foodmach to serve as a Systech preferred partner to market UniSecure in Australia and New Zealand.

Systech UniSecure is a non-additive, product authentication solution that leverages existing product barcodes and packaging to create a signature that cannot be duplicated, hence ensuring product authenticity.

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A new partnership is designed to help with traceability in the food chain. of these variations by detecting measurable patterns and harnessing them to generate an inherent, covert security feature from existing package print marks.

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authenticate individual products is the only path to mitigate counterfeit and diversion risks in the supply chain, while protecting brand equity and assuring consumer safety.

“Australia and New Zealand are

significant exporters across high-value categories, including food, dairy and wine, to Asia; where counterfeiting and product diversion are growing challenges to brand owners,” said Ara Ohanian, CEO of Systech. “We are confident that our pioneering technology, in partnership with Foodmach, will deliver end-to-end supply chain protection in this fastgrowing region of the world.”

Phillip Biggs, general manager, product traceability solutions at Foodmach, said, “When I came across Systech’s technology - unique serialisation and traceability without the need for any additional unique covert or overt technologies on each individual product - I knew it was a game changer. We are extremely excited to partner with Systech. We believe there is a tremendous need for this technology in Australia and New Zealand.”

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Agribusiness precinct seen as a game changer R DA Sydney has welcomed the release of the NSW Government’s Western Sydney Airport Agribusiness Precinct Feasibility Study as a potential game changer for farming in the region.

RDA chair, Dr Rob Lang, said the study showed there was enormous potential to capitalise on Western Sydney’s existing world-class peri-urban agriculture sector and to leverage the opportunities arising from the Aerotropolis at Badgerys Creek.

“Western Sydney already produces around $169 million worth of agricultural produce annually and the study shows this could increase to bring in around $2.8 billion and create 14,500 jobs over 10 years,” Lang said.

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closely with both the State and Federal Governments to develop opportunities for agribusiness in greater Sydney.

“Our 2017 study showed the enormous potential of this industry to boost jobs and investment in Western Sydney and to capitalise on the opportunities arising from the Aerotropolis,” Lang said.

“A high-tech agribusiness precinct, adjoining the Western Sydney Aerotropolis, would generate new investment opportunities and deliver long-term benefits to businesses seeking to take advantage of the new facilities and proximity to international freight services.”

Primary producers across NSW also welcomed the prospect of an integrated transport system and centralised post-harvest services that would result in better efficiencies

and streamlined biosecurity arrangements.

“The proposed 500-ha greenfield site presents a once in a life time opportunity to construct purposebuilt infrastructure, adopt innovative business models and embrace the circular economy,” Lang said “A shift to shared services and commercial collaborations would ensure the sustainable use and reuse of precious resources including water and energy.”

“Centralised data centres and automated climate-controlled environments – key elements of urban intensive food production systems – will require a highly skilled workforce and the whole region will benefit from the creation of an additional 2,500 new high-tech jobs and 12,000 indirect jobs as a result of this precinct, ” Lang said.

Anchor tenants committed to the agribusiness precinct have already been announced and include Sydney Markets and The University of Sydney. The study notes that new curricula and on the job experience will be needed to ensure the delivery of a flexible multi-disciplinary workforce.

“With Sydney’s second airport due to open in 2026, and construction well under way, now is the right time to hit the accelerator and start planning and allocating resources to this important project,” Lang said.

“We would urge the government to expedite the feasibility study and ensure that the Western City and Aerotropolis Authority has the resources required to finalise this study and start implementation as soon as possible.”

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www.foodmag.com.au April/May 2019 | Food&Beverage Industry News 15

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FFH ranked top supplier in the Australian grocery deli category T

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16 Food&Beverage Industry News | April/May 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au

his year has begun well for Melbourne-based Fine Food Holdings (FFH), manufacturer of ObFinest premium crackers, as winner of Top Ranked Supplier 2018 in the Australian Grocery Deli Category of the Advantage Report, as recognised by the executive and buying teams across the retail sector at Woolworths, Coles, Metcash and Convenience groups.

The 360-degree survey, managed

by Advantage Australia, required retail decision-makers to measure suppliers against such KPIs as business alignment, communications, innovation, responsiveness, strategy, growth and service.

Both rankings and comments on performance were taken into consideration with competitors for this award including many wellregarded Deli brands.

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Manufactured to be eaten with cheeses or even dips, ObFinest also offers quince, pear or fig paste in its range. Upon receiving the Award, CEO Todd Wilson said: “As an Australian food manufacturer, Fine Food Holdings is very proud of this achievement. There is nothing more powerful and valued than the recognition that comes directly from our customers and acknowledges our dedication to building our brands and the consistency and breadth of our retail relationships.

“We are particular delighted that this recognition comes just four years after the establishment of our manufacturing division. My thanks go to all at FFH who have worked so hard to create our success,” Todd said.

Good sales growth, in both domestic and offshore markets, has resulted in the need to invest in a larger manufacturing facility. The move to a bespoke greenfield site will occur in May 2019.

The FFH team at its Melbourne head office.

www.foodmag.com.au April/May 2019 | Food&Beverage Industry News 17

INTERNET OF THINGS

Why the biggest dairy exporter in the world had to embrace the IoT Three years ago, Fonterra’s Dave McPherson knew very little about the IoT. Now, he can’t imagine doing business without it. Mike Wheeler explains.

L

et’s look at the impressive stats – 10,000 farmers, 1600 tanker drivers, around 500 milk tankers, 22,000 global staff, 22 billion litres of milk processed every year, $17 billion in revenue. This is what it means to be the biggest dairy exporter in the world, according to Fonterra’s Infrastructure and Global IS engagement manager, Dave McPherson.

New Zealand-based Fonterra is a dairy co-operative born in 2001 when the country’s two biggest co-ops – Kiwi Co-operative Dairies and New Zealand Dairy Group – merged with the statutory body, the New Zealand Dairy Board.

It is the largest company in New Zealand in terms of economic impact, and produces about 20 per cent or the world’s dairy exports.

Fonterra produces billions of litres of milk a year for the domestic and global market.

18 Food&Beverage Industry News | April/May 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au

It’s size gives it many benefits – economies of scale, employment, high turnover, and an avenue to solidify New Zealand’s place as a country that produces high-quality products for local and overseas consumption.

But, being as big as it is, also introduces a few issues. Not least of which are trying to find better ways to streamline production

processes, save on power, and one of the biggest costs – maintenance of the company’s plant, infrastructure and tanker fleet. A mere three years ago, McPherson attended the first Industrial Internet 4.0 Summit in Sydney knowing very little about the Internet of Things (IoT) or Industry 4.0. Now, 36 months later, not only did he give a 40-minute speech on the subject at the latest summit,

Fonterra’s Dave McPherson believes in the power of the IoT. but the company has embraced the concept at so many different levels – it is a walking advertisement for digitising a business.

“When I attended the first conference back in 2017, I was trying to get a handle on all the hype around IoT and Industry 4.0, smart manufacturing – all these buzz words that were relatively new to us and we were trying to get a handle on where we could drive some value from the stuff,” he said.

“In particular, what we were really trying to find were people that were doing stuff in this space currently and how we can leverage their learnings to speed up our journey.”

When he came to the first summit, he knew almost straight away that Fonterra could embrace the concepts and save itself a lot of money. It was a matter of trying to find out what they could do and how they could implement processes into what they were doing. It didn’t take long.

“I have plenty of examples across our supply chain where we are using new IoT,” he said. “What I call new IoT is gear supplied by third-party vendors, who are providing us low-cost, battery-powered solutions, which are connected by proprietary networks like SigFox or LoRa, rather than traditional wireless networks.

Alternatively, we are dealing with new vendors who are traditionally not in our supply chain.”

Being a co-operative, the company’s shareholders are the dairy farmers themselves. And it hasn’t taken long for those earning their living off the land to take on board some of the technologies brought about by the IoT. It does not cost farmers an arm and leg to do so, according to McPherson.

“There is a huge increase in

"There is a huge increase in availability of these low-cost devices, with new vendors coming to market all the time.

It has given us a lot of opportunities to grow in this area" availability of these low-cost devices, with new vendors coming to market all the time. It has given us a lot of opportunities to grow in this area,” he said. “On the farm we are seeing a rapid growth in the adoption of IoT sensors. Most of this is to do with compliance and sustainability as well as productivity and animal health and welfare. It all starts at the farms.

Farmers, like a lot of industries today, are having to be a lot more compliant from a sustainability perspective – wastewater, effluent – everything we manage or farm needs to be measured or monitored.

All water usage on farms has to be measured, which is increasingly being measured by IoT sensors and sent directly to councils.”

A big issue on all farms is the treatment of the aforementioned wastewater and effluent. Cow herds produce a lot of both and New Zealand has a lot of regulations when it comes to how these by-products are monitored and treated.

IoT-enabled devices offer the perfect solution on the ground.

“One of the more interesting projects we have done recently is wastewater management,” said McPherson. “We own the farms around most of our factories and that is for the purpose of getting rid of our wastewater. We’re monitored by councils about how we manage wastewater and keep it out of the waterways. We set up a project whereby we used irrigators that were pulled out manually across the field.

When [the irrigators] are pulled out, we have to be sure that they are not getting too close to waterways to make sure the wastewater doesn’t go where it is not supposed to go.

It got to a point where one of our plants nearly got shut down because

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INTERNET OF THINGS

“[This is] a lot of data pinging off 10,500 vats every five minutes, but it gives us a real-time picture that may even potentially stop us picking up milk that we otherwise wouldn’t want, and provides huge efficiency gains in optimising the loading of our tankers knowing exactly how much milk is at each farm - prior to collection” But it still needs to be kept cool when it is being transported.

Fonterra put some sensors on the tankers that came back with results that they didn’t expect.

“Our tankers are not refrigerated and our storage silos at factories are not refrigerated. It is critical that we try and get that milk temperature down on the farm as soon as possible and keep it there before it gets processed. Where we measured the temperature in transit, we used these little sensors which were very cheap,” he said. “We measured all different points of the tankers. The top, where we thought there would be the most impact from a heating perspective with regards to the sun.

It turned out it was the heat coming up from the road – it was the bottom of the barrels that were getting the most heat between the pipework and the cab and the barrel and the truck.

“Once we found these hots spots, we worked with a couple of companies on coatings we could put on the tankers to eliminate the heat.

Sensors help Fonterra keep an eye on the temperature of milk as it heads to the processing factory.

20 Food&Beverage Industry News | April/May 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au

Editorial credit: / Shutterstock.com

we weren’t doing a good enough job of it.

“We deployed GPS tracking on the irrigators, and, coupled with weather information, wind speed and wind direction, the pumps that control the irrigators would be automatically shut down quickly if there was a possibility the wastewater could spray into the waterways.

“We came up with a very costeffective solution by using new IoT sensors from a company we had never dealt with before. They came up with a real robust solution, which we implemented very quickly” Then there is the milk itself. The temperature of milk is regulated by the New Zealand Ministry of Primary Industries for the dairy industry. Farmers need to get the milk down to 10˚C within four hours of starting to milk the cows and 6˚C within two hours of completion of milking. The longer the milking takes, the longer it takes to cool, which then shortens the window for pick up from the farm gate. With some new sensors, it is possible to measure the temperature in real time in the farm-based vats where the milk is initially stored.

“That information along with the volume and the fact that the agitators are stirring that milk will come back to us in real time,” said McPherson.

We’ve had about six different coats sprayed onto a number of tankers and using sensors we are starting to see some great benefits, which has led to zero increases in temperatures,” said McPherson.

Some farmers are even going one step further by monitoring the cows with wearable sensors. “[Farmers] can tell when [the cows] are drinking or eating, how long they are spending standing up eating,” he said. “It also tracks their temperature, which will give warning signs of when the cows are getting sick – all of these things affect productivity for the farmers.”

One of the biggest expenses of Fonterra is running its tanker fleet.

Maintenance of the fleet is a cost that affects the bottom line, but is something that can be addressed thanks to IoT devices.

“Simple telematics will tell you how to reduce your maintenance costs of your fleet – monitoring things like engine temperature, revs and brake wear,” said McPherson.

“But we can also monitor the drivers and the wear and tear caused by their driving. When the system was

"Once we found these hots spots, we worked with a couple of companies on coatings we could put on the tankers to eliminate the heat." first installed, we had 1500 drivers in the fleet and they start out with 100 per cent score at the beginning of the day. Depending on how they drive the trucks, they would lose points. Initially they were getting scores around the 92 per cent mark, but we are now at 99.7 percent. With a 500-odd fleet of tankers, you can understand there are some big savings in our fleet maintenance costs.”

And how did the drivers feel about being monitored. Doesn’t it have a tinge of Big Brother about it?

We had a few challenges in that area, but generally they got it. They got why we were doing it, and have got on board as they take a lot of

INTERNET OF THINGS

Editorial credit: / Shutterstock.com

Fonterra is a co-op owned by the farmers that supply the milk.

pride in their job and are driving professionals.”

One thing the company has found – as is a common theme among those taking on board IoT devices – is the amount of data that is created. At the device layer in their NZ Manufacturing plants alone, the company pulls about 430,000 time series data tags into its PLCs in real time. Once that data is combined with set points and other values of the PLC, that accounts for about 40-million-time series data tags. It

"Our maintenance programme is usually done in winter and we pull every pump, motor and valve and replace bearings just because we’ve done it for years,” said McPherson. “With the IoT sensors, we should be able to save a lot of money by finding out if we actually need to do it in the first place." uses around 250,000 of them, but, going forward, it is expecting that will grow to four million data points that it will be tracking and storing.

A lot of companies are also looking at automotive condition monitoring, otherwise known as predictive maintenance, as it relates to the IoT. Fonterra spends millions of dollars a year on maintenance of its manufacturing plants. Given the seasonal nature of its business it has a 100 per cent of the company’s assets running at 100 per cent of the time for a couple of months a year at peak. Then, it becomes less intensive.

“Our maintenance programme is usually done in winter and we pull every pump, motor and valve and replace bearings just because we’ve done it for years,” said McPherson.

“With the IoT sensors, we should be able to save a lot of money by finding out if we actually need to do it in the first place. For us, to be able to predict the failure and then allow downtime in our plants to do the maintenance means we don’t have the overhead of a huge number of people working across our manufacturing facilities in the off-season.”

Other areas where the IoT is

making an impact is in the supply chain and dry storage. Again, temperatures have to be measured in the storage areas, and with New Zealand summers becoming hotter, it is increasingly becoming an issue. The company also has small magnetic devices that are fitted in the hinge of containers. When it is closed and turned on, it is sending out GPS coordinates of the location of the container, temperature inside the container, humidity and whether there is light getting into the containers.

“You get real-time alerts when these containers are being opened somewhere along the supply chain,” said McPherson. “Sometimes along the customs borders. Sometimes when we don’t really want them to be by someone who has stolen a container. Sometimes, we’ll get a customer complaint when it turns up damaged. These sorts of devices are allowing us to track issues in the supply chain where these things might happen.”

The company recently did 200 trials of a random number of containers going to various places around the world. The containers were pinging out data giving locations and other information

that was captured at the same time.

It’s helped Fonterra identify issues that were going on that it otherwise wouldn’t have known about.

“For example, we’ve had containers sitting in Chicago in the winter time in -9˚C and customers have complained about what that has done to the product,” said McPherson. “Other scenarios where we’ve had damage to containers or pallets where they have opened it up and bags have burst or the pallets are damaged and customer complaints have come through quite regularly.

That is a great little device that gave us a head’s up when there was a problem.”

Fonterra is an example of a company that less than three years ago, had hardly heard about the IoT, or what it would mean for its business. Now, the IoT has become part of its everyday life of doing business. And what of the future?

“Increasingly the challenge for us now, and a lot of companies, will be across the supply chain where you are pulling data through these IoT sensors to these third-party cloud solutions,” said McPherson.

“The real challenge will be how we integrate it back into our systems.”

And what is McPherson’s final word on the IoT and what it means for doing business?

“A lot of this is around changing business processes, taking people on the journey, getting them to understand the reason why traceability is important,” he said. “A lot of people think it is a Big Brother thing. In reality, it is just the future of what we have to do with this traceability across our food chain and that, in the long run, is a good thing.”

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CALL FOR A FREE DEMO: 1800 226 843 www.foodmag.com.au April/May 2019 | Food&Beverage Industry News 21

ARGITECH/FOODTECH

How agtech and foodtech are going to take the Australian food industry to the next level Australia can lead the world in agricultural and food innovation. However, there are a few problems that need addressing. Mike Wheeler explains.

Australia has a great reputation as an innovator in the foodtech space.

A

ustralia has a good reputation in the agritech and foodtech sectors. The government body charged with showcasing that reputation – the Australian Trade and Investment Commission, Austrade, is looking to establish Australia as a global

hub for agritech and foodtech, said its Austrade’s senior investment specialist, Karen Caston, at a recent roundtable event held in the country’s capital cities. “We are seeking increasing interest from overseas enterprises in Australian agricultural and food innovation.” Caston said that

22 Food&Beverage Industry News | April/May 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au

about half of the investment enquiries it receives from overseas companies and investors relate directly to these arenas. However, there are certain issues that have arisen that need addressing if Australia is going to take advantage of this reputation.

With that in mind, Caston lead

the charge at the roundtable with Austrade’s Agriculture 4.0 initiative, which is designed to showcase Australian capability and create a pathway for investment and partnership opportunities.

The video-linked round table that included companies and government

ARGITECH/FOODTECH

"Austrade is also seeing other countries taking a stance in relation to foodtech and agtech capability, which is resulting in increased competition globally in relation to investment and trade opportunities." bodies from around Australia, talking about the issues and how some of the more contentious problems might be solved. One of the biggest roadblocks that confounds both local and overseas investment is how to identify opportunities.

“The sector is fragmented with many different innovation hubs and states having their own initiatives,” said Caston. “Austrade’s clients – investors and businesses seeking agtech or foodtech services and exports – are confused about where to go for information and help for opportunities in trade and investment. Austrade is also seeing

There is a broad spectrum of clients approaching Austrade that are investing in agtech and foodtech.

other countries taking a stance in relation to foodtech and agtech capability, which is resulting in increased competition globally in

relation to investment and trade opportunities.”

Australia already has a couple of advantages over a lot of its global

competition. It has strict standards around the quality of its products, its traceability is of a high standard and only getting better, and its status

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www.foodmag.com.au April/May 2019 | Food&Beverage Industry News 23

ARGITECH/FOODTECH

The Agriculture 4.0 initiative is looking to streamline some of the processes within the industry.

around the world – especially in the lucrative Asian market – is fantastic.

“There is a broad spectrum of clients approaching Austrade that are investing in agtech and foodtech,” said Caston. “Private clients looking to get a commercial stake in technologies to improve investment returns.

“We have impact investors interested in long-term gains and to meet social license obligations.

Institutional investors have created new funding matrixes focussed on technology. International food manufacturers are looking to expand into the Asian market; to meet those consumer characteristics and to capitalise on Australia’s free trade agreements. Multinationals are looking to source and develop specific expertise in order to create

"A key ingredient is that the website is designed to bring the fragmented sector together. Austrade has worked with key stakeholders to develop and promote key messages, and collaboration within the sector is strong." regional specialist business units or centres of excellence. ” Yet, confusion still remains. This is what the Agriculture 4.0 initiative is hoping to address by focussing and streamlining opportunities for partnership and investment. And what does Austrade have in mind to help alleviate some of the concerns of companies navigating their way around the bureaucracy? Caston has already put the wheels in motion and it is a three-pronged strategy.

24 Food&Beverage Industry News | April/May 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au

“First, we will showcase Australia’s capability worldwide through a new micro website that will have video case studies and marketing material,” she said.

This site went live in February.

“Second, we will establish a Team Australia portal and tool kit that will feature consistent messaging as to the reasons why Australian agtech and foodtech investment and trade are good. This will include new materials to be used by all

stake holders including government, research institutes and industry.

“Third, we developed and supported the week-long, themed, inbound missions around the inaugural Evoke Ag conference that was held in Melbourne in February.

Austrade’s mission is results based and client focussed. Our collaboration includes market testing through a task force of key stake holders established to provide advice and support for implementation of this initiative.”

A key ingredient is the aforementioned microsite, which is designed to bring the fragmented sector together. Getting all the different stakeholders to come on board will not be easy – each state and territory has its own agenda.

However, a taskforce lead by

ARGITECH/FOODTECH

Tenacious Ventures’ Matthew Pryor, is leading the way. Pryor himself is bullish about the task ahead.

“We want and need international investment in our agricultural innovation ecosystem in the way we produce, and in the way we conduct and commercialise research,” he said. “And we should seek to function as a testing ground for agricultural innovation regardless of where they are sourced.

“With the taskforce we are providing feedback on who the stakeholders are and there is a significant amount of stakeholder mapping – and we have to decide, who are the core people we are trying to reach, what are the core messages that we need to deliver?”

He is also adamant about how it needs to be implemented.

“In terms of the establishment of the taskforce and its objectives, it is to grow the innovation brand and Australia’s presence, but it also needs to make some concrete decisions,” he said. “We need to say, ‘if we’ve done this right – we’ve created this global brand and identified the people we want to talk to. We’ve also delivered the message, so how do we know we’ve done something material?”

There is a lot of good work being done in establishing Australia’s status as a global player in the production of food and fibre. Most recently – and the best qualification of this – is the Talking 2030 report where the target of $100 million in farmgate output was established.

“Importantly for us, thinking about what part of that could be influenced, was the $20 billion bounty values that are available to drive the performance of the efficiencies of that system. These are going to be largely underpinned by the adoption of digital technology in Australia’s agricultural branching system,” said Pryor.

“We mention this because we can say, ‘as a country and an initiative, we can directly contribute to helping Australia. As a country and as an initiative, we can contribute to helping Australian farmers adopt new technology’. Some of that will come from our own ag innovation ecosystem, but we also need to promote ourselves as the best place in the world to prove the commercial application of internationally sourced agricultural innovation.”

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"We need to say, ‘if we’ve done this right – we’ve created this global brand and identified the people we want to talk to. We’ve also delivered the message, so how do we know we’ve done something material?"

Australia being a world-class producer of food and fibre.

“We know we do it efficiently because we are one of the least subsidised agriculturally productive economies in the world,” said Pryor.

“What we know less about is what we call a ‘knowledge economy’ for agricultural innovations. We know we have world-class researchers and we rank highly in international measures in terms of performance of innovation. What we don’t know is what’s the economic value that flows into the country through exports of technology-based products and services. So this is a major body of work that we intend to pursue.”

A major piece of work the taskforce intends to put forward is helping to deliver on that bounty.

The next thing for it, is conducting the necessary research to quantify the country’s current state of how much Australia exports in terms

of technology-based products and services and what the aspirational target for that will be.

“The taskforce has regular meetings about once a month,” said Pryor. “The first stage of that was the development of stakeholder mapping and messaging. The second part was how would we get that message to be embedded in the sector’s collective marketing efforts. So, we worked with Austrade to develop the microsite and supporting material.

The next collective action was, how can we as taskforce members and those at the roundtables become actively involved to broadly promote this brand? Austrade has outlined the tools they are developing to do that.”

The microsite is a good starting point for anybody who wants to become involved in the initiative and see how Austrade and the taskforce are going in terms of reaching their objectives.

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(07) 3246 7800 maxumfoods.com | follow us www.foodmag.com.au April/May 2019 | Food&Beverage Industry News 25

FOOD SAFETY

Why packaging processes are the essential ingredient for food safety Peter Hern, country manager, Universal Robots Oceania tells Food & Beverage Industry News about packaging’s role in food safety.

T

he Australian food and beverage market is one of the country’s major industries, with an annual revenue of $2.1 billion. It is populated by a variety of iconic and enduring brands. In such a crowded market, it can be difficult for smaller businesses to stand out.

But with the right tools and processes in place, even the smallest businesses can compete on a level-playing field with larger operators.

Packaging is one of the crucial ways that businesses can build their brand and differentiate themselves from their competition. With strong links between visual presentation and positive memories, it’s an essential piece of a brand’s identity. Iconic Australian brands like Vegemite, Arnott’s and Cadbury can be instantly recognised by their packaging, and it has a direct impact on the perception of their brand.

But packaging is more than just a “pretty face” – it has an important role in protecting the health and safety of customers. This was made clear in last year’s strawberry tampering scandal, when Food Standards Australia New Zealand’s (FSANZ) report into needle contamination suggested that more effective, tamper-proof packaging could be one way to prevent future incidents. Similarly, with the debate over single-use plastics and resource wastage growing stronger by the day, packaging can also signify a company’s commitment to sustainability.

In the wake of food issues like strawberry tampering and combined with increasing competition and a focus on sustainability, having streamlined, consistent and highquality packaging processes during manufacturing is now more

Contamination remains a core risk during the packaging process.

important than ever. A high standard of packaging not only attracts new customers to a brand, it can also save costs, protect customer safety, and maximise business resources.

The importance of safe packaging The Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code lays out a series of standards that food businesses must maintain, including an active commitment to reducing the risk of food contamination and protecting the health of consumers. The code outlines that packaging must be durable, of a high quality, not leach chemicals or allow harmful microorganisms to become

26 Food&Beverage Industry News | April/May 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au

mixed with the food, among other requirements. Contamination remains a core risk of packaging processes and can be caused by poor manufacturing conditions or inconsistent cleaning and sanitising processes.

When managing food processes, consistency is key. Quality packaging is costly to manufacture, so it’s equally important to use it efficiently and effectively. This requires constant monitoring, skilled workers, and equipment that’s up to the task. But maintaining high quality standards doesn’t just mean being “compliant” to current legislation – it requires an active commitment to constantly improving manufacturing processes.

Reducing risks One simple fact of food manufacturing is that the presence of human workers on the production line carries the risk of contamination, from various bodily fluids to the growth of harmful bacteria in manufacturing environments. In the first two months of 2019, there have been nine food recall reports from FSANZ, including a variety of dairy product recalls due to the presence of E. coli bacteria, as well as a beer nut recall due to the presence of glass fragments. These incidents, which have potential to cause illness or harm, were likely the result of inefficient manufacturing processes or human error.

Are you always striving for a better way?

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ng at Wiley fourth generat family compan strong culture ba on empowerin their people placing safety and quality above all else, with a passion for making a difference an finding a better way.

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"Packaging is more than just a ‘pretty face’ – it has an important role in protecting the health and safety of customers...packaging can also signify a company’s commitment to sustainability."

When taking on dull and repetitive tasks in the workplace, fatigue can lead to mistakes. In the food and beverages industry, these mistakes can be harmful, but actively improving production processes and introducing new technologies can prevent them.

Investing in technology and automation is one obvious solution: not only to reduce risk, but also to improve productivity. Since being installed in manufacturing plants in the 1970s, robots have evolved to take on increasingly complex tasks.

Now, the latest robotic technology can take on smaller scale and more intricate work, and handle more delicate products, such as eggs and fruit.

Collaborating for better packaging processes In particular, collaborative robots (cobots) are a growing technology that the food and beverage industry has an opportunity to adopt to reduce the risk of contamination and maintain high levels of product consistency.

With their small size, flexible and adaptive setup, and ability to work in close-proximity with people, cobots can be used across food and beverage production facilities, from picking and placing to packing or palletising.

This process often takes place

in a “clean room”, where products can be manufactured in a controlled environment to reduce the risk of pathogen transference. Cobots working to produce items such as dairy and juice can create longerlasting products, as well as ensure consistent output.

By integrating cobots into the production line, a company can reduce the risk of crosscontamination across a plant.

Additionally, automating repetitive tasks not only increases consistency and productivity but it also frees up employees to take up more interesting and engaging tasks.

Reallocating these tasks creates new opportunities for workers to learn valuable, transferable skills such as programming, keeping them more engaged and alert while working on the production line.

The food and beverage industry has a long history of adapting to changing taste, trends, and technology. Introducing automation technology like cobots to the workplace has the potential to improve overall safety, reduce waste, and improve productivity. It is important the industry does not wait for another safety scandal to act: it’s time to get on the front foot and ensure the sector’s efficiency, growth and success for years to come.

We encourage our people to experiment a innovate, empowering everyone to learn fr their mistakes. We openly celebrate our successes and acknowledge each others strengths. We believe that leadership is so that comes from within rather than from above. Our people own their role in the t integrity and accountability.

RELATIONSHIPS clients, suppliers, sunbcontra project partners. Based on trust a open collaboration, working toward shared goals through a set of shared values. W now is an exciting time for with a growing and dynami aaateam of professionals wor on a growing and diverse portfolio of projects.

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It’s an exciting time to work at Wiley.

We are working on a diverse and growing portfolio of projects and are looking for special people to join our team, across all areas of design, engineering and project management.

To find out who we are visit www.culture.wiley.com.au To find out what we do visit www.wiley.com.au

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www.foodmag.com.au April/May 2019 | Food&Beverage Industry News 27

FOOD FACILITIES

Expertise key with new kitchen facility for the needy When Wiley was asked to assist FareShare with building a new kitchen facility that will feed those in need, it jumped at the chance to help out. Food and Beverage Industry News explains.

P

roject delivery specialist Wiley doesn’t only share its knowledge when it comes to building functional, state-of-the-art food processing factories, it also uses its expertise to help with more altruistic endeavours. Its project with FareShare is an example of how Wiley helps those that are helping others in need.

FareShare is a not-for-profit organisation that “rescues food that would otherwise go to waste and cooks it into free nutritious meals for people in need. Around four million Australians experience food insecurity each year while as much as $20 billion worth of food is wasted”.

Foodbank also works with the

"Wiley met FareShare at an industry conference and provided high level advice to us on the selection of the premises, design and food systems advice."

Australian food and grocery industry including farmers, wholesalers, manufacturers and retailers.

Donations include stock items that are out of specification, close to their expiry date, or are in excess.

In late 2016, FareShare was approached by Foodbank Australia to establish a high-volume kitchen facility in Brisbane so that surplus meat and vegetables in the state could be saved from landfill, cooked, frozen and redirected to those in need. With research showing

The FareShare facility under construction at the brownfield site in Queensland.

28 Food&Beverage Industry News | April/May 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au

that over 400,000 Queenslanders experienced food insecurity last year, 50 per cent of them children, it was deemed imperative that a kitchen was established as soon as practical.

FareShare bought a brownfield site in Queensland to build the new kitchen facility within an existing warehouse. The new building footprint was to be in the order of 900 m² and the existing offices and warehouse space was retained. It included two kitchens linked by shared services, cool room and

freezers, reception, locker room, function room, tea room, male/ female/accessible toilets, laundry and basic storage. The balance of the area was open space. As funds were tight, construction was to be basic, yet robust. It was envisaged that most of the building would comprise insulated cool-room panelling.

“Wiley met FareShare at an industry conference and provided high level advice to us on the selection of the premises, design and food systems advice,” said Kellie Watson, FareShare’s Queensland director. “We were also able to use Wiley’s experience and knowledge to assist us with the delivery of this project. I used their Brisbane office as my office for the first few months too.

The facility consists of two ovens, two 300-litre kettles and three blast chillers. When in use, the kitchen can make one million meals per year.

With the addition of evening and weekend shifts, the kitchen would be able to produce two million meals.

With the ability to serve up to that many meals annually, are there any plans for FareShare to expand the facilities capabilities?

“It depends on the need in the community,” said Watson. “We’d like to say ‘no’ but current trends indicate that the need for food relief is increasing each year. The building was designed to be able to increase production if the need in Queensland increases and the raw ingredients are available.

“We have built in [the] capacity for equipment upgrades, installed a grease trap of a size that can grow with us, and we have done preliminary work so that we can easily increase the size of the freezers. For example, we have prepped the floor and built a second multi-purpose area that is currently operating as a dry store. To bring it online as a freezer, we just need

FOOD FACILITIES

"It was our ability to work collaboratively with our subcontractors and extended team that made this manageable." to add the plant equipment. With the floor area that we have, we can accommodate twice as many volunteers as we currently have.”

Building at a brownfield site had its own challenges, but nothing that got in the way of what Wiley needed to do to help finish the job.

“The biggest challenge for Wiley and FareShare was building within an existing structure on the brownfield site and ensuring the building structure had sufficient strength to support the new infrastructure,” said Wiley project engineer Lauren Elliss. “Another challenge was that the site was located close to the Brisbane river, which meant we had tidal water challenges to solve.”

The build took from January to October 2018 but Wiley was involved with FareShare for some time before

The new facility has the capacity to expand if demand increases. that, helping with site selection and feasibility, as well as helping to source suppliers and subcontractors.

It was important that those helping with the build were willing to work at cost or discounted rates to help FareShare achieve its budget and time constraints.

And what were some of the learnings from the build?

“It was more our ability to work collaboratively with our subcontractors and extended team that made this manageable,” said Elliss. “Transparency is the key. Everyone was

contributing to the cause to get FareShare up and running to feed Queensland’s hungry.”

Elliss said the building could not have been completed under budget and on time without the help of ASKIN, Cool Times Industries, D&F Plumbing, PowerMe, REFPRO and WMA.

www.foodmag.com.au April/May 2019 | Food&Beverage Industry News 29

CONSUMER

Woolworths deepens partnership with its Own Brand suppliers Editorial credit: / Shutterstock.com

Health, sustainability and convenience the focus for product innovation at the Australian supermarket.

FoodCo has seen huge growth some sectors of its grocery business.

W

oolworths Supermarkets has one of the most recognised brands in Australia, with all own in-house and exclusive brands developed and managed by a business unit within the Woolworths Group, Woolworths Food Company, or FoodCo. It includes Australia’s and New Zealand’s leading supermarkets Woolworths and Countdown. They partner with dynamic suppliers to provide a range of own- and exclusivebranded products to meet the ongoing and changing needs of Woolworths and Countdown customers.

Their people have a passion for food and non-food, with integrated teams of buyers, developers, quality, welfare and sustainability specialists, customer

insights and sensory specialists, chefs, nutritionists and marketers. They all work closely with suppliers to deliver the best mix of quality, taste, innovation, nutrition and value for over 30 million customers per week across Australia and New Zealand.

By focussing on its customers and providing, FoodCo aims to maintain a sustainable and competitive offering for Woolworths, Countdown and its supply partners.

Clair Stevenson, FoodCo’s general manager for Longlife, and Morgan Oldridge, head of supplier development, have definite ideas about how they see the retail market in the coming months and years.

So, what does Woolsworths see

30 Food&Beverage Industry News | April/May 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au

as the priorties for customers in the coming years and how suppliers can be a part of it?

“It’s a really interesting time for retail in Australia,” said Stevenson.

“We’re excited to be working at the forefront of the macro trends shaping our customers’ needs and expectations into the future.

“It’s no secret that our customers care more about where their products come from, and that presents a huge opportunity for Own Brand to shine through for retailers. We tend to have a greater ability to understand and, importantly, tell the ‘paddock-toplate’ story to our customers.

Whether that’s being able to tell customers about the farming families

who supply our Farmer’s Own Dairy products to us, and the long-term relationships we have directly with those families, or the highest quality material and production standards of our Little Ones Baby Wipes.

“This need for information supports the trends of health, sustainability, responsible sourcing and animal welfare, all of which underpin what we do in FoodCo and how we approach the design and source phases of our product development process.

“At a broader level, we see our customers having less time to get things done. This includes eating healthily and maintaining a balanced diet. As a result, we’ve seen huge

CONSUMER

Editorial credit: / Shutterstock.com

A goal of FoodCo is to be suppliers’ most trusted and preferred partner. growth in our convenience sector both through our traditional channels and our new Metro format stores. Fresh is a particular focus for convenience but overall it’s about making healthy easy for customers.”

What does this mean for suppliers?

“At the outset, we should say Woolworths is very proudly a house of brands and always will be,” said Oldridge. “We believe in giving our customers choice. Our Own Brand products are always developed to meet specific, unmet customer needs that brands aren’t serving - whether

have some amazing suppliers out there. By tapping into their capabilities and expertise, mixed with our customer mission and a longer term view to success, we believe we can unlock a huge amount of value and long term benefit for both customers and suppliers.”

With more requirements around product sourcing every day, such as ethical and responsible sourcing, animal welfare and sustainability, FoodCo is committed to ensuring it partners with people who excel in that field and can deliver long-term, sustainable competitive advantages to its customers.

“With all of this in mind, innovation is still the lifeblood that drives our business forward and excites and inspires our customers,” said Oldridge. “For suppliers who can bring true innovation to market, whether that be in product innovation, packaging, provenance, or technology, we’re keen to work with them to deliver that innovation in a sustainable way to our customers.”

And how do suppliers get in touch with the right person in FoodCo to talk about Own Brand opportunities?

it be on price, health, sustainability or provenance.”

As the company takes take a more strategic approach to the way it serves customers, it needs a more strategic approach to the way it sources products and invests in its supply chain. It’s in the process now of making significant changes to the way it deals with suppliers and the way it approaches supplier relationships.

“Our goal in FoodCo is to be suppliers’ most trusted and preferred partner, and the only way to achieve that is through deeper, more meaningful relationships with the right partners,” said Oldridge. “We

“It’s never been easier to deal with FoodCo,” said Oldridge. “If a supplier wants to get in touch with FoodCo for the first time, simply visit www.supplywoolworths.com.au and complete our introductory capabilities survey so we can capture some basic information about your business. This centralised, secure database will then send that information to the buyer relevant to the category you’re best suited to, and they can be in touch if there’s an opportunity for us to do business together.

“The best thing about this centralised approach is ensuring we deal with our suppliers in a consistent and clear way. It also means the information only needs to be captured once, then updated each time something changes, “If all else fails, send us an email at supplierrelations@woolworths.com. au and we can get in touch to help you along the journey.

“As we’ve said, Own Brand is a huge growth opportunity in Australia, and Woolies is on the forefront of that growth. Our purpose is to bring a little good to everyone, every day, and in FoodCo, we’re well positioned to work with suppliers to absolutely deliver that to customers.”

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www.foodmag.com.au April/May 2019 | Food&Beverage Industry News 31

AFGC

Mastering the new evolution of DIFOTIS The new Product Information Form (PIF V6) supports a higher standard for product data transmission and compliance. Dr Geoffrey Annison from the AFGC explains the how and the why.

P

The AFGC’s Dr Geoffrey Annison

utting aside the basic need to turn a dollar, the biggest challenge facing a food manufacturer used to be DIFOTIS – delivering in full on time in spec. DIFOTIS was the first step to securing an ongoing mutually beneficial and rewarding relationship with the customer, notwithstanding the tensions between those selling and those buying arising from normal market forces operating.

DIFOTIS is still a challenge, but with more sophisticated manufacturing and supply chains, better demand forecasting and better

real-time market data available to companies, the fundamental task of getting product to customers when they want it, and as they want it, has become easier.

The common thread tying all this together is information – better data and better information management.

Companies have become better at gathering information, analysing data and making business decisions based on that information, all supported by the ever increasing capabilities and usability of IT support and infrastructure.

The phenomenal increase in the

capability and capacity to manage information has inevitability led to increasing demands for data – and this now goes right down to the final customer or consumer. And much of that information is now required to be provided by law and/or co-regulation.

So along with DIFOTIS comes the need product to be in compliance. The new acronym is too long and too much of a tongue-twister to be useful, but the point is that now more than ever, for business efficiency and risk mitigation, companies need to have confidence the regulatory status and compliance of their products. Whether it be allergen Companies need to have confidence in the regulations that surround compliance of their products.

32 Food&Beverage Industry News | April/May 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au

AFGC

presence, or country of origin status, or added sugar labelling, the new requirements keep on coming down the compliance pipeline with each issue representing another set of information bits which need to be managed.

For 10 years the AFGC’s Product Information Form (PIF) has been the industry standard for information exchange about food ingredients along the supply chain. The PIF has been through several versions and formats as information needs for both regulatory compliance and commercial requirements rapidly expanded. And now a brand new version is available for industry.

The new PIF V6.0 is a new tool developed by the food industry in Australia and New Zealand in partnership with vendor software companies – Bizcaps Software, Hamilton Grant and Oakbarrel Software. It enables companies to obtain and share information needed to meet obligations under regulatory requirements and industry codes regarding food ingredients and finished products in a consistent and standardised manner.

More specifically, the PIF structure has been changed to take advantage of the online platform to

"With an emphasis on ease of use, interoperability with other product information systems, and absolute security, the concept of ‘one true source’ of company product data has become a reality." better organise data and improve work flow of PIF users. Provision for the new country of origin labelling, allergen traceability, and GM status treatment have been restructured to make using the PIF system clearer and simpler.

Information required for commercial purposes (product images, certificates of analysis, safety data sheets) can also be transmitted with PIF V6.0. PIF V6.0 features updated content and utilises businessto-business (B2B) software solutions.

It streamlines the process of recording and reporting product information via secure online vendor portals, making it easier, faster and therefore more efficient to use.

Companies may now create new PIFs through one of the three online PIF V6 vendor portals. Once created, they can be shared B2B data via a number of methods, most efficiently via portal-to-portal exchange, but also via emailed .pdf or .xml files.

With an emphasis on ease of use, inter-operability with other product information systems, and absolute security, the concept of ‘one true source’ of company product data has become a reality.

The system has also been designed for optimal flexibility. There are four types of PIFs which can be created within the PIF system – a sample PIF for when companies that simply want to exchange data about product samples. This is effectively a ‘cut-down’ version of the PIF. A “flavours” and “colours” PIF option as also been provided, again representing the specific information requirements of this type of product.

The third type is a food ingredient PIF and finally, there is a retail-ready PIF for products ready to go on shelf.

Additional flexibility has been built into the system through providing hierarchies of access to PIFs through the portal systems. PIF owners can provide degrees of data access to

persons in their own organisation, or indeed to third parties, based on specific system permissions.

Therefore, control of commercially sensitive information is assured.

As consequence of this step-change the AFGC will no longer be supporting the MS-EXCEL spreadsheet-based previous version of the PIF – PIF v5.

PIF v5 has not been updated since 2012 and should be withdrawn from use. However, PIF v5 to PIF V6.0 conversion tools are available to facilitate the upgrade to PIF V6.0.

Dr Geoffrey Annison, deputy chief executive, Australian Food and Grocery Council

Dr Geoffrey Annison joined the AFGC in October 2007. He has experience in food regulation and innovation, having held a number of senior technical and management roles in industry in Australia and overseas, in academia, and in public policy. Annison has a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Food Technology and a PhD in Microbiology from the University of New South Wales. He is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Annison is also an adjunct professor with the University of Queensland.

Leader in Low Flow Fluidics Handling Technology Flow ranges for gases from 0 - 0,7 mln/min up to 0 - 11000 m3n/h Flow ranges for liquids from 0 - 100 mg/h up to 0-600 kg/h Pressure ranges from 0 - 100 mbar up to 0 - 400 bar Laboratory, industrial (IP65), Class I Div. 2 or ATEX approved design Analog, RS232, FLOW-BUS, PROFIBUS DP, PROFINET, DeviceNet™, Modbus, EtherCAT®

www.bronkhorst.com - www.ams-ic.com.au www.foodmag.com.au April/May 2019 | Food&Beverage Industry News 33

QUALITY CONTROL

Inspection system protects brand A range of new products is designed to make sure food products are sent to market in premium condition.

P

rotecting your brand in the marketplace and providing customers with high quality products are some of the most important functions a food manufacturer can perform. Meeting consumer expectations for food safety and consistency can be a defining factor in a brand’s success but all the time and money spent establishing a reputation can be lost in the event of one safety recall.

That is why developing and maintaining an effective, verifiable inspection program is no longer just an option for processors, but a necessity. The increase in innovative technology now provides a range of systems that can not only detect foreign objects, but can also operate simply, efficiently, and at high speed while collecting data to provide a transparency previously unachievable.

Metal Detection Metal detection is an inspection process that can occur at several points throughout a production line.

The primary purpose of installing metal detection is to identify ferrous (magnetic), non-ferrous metal contaminants in a product – for example aluminium, stainless steel and even paint chips.

While the use of metal detection in food production is primarily for the quality control of a product and ultimately consumer protection, metal detection units can also be used to protect machinery throughout the production line. The smallest metal particles can lead to machinery malfunction, resulting in revenue decreases due to the need for production downtime to perform repairs, as well as the cost of the repairs themselves.

An X-ray inspection system is the final check in a complete inspection line.

Metal detectors perform differently depending on their application.

When used in food processing, metal detectors are typically constructed as a metal box housing a three transmitterreceiver coil detector system.

The transmitter coil generates an electromagnetic field, similar to how a radio transmitter would function.

If a metallic object is present it interferes with the electromagnetic field, causing a signal to be detected by the receiver coils. Although metal particles are able to be detected by other forms of inspection systems, metal detection systems are separated by their level of sensitivity.

Cutting-edge technology in metal detection has seen the invention of a multi-spectrum system. This new generation of metal detector is capable of eliminating false rejects without reducing sensitivity. Using proprietary multi-spectrum technology, it is able to consistently detect smaller metal particles in difficult products like wet spinach, cheese, tortillas and ground beef.

A manufacturer of metal detectors, CEIA, has developed multi-spectrum technology available in no other metal detector. The CEIA’s MS21 multispectrum metal detectors are the only metal detectors that use many frequencies simultaneously.

More detection frequencies mean more sensitive metal detection and fewer product effect errors.

Other metal detectors - even threefrequency models - use only one frequency at a time.

Seal Checking A new generation of metal detector can eliminate false rejects.

34 Food&Beverage Industry News | April/May 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au

Seal checking or testing is used to detect leakage, as well as identify trends that may give early warning of

QUALITY CONTROL

deterioration in the sealing process.

As a product moves through the seal checker/tester, an inspection head applies optimum controlled pressure to the pack to detect and evaluate any subsequent “give”.

Ishida high-performance, in-line seal checkers can inspect up to 150 bags per minute, making seal checking an integral step of the inspection process for the reduction of waste, as well as ensuring product integrity prior to it reaching retailers.

X-ray Inspection Systems Used in conjunction with metal detection, an X-ray inspection system is the final check in a complete inspection line. X-ray inspection is a way of identifying inconsistencies, physical defects, and/or contaminants in product packaged in a pouch, bottle, can, jar, or flow of product passing through the system, without damaging the food product. Contaminants can be foreign bodies in the product such as pieces of glass, stone, shell, pebbles, bone, as well as plastics including hard rubber, nylon, PVC, and Teflon, and metals such as steel, iron, and aluminium.

X-rays are a form of electromagnetic wave of high energy and short wavelengths that are able

"The Ishida range of X-ray inspection systems to help food manufacturers and processors comply with global safety standards and meet the demands of quality and safety-conscious retailers." to pass through food products. X-ray inspection systems function by passing an X-ray beam through an item as it moves along the line. As the X-ray beam passes through the item, it is converted into a greyscale image that can be easily scrutinised and recorded for historical traceability records.

Contaminants denser than the product will present in this image as darker, whereas voids or missing pieces will present as lighter. This forms the basis of identification.

The Ishida range of X-ray inspection systems to help food manufacturers and processors comply with global safety standards and meet the demands of quality and safetyconscious retailers.

The IX-G2 series is able to provide a high level of quality assurance to processors and manufacturers of complex products including poultry, meat, vegetables, French fries and cereals.

Its dual energy sensor provides

Protecting your brand is paramount.

effective X-ray detection of low-density objects.

Optical Sorting Sorting systems are also an integral part of the food processing line. A wide range of systems are available to food processers including colour sorters, smart laser sorters and also new hyperspectral technology.

Laser sorters inspect structural properties of each object to identify and remove foreign matter to improve the quality and increase the value of the product. These quality objectives are easily achieved with today’s sophisticated range of digital sorting systems that recognise colour, shape, size, and structural properties.

Laser and laser/camera sorters are available as combination systems.

Designed with up to five lasers operating at different wavelengths, they can detect and remove a variety of defects and foreign matter. When combined with high-resolution cameras

for superior shape, size, and colour determination, the result is a highquality product.

They are configurable with a range of sensor options for single- or doubleside viewing of the product stream on low to medium-capacity applications.

It sorts and manages separation of the product stream into two or three sort ways. The VeryX digital sorting platform has a modular platform of chute-fed and belt-fed sorters to meet specific needs. It features innovative mechanical architecture and sensor technology, state-of-theart electronic sort engine advances machine algorithms and rich information capabilities.

Recall

Better recalls through communication, visibility and action Reduce the impact and cost of a recall • Automate, manage and document communications • Exchange real-time notifications with customers and trading partners • Meet regulatory and stakeholder requirements

“Nestlé has integrated GS1 Recall within our own product recall and withdrawal processes as it provides far greater speed, accuracy and control over such a critical event.”

Mandeep Sodhi – Head of Digital Supply Chain, Nestlé

E recall@gs1au.org

W www.gs1au.org/recall

www.foodmag.com.au April/May 2019 | Food&Beverage Industry News 35

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

Trust and transparency key to Total success Total Construction is celebrating 25 years in business. As well as food and beverage plants, the company specialises in constructing self-storage and aged care facilities. Mike Wheeler talks to founders Steve Taylor and Bill Franks about the journey so far.

O

ne is quiet, the other gregarious. One is the numbers man, the other the details guy. One is an introvert, the other an extrovert. They are an unlikely duo, but over the past 25 years Steve Taylor and Bill Franks have taken a one-man band that is Total Construction and turned into a company that is turning over hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Specialising in self-storage, food and beverage, and aged care facilities, the company has navigated its way through the GFC, the odd grumpy client, and government bureaucracies to find their niche in what can be a very competitive market.

“We are complete opposites,” acknowledged Taylor. “Bill has never smoked or drank and partied hard, whereas I have taken all those things to the extreme. I live in the city and Bill lives in the mountains in Kariong. He lives on 35 acres and I live on 400sqm.

We’re very different, but it works.”

Talking to them in the board room of the company’s beautifully detailed head office in Strathfield in Sydney’s inner west, you can hear the mutual respect when they speak about each other, and the pride with not only how they have built their business, but how they do business.

Taylor does most of the talking, and Franks doesn’t seem to mind. They met almost 30 years ago working for Donnelly Construction, based in Castle Hill in Sydney’s north west.

“We were building a school together up at Castle Hill and Bill was the foreman and I was the leading hand on the job,” said Taylor. “After work we’d take off in his ute to Wilberforce and build his house.”

Taylor then got an opportunity in his early years to work as a project manager under Nev Kennard, he of the hire and self-storage fame. The out-of-the-box-thinking Kennard gave the young Taylor a few insights into

Total Construction’s own offices showcase the fine detail and precision it brings to its builds.

not only how to run a business, but how not be satisfied with second best.

Franks had already left Donnelly’s and started his own company. Taylor quickly wrangled in Franks to become a subcontractor to him to help build Kennard’s facilities.

“That was when I had a building job in Wetherill Park and Kennards came to us and said, ‘Don’t take any more work on, we’re going to keep you busy for the next couple of years’,” said Franks. “Then the recession hit, and then Nev said there was no more work.”

“Nev predicted the recession.

He was a visionary,” said Taylor.

“He was a very forward thinking, entrepreneurial guy. That’s who I learned my business acumen from. He taught me to challenge everything. I was the sort of person that when they said, ‘Think outside the square’, I didn’t even see the square. I learned

36 Food&Beverage Industry News | April/May 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au

from him how to question and challenge everything with respect.”

When the 1989 recession hit, Taylor went up to Cairns and then came back to Sydney to help run a joint venture for Kennards. Franks kept his business ticking over by helping out the hire/ storage company when he could.

“I kept on doing maintenance and building work for Kennards during that whole recession period,” said Franks.

It was while Taylor was on a sabbatical that the idea of Total Construction really came into fruition.

“When I was in Europe, Bill saw that Nev was getting ready to take off again workwise,” said Taylor. “They thought they might start a company but would need me to run it. But I was having too good of a time in Europe. I was having the time of my life and didn’t want to come home.

The reports from my dad were that the economy still wasn’t that great, so

Steve Taylor had a great mentor in Neville Kennard. there was no need to rush home. Bill was badgering my dad about when I was coming back.”

“It was that 93/94 era. I always thought we should start a proper company,” said Franks. “We picked up a job for Rheem water heaters and we built their R&D lab.”

And how did what was literally a two-person operation come to

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

be a company that now has 150 full-time staff and up to 400-500 sub-contractors working for it at any one time? According to Taylor, there was a moment in time when it all came together, and he took a punt.

“In 1994 Sam Kennard took over as CEO of Kennard Self Storage,” said Taylor. “He used to work for me when I ran his dad’s business. He was at university and used to work part time for me. Sam approached me to do some work. I’ll never forget him turning up at my office – I hadn’t seen him for a couple of years. My eyes lit up and the entrepreneurial spirit – which I didn’t know I had – went spinning into overdrive. They had a site in Goldburn.

They invited me to go there. And I was just a young guy – 27/28 years old – and I knew a bit about business, but I was just a carpenter. They drove me down to the Goldburn site and they said, ‘What do you think?’ I said, ‘You can do this, this and this.’ We got in the car and drove back. And while on our way, a little voice in my head said, ‘This is a make or break moment’. So, I said to them, ‘I’ve got a new business – how about we become your in-house contractor? We’d still be a sub-contractor but manage all your in-house properties’. By the time we got back to Campbelltown we had a deal that unfolded 10 years’ worth of work. We then went and built the building for them for $1.2 million and 16 weeks later it was open.”

But their story isn’t just about taking a punt and luck, it was also about playing to their strengths.

“From the beginning, we decided that we weren’t going to be a residential builder because we knew it was a boom

or bust industry,” said Taylor. “You have to have a crystal ball to know when the boom is going to happen.

There is money in apartments if you are a developer, not a builder. That’s my theory. And to do residential you really have to deal with developers.”

You get the impression from Taylor that developers are not his favourite people.

Another aspect to their success, they say, is how they treat their staff, not just in terms of remuneration, but in their development, too. Taylor believes that this is one of the reasons they get so much return business – their staff are invested in the outcome, just as much as he and Franks. Both men also believe a lot of their success is down to knowing the market and putting the right processes in place to make sure the business runs smoothly, and that staff are looked after.

“We have a cadet program and the KPI on that is that 10 percent of our workforce is cadets,” he said. “We’re just under that at the moment because some of them have just graduated.

They’re still working for us, but they’ve just been promoted. That is a big mentorship. Every one of our staff here has free membership with Fitness First nationally. It costs us over $100,000 a year, but it means we get our staff visiting the gym 200 times a year.”

Plus, their attitude is different.

Franks said it is all about respecting the customer. Something that not all companies think of. To some, it is about the here and now, and immediate results, without looking for the longterm prospects.

“Our KPI of return business is 75 per cent and we smash it every year,” said Taylor. “We had a lot of people

come from the Tier One companies, and they’re not taught how to get repeat business. It’s ‘screw the client at all costs’. We needed to teach people that there is trust within the industry.”

Another aspect of the business is transparency. Both men are up front with their staff on the turnover and how much a project costs. They find that because they are talking 10s and sometimes 100s of millions of dollars in turnover, people think they are rolling in money. But people don’t seem to understand that there are lot of outgoings in such a big operation.

Once Taylor and Franks put the project plan in front of their workers, it soon becomes apparent that neither will be challenging Jeff Bezos for the richest man in the world stakes. Transparency aside, being up front also creates trust that they are all in it together.

“When you’re pushing staff to give you transparency then we should be transparent, too,” said Taylor. “I tell them how we run the business and then they feel engaged because we are being transparent, and they are frank with us about the parts of the business they work in. People think you are a moneymaking machine; that’s because you turn over $200 million a year you must be a multi-millionaire. Transparency gives our employees a reality check.”

And when it comes to the business itself, there is a reason it is called Total Construction. It epitomises what the company has to offer, according to Taylor.

“We wanted to show a point of difference” he said. “For example, when it comes to our food and beverage division, we have an in-house engineering capability, as

Bill Franks - it’s about respecting the customer. well as an in-house infrastructure business. Automatically, you are showing clients that you are a business that is diverse, that is thinking, that is capable. You’re not just a tendering machine in the construction industry.

You can bring value.”

Both Franks and Taylor have brought the members of their respective families into the fold. Not that either man is looking to retire any time soon. But it’s comforting to see the next generation of Taylors and Franks showing interest in a business both men have built from the ground up.

“We’ve both got family in the business now,” said Taylor. “It’s owned by the two of us and our families. We see ourselves bringing more family in and maybe handing it on, but we don’t know yet. Bill and I are both young for our age and we think we’ll be here for a while yet, but maybe in a lesser capacity.”

And the key to their continual success and partnership? Taylor sums it up in two short sentences.

“We trust each other. Bill’s always been there for me through good times and bad and vice versa.”

www.foodmag.com.au April/May 2019 | Food&Beverage Industry News 37

MOTORS AND GEARS

SAVE THE DATE

1ST - 3RD APRIL 2020

MELBOURNE CONVENTION & EXHIBITION CENTRE 38 Food&Beverage Industry News | April/May 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au

MOTORS AND GEARS

Gear units ensure smooth operation in wastewater treatment facility Nord’s range of helical gears make sure wastewater keeps moving.

Food & Beverage Industry News explains.

N

ord Drivesystems has developed products that comply to safety and hygiene standards and can handle harsh washdown environments.

The products are available in size ranges suitable to every industry – from food and beverage and pharmaceutical right through to wastewater and mining.

Products are locally assembled and Nord has a large local stock holding and service team trained to help customers with commissioning and service.

The company recently supplied product at a wastewater treatment at a municipality that supplies approximately 2.5 million people in a metropolitan area with process water.

To enable the bacterial decomposition of dirt particles, the wastewater needed to be oxygenated by constant

churning. Two large, geared motors propelled the mixers around the clock.

In the outdoor facility, temperature vary throughout the year.

The facility contained drive technology that was nearly 30 years old and needed to be replaced step by step. The original suppliers had discontinued the lines, which made spare parts hard to come by. Also, the originally installed gear units required maintenance to a problematic extent.

In particular, the fluctuations in temperature have frequently affected the lubrication.

Wastewater needed to be oxygenated by constant churning.

Getting a grip on heat Searching a new supplier, the municipality found Nord Drivesystems, which had been operating a sales office in the country since 2003. Two combinations of Nord helical shaft gear units and

Helical gear shafts were an important part of the wastewater treatment plant.

Siemens motors were installed, and have since proven themselves during continuous operation.

Nord used a high-quality synthetic long-life lubricant for the helical shaft gear units. It withstood the ambient temperatures considerably better than mineral oil – with the latter, the oil film would break down at high temperatures, resulting in increased wear and tear.

Each gear unit required 210 l of oil, which had to be changed after approximately 20,000 hours of operation. Other manufacturers stipulated shorter maintenance intervals, which made a difference at a price of the oil. An oil cooling system additionally increased operational safety in the Nord gear units – a temperature sensor constantly monitored the temperature of the lubricant and activated the cooling system as soon as a configurable limit was exceeded. In this application, the limit is 60°C. Heated oil was then pumped out, cooled by an oil cooler and returned to the gear unit. When the temperature fell below 40°C the cooling system switched off automatically.

Drive technology in detail Currently, there are two helical shaft gear units with a 132kW performance from Nord’s SK 12382VZ series that are installed at the waste water treatment plant. They are used in combination with Siemens motors via IEC adapters.

Nord’s helical shaft gear units are available as two- or three-stage basic types with hollow or solid shafts, in foot-mounted, flange-mounted, or facemounted versions – each with the same housing. Suitable for integration into limited installation spaces, they can be combined with many components from the modular Nord system.

Atex models and models with IP55 or IP66 protection are available on request for all types. All gear units are manufactured according to the UNICASE concept, originally developed by Nord in 1981. This enables maximum performance for small gear dimensions and ensures operational safety, high efficiency, high output torques, high resistance to axial and radial loads, low-noise operation, low maintenance and a long lifetime.

www.foodmag.com.au April/May 2019 | Food&Beverage Industry News 39

PRODUCTION PROCESS

Cryogenics is a niche market, but an important one for the food industry.

Cryogenics offers alternative freezing solutions Cryogenic freezing has been on the industrial landscape for more than 50 years. However, there are some misconceptions about the technology. Food & Beverage Industry News explains why.

W

hen thinking of cryogenics, most people think of the science fiction fantasy whereby billionaires freeze their decaying bodies in liquid nitrogen in the hope that technology will catch up and allow them to live forever.

In real life, cryogenics has many, less dramatic purposes, albeit important ones – including the freezing of foodstuffs.

There are two standard methods of freezing foods at an industrial scale.

One is mechanical, and the other is the aforementioned cryogenics.

The mechanical method involves

using a chemical refrigerant such as CFCs or ammonia, which is used in a closed cycle. The system moves large volumes of air to freeze the product.

It cools the air like a refrigerator, but, is of an industrial size with a bit more grunt in its engine.

A cryogenic system is different. It uses liquid nitrogen or liquid carbon dioxide to freeze the product. It has direct contact with the product either as droplets of liquid nitrogen, or solid particles of carbon dioxide (dry ice) because carbon dioxide cannot exist as a liquid at atmospheric pressure.

Air Liquide is one company that specialises in cryogenic freezing and is

40 Food&Beverage Industry News | April/May 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au

at the forefront of a technology that has been around for more than 50 years.

The company’s senior international expert in food processing, Aron Segal, knows that cryogenics is a niche market, but an important one. There are benefits and issues with both mechanical and cryogenic freezing. However, cryogenics is not utilised as much as it should be, especially for those people that don’t have a massive amount of money to invest in capital.

“When it comes to mechanical freezing, the operating costs are strictly dependant on the price of electricity,” said Segal. “But, you

have a high capital investment for the equipment. There is little operation flexibility with the mechanical freezing system because you basically set your set points in the freezer and so you have very little movement of that temperature.”

It also takes a longer time to install a mechanical freezer system than a cryogenic one. There is a lot of maintenance required to keep the mechanical system in good working order.

“Against that, you have cryogenic freezing, which requires a lower initial investment because the equipment is smaller, it operates

PRODUCTION PROCESS

“Cryogenic freezing has three main advantages over mechanical freezing: improved product quality, processing flexibility and lower capital investment.” colder and can be rented,” said Segal.

“There’s very low maintenance and no compressors. There is just injecting a fluid into a freezer and then exhausting the gas.”

Cryogenics is also very fast freezing because products are frozen at a set point, such as -60, -80, -100 or -120˚C. It is rare for a mechanical freezer to operate below -40. And because cryogenic freezing is faster, it requires far less floor space because you are moving product through quicker. Then there is the science behind this type of freezing system.

“You get quality product because the faster you freeze something the smaller the ice crystal size,” said Segal. “The larger the crystal size, the more likely the product is going to thaw out not looking exactly like it did when you froze it, which when it comes to vegetables and fruits, can be a problem.”

Then there is moisture loss, which can be a big issue when manufacturers are selling product by weight and they lose four or five percent of that product’s weight in the freezing process. It’s a big cost to the bottom line. Because cryogenics is faster, there is less loss.

Segal said that cryogenics are also ideal for those that are just starting out a business mainly because of the aforementioned lower capital outlay as well as a lack of space. Not only that, but if the business is volatile, a company could be left to the whims of its clients’ fickleness.

“If you have invested in a mechanical system and you lose an important customer in two or three years, you’re stuck with that plant,” he said. “If you opt for cryogenics, with the correctly sized cryogenics freezer, it takes up far less floor space and you can install it overnight. You can press the button the next day. And if you lose the market, you’re not stuck with

high-end capital equipment.”

Segal also said that cryogenics is capable of targeting specific aspects of a product, which again, is another feature it has over its main rival in the space.

“We’ve developed a range of equipment to do other things, not just simply freezing produce. We can crust freeze and crust harden,” he said. “Let’s say your end product is sliced ham. You have these large portions you want hardened a bit to make it easier to slice. With cryogenics you can get a firm outer surface that you don’t get with mechanical freezing because it will take a long time. Therefore, you’ll get more efficient slicing and far less wastage. The slices can fall nicely on the conveyor where they can go into a qualified atmosphere packaging system.

“Another example is if you’ve got small particulate products like pizza toppings. To freeze them mechanically would be difficult.

You’d probably have to do it in bags because you probably wouldn’t like it on a conveyor belt. Cryogenics has systems that can handle particulates so they don’t come out in a frozen clump. They come out free flowing.”

Segal gives another example of where cryogenic freezing would be ideal – desserts. A manufacturer can harden the main part of the product

The faster you freeze a product, the smaller the ice crystal size. in the cryogenic tunnel – not fully freeze it, but partially freeze it. Then they can put a topping on it and put it through again and freeze the topping without intermingling with the lower component. This is especially important when different components of a product have different freezing points, or react in different ways to certain temperatures. Segal said that it is part of Air Liquide’s brief to work with clients on how cryogenic freezing can help them make sure their business reaches its potential while guaranteeing safe operations.

“Niche products are where we find our current market,” he said.

“When people are trying to create these products, it is cryogenics that helps them. It’s not just about putting products in and freezing them, there is the value-added aspect. When we identify enquiries, we have to understand exactly what our client is expecting from the freezing process.

We know very quickly whether cryogenics is going to be a process that supports their cost structure, and how suitable it is for their business or not.”

A cryogenics plant is easier to install than its mechanical counterpart.

www.foodmag.com.au April/May 2019 | Food&Beverage Industry News 41

OCCUPATIONAL HYGIENE APR/MAY 2019

Foodtech and Agritech What Australia needs to do to become a world leader

PLUS: The biggest dairy exporter embraces the IoT

FOOD & BEVERAGE INDUSTRY NEWS

THE INTERNET OF THINGS

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JUNE/JULY

OUR BRAND PROMISES We offer you the best exposure to decision makers We provide the best platform to showcase your product We will be the best external marketing partner you’ll ever have

The Internet of Things (IoT) is fast gaining momentum in the Food and Beverage space..

The June /July issue of Food and Beverage Industry News will cover all things relating to the IoT. Connectivity and getting machinery to talk to each other are key develops within the food processing industry and are becoming increasingly important how food and beverage processing companies do business.

Food and Beverage Industry News provides an excellent platform to showcase the latest innovations that you have developed for the industry with regard to the IoT. If you are in the market to sell plant and machinery, or wish to export to this lucrative market, the June /July issue of Food and Beverage Industry News will look at the IoT and how it can help with planned maintenance and other efficiencies involved wit

BOOKING DEADLINE: 13 MAY 2019 For advertising enquiries please contact Luke Ronca on 0402 718 081 For editorial enquiries please contact Mike Wheeler on (02) 9439 7227

42 Food&Beverage Industry News | April/May 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au

OCCUPATIONAL HYGIENE

Floor coating keeps bacteria at bay A range of floor coatings are designed to keep contaminants at bay in the food processing industry.

Food & Beverage Industry News explains.

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entennial Vineyards is a very impressive property incorporating a restaurant, winery and event’s facility for international performing artists, it is located just minutes from the township of Bowral in the Southern Highlands of NSW. It is a picturesque part of New South Wales that has frequent visitors from Sydney’s metropolitan area, as well as those from overseas.

The premium cool climate vineyard is set at more than 760m in altitude, which ensures the grapes ripen slowly with enhanced flavour and intensity. The vines at Centennial Vineyards are planted on more than 80 acres consisting of Chardonnay, Riesling, Pinot Gris, Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir, Gewurztraminer, Gruner Ventliner and Tempranillo.

The chief winemaker, Tony Cogsriff, has had nearly 20 years working with Centennial. He grew up in New Zealand and after graduating from university worked with many wellknown New Zealand wineries before emigrating to Australia to join John Large, who is a successful wine industry retailer and entrepreneur who runs Centennial Winery. Cogsriff has won many accolades for his highquality wines and sets a benchmark that matches the impressive surrounds of the vineyard.

Like any business, maintenance is something that all companies have to keep up-to-date in order to meet strict regulations within the food and beverage industries. This is no different for Centennial Vineyards when it came to the flooring in its winery.

The existing floor coating was

deteriorating from heavy traffic and bacteria build up from yeast and salts, which was causing a dangerous hazard for forklifts. There were also potential contamination issues for the wine.

A new coating was needed, and it had to have several features.

It needed to handle heavy and light wear, as well as ongoing wet conditions form the grapes and wash down. Centennial Vineyards asked Roxset HACCP Coatings to provide an impervious non-slip, highly protective and safe coating in its production and cellar areas.

The Roxset SE 6m coating system in the company’s mid grey was installed covering more than 600sqm to key production areas around fermentation, bottling, cellar and barrel areas.

Roxset epoxy screeds and ceramic

additives have assisted in providing long-lasting protection to exposed concrete. A high glass finish was applied around coving and an epoxy detail formed around the slotted drains for protection.

Features of the system include a high level of protection from contamination, seamless non-slip finish, and it is long lasting and durable.

“We are delighted with the incredibly hard and durable surface of the SE solution from Roxset,” said Cogsriff. “Protecting our sought after pedigree wines from bacteria build up as a result of possible chipped and exposed surface areas is a critical part of our processing.

We now have a fantastic, fresh clean environment which is impressive for both visitors and staff.”

The HACCP Coatings provide an impervious non-slip, protective floor covering.

www.foodmag.com.au April/May 2019 | Food&Beverage Industry News 43

SUPPLY CHAIN

Safety key ingredient for hoist and chain specialist Food & Beverage Industry News looks at how the Kito range of hoists and chains fits into the food and beverage processing marketplace.

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ito PWB, formerly known as PWB Anchor, has been manufacturing its broad range of chains for 95 years that are manufactured to Australian Standards in accordance with ISO 9001:2008 approved Quality Management System.

Kito PWB has also been distributing the Japanese manufactured Kito range of manual and electric hoists and chain blocks throughout Australia and New Zealand since 1986 and the relationship has only grown stronger since Kito’s acquisition of PWB in 2016. Kito has been a manufacturer of hoists since 1932.

Kito’s ISO9001:2008 and ISO14001:2004 accredited manufacturing facility in Yamanashi, Japan, produces and distributes the single- and dual-speed three-phase ER2 and EQ electric chain hoists and motorised beam trolleys. These hoists are suitable for a range of lifting applications, with capacities ranging

"The compact EQ range has a series of features designed to drive productivity and ensure safety in business operations." from 250kg to 20 tonnes.

The compact EQ range comes with a series of features designed to drive productivity and ensure safety in business operations. Features include: • Safe and reliable brakes that prevent a load from falling in the event of a sudden loss of power.

• A motor-cooling fan that feeds cool air to the aluminium die-cast body.

• A motor cover and regenerative resistors that prevent excessive temperatures during operations.

• Helical gears reduce noise allowing quiet operation and a long life.

• A nickel-plated chain manufactured

by Kito in Japan that provides corrosion and wear resistance.

• A bottom hook that is designed to open gradually and not break under excessive overload.

• A counter and hour meter function

Kito’s hoists are suitable for a large range of lifting applications.

44 Food&Beverage Industry News | April/May 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au

that allows users to check the number of stats and the hoist’s total hours of operation to carry out routine maintenance and inspection according to the frequency of use.

• A friction clutch that disengages the motor in the event of an overload • A triple safety mechanism and electronic OLL that shuts off the device in the event of excessive lifting or lowering.

• Hoists that come with a thin, lightweight pendant control with emergency stop button.

Kito PWB’s range of lifting products is available through the company’s network of approved distributors. It is also a member of Lifting Equipment Engineers Association (LEEA) and Lifting Equipment Engineers New Zealand (LEENZ).

Safe and reliable brakes prevent loads from falling.

WASTEWATER

The Vegapuls WL S 61 radar level sensor is suitable for where it may be temporarily submerged.

Bluetooth added feature for new radar level transmitter Food & Beverage Industry News explains why a new radar level transmitter is suitable for the food processing industry.

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ega has released its new radar level transmitter for watersupply and sewage Industry, featuring a smaller-beam angle and an easy-to-use software interface.

The Vegapuls WL S 61 radar sensor is suitable for all simple applications in the water-supply and sewage industry. Featuring a wide range of mounting options, it is an especially cost-effective radar solution, as it can be readily integrated into new and existing installations.

Just as with the Vegapuls WL 61, which has been available for several years with a large installed base, the new Vegapuls WL S 61 offers a design optimised for use in the water-supply and sewage industry.

Radar technology offers numerous advantages compared with ultrasonic sensors, which used to be standard in this industry; radar is independent of weather influences, strong sun, wind, fog or rain. In addition, no compensation is needed for variations in the signal transmission time due to air temperature fluctuations.

With an accuracy of +/- 5mm, the Vegapuls WL S 61 covers a range of applications.

This sensor is suitable for level and flow measurement in water treatment plants. Its excellent focussing enables its use in pumping stations and rainwater overflow basins, for flow measurement in open channels, and for level monitoring.

The sensor’s robust housing is wearfree and maintenance-free, and its high degree of protection, IP68 (2 bar), also makes it suitable for applications where the sensor may be temporarily submerged. The unit complies with the latest LPR standard (Level Probing Radar) and is approved for open-air use without restrictions or special attachments.

Managing director of Vega, John Leadbetter, said that the radar sensor’s simple and easy-to-use features made it a good choice for companies working in the food and beverage sector.

“The benefits of this unit for this industry is that they are using a transmitter that has been specifically

designed for the wastewater industry and which is simple to use and implement into existing systems,” Leadbetter said.

In its development of this new sensor for simple measurement tasks, Vega drew on its many years of experience as there are over 40,000 Vegapuls WL 61 sensors already used worldwide in the water-supply industry.

A new feature is Bluetooth wireless operation from a smartphone or tablet (and/or a PC with PACTware) when combined with a Bluetooth USB adapter – this makes commissioning and diagnostics even simpler.

Corresponding display and signal processing units enable the display of measurements and provide the relay outputs needed, for example, to control a pump.

“One of the main advantages of the Bluetooth functionality is that the app is free to obtain and the customer does not need any specific tools to access the transmitters parameters,” Leadbetter said.

Vegapuls WL S 61 is simple and easy to use.

www.foodmag.com.au April/May 2019 | Food&Beverage Industry News 45

WOMEN IN INDUSTRY

Speed of essence for massive cold store facility Jacquelene Brotherton has spent the past decade working in one of the biggest cold store businesses in the world. She talks to Food & Beverage Industry News.

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Jacquelene Brotherton

o-ordinating frozen food stuffs in one of the biggest cold storage facilities in the world is no easy task. It is one where you have to be on your toes from the moment you walk through the door to start work until it’s time to go home.

Luckily for Oxford Cold Storage, its transport manager, Jacquelene Brotherton, not only has the experience to do the job, but also has a genuine passion for it. It is an industry she was born to be in, according to Brotherton.

“I have worked in the transport industry my entire working life since

Oxford’s cold storage facility has about 700 trucks come through a day.

46 Food&Beverage Industry News | April/May 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au

1970 when I was still at school,” she told Food & Beverage Industry News recently. “I would get off the school bus in my uniform and go to work. I did that on afternoons and weekends out the back of Bourke. Since then, I worked for 17 years with Bruce Dickinson Livestock in Dubbo. I worked in fleet management. I worked for Frasers Livestock. I worked several years at Lewington’s. I also worked in the three mainland eastern states over those years. I just never wanted to leave the industry.”

Brotherton loves her job, and she has been intricately involved in the

many changes and improvements Oxford has undergone during her tenure there. All the while, she has kept the transport side of the 19th largest cold store company in the world (by capacity) running on time.

“I came onto their site in January 2006 under the employ of ID Transport as they were leasing space there at the time,” she said.

“I managed their ID’s customers, as they had several major customers onsite, and I was the onsite representative for them.

“Several months after that ID sold to Pure Logistics and I moved

WOMEN IN INDUSTRY

Getting foodstuffs out on time is of essence at the Oxford Cold Storage facility. with the business as part of that transaction, it was part of the deal. I stayed with Pure until 2007 and then resigned. I didn’t really know where I was going to go after that. I took another job somewhere for less than a week as a favour to a friend and then when the opportunity presented, I decided to come back to Oxford, but this time under their employ.

“That was in August 2007. I’m one of the newer employees here having been here for only 11 years. One of our original employees has been with the business for 44 years while several others have been here for over 30 years. That should give you an idea of what the company is like to work for, and how loyal the staff are to their employers and vice versa.”

With a large part of the business being foodstuffs, getting goods in and out on time is of the essence. It’s not until you start talking numbers, that you realise the scale of the job that Brotherton has in front of her. With help from a reliable team, she manages to run a very smooth operation in an industry where timing is everything “Around 700 trucks come through the site each day. It is a very busy site,” she said. “We have the capacity to store 175,000 pallets of frozen products, which is huge volume of

stock. We service numerous size customers. Some quite small and some very large. There are hugely different requirements and it takes significant management to do that properly.

“We have more than 300 transport companies registered on our site,” she said. “We have to keep in contact with them and make sure our database of truck registrations is continually maintained and kept up to date. This includes new vehicle registrations being added and the removal of old vehicles which have been sold or destroyed so that we can remove them from our database.”

One reason Brotherton has loved her career is the diversity it has offered.

“My roles have mainly been in trucking but it has been all aspects of trucking,” she said. “It has been in livestock where your food comes from. Refrigeration where your food goes to. Even the warehouse part of the industry was a real eye opener to me. It is an essential service as society moves more to, not just fresh food, but many other essential things we store here such as vaccines and the like. There is a whole different world out there.”

While the business is very busy, Brotherton wouldn’t change it for anything. She has had plenty of highlights over her 40-year career, with

"It is an essential service as society moves more to, not just fresh food, but many other essential things we store here such as vaccines and the like. There is a whole different world out there." last year being particularly memorable for all the right reasons.

“A highlight of my career was when I was bestowed life membership of what was then the Livestock Transporters Association of New South Wales,” she said. “It is now the Livestock Bulk and Rural Carriers Association (LBRCA) of New South Wales. Then winning the Excellence in Road Transport at the Women in Industry last year. That was something I was truly unprepared for, but it was a very nice surprise. I also won the inaugural Female Leadership in Transport award at the Australian Freight Industry Awards in September of 2018. I had a big year. It was an extremely joyous, humbling and fulfilling year.” Like many successful people, Brotherton believes helping yourself is the first step towards a fulfilling career. It seems the more Brotherton does, the more accolades she amasses. When it comes to the cold storage and foodstuffs industry, Jacquelene believes that people

should really go for it.

“This industry offers amazing opportunities for everybody,” she said.

“You need to get involved in your industry associations. You need to get involved in the transport women’s association. I am still involved with the LBRCA, I am the chair of Transport Women Australia Limited, I am involved in the Refrigerated Warehouse and Transport Association, and I’m also involved with Women in Trucking in the US. “Immerse yourself in the industry.

It has fantastic people. There are huge opportunities for everybody. Find a mentor. There are plenty of people who will freely share their knowledge with you. I have had plenty of mentors from the industry throughout my career.

“Make people aware that it is an essential service – warehousing, cold storage, transport – all those elements are essential services for everybody in our society.” www.womeninindustry.com.au

www.foodmag.com.au April/May 2019 | Food&Beverage Industry News 47

INDUSTRY UPDATE

MHIAA celebrates 20 years in Australia It’s been 20 years since Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Air-Conditioners Australia arrived on Australian shores. Food & Beverage Industry News looks back on its arrival.

"Taking Australia’s comfort into our hands is no small feat. We are inspired by our customers; we listen to them and we develop solutions based on their needs."

MHIAA began its journey in Australia in 1999.

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his year, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Air-Conditioners Australia, (MHIAA) celebrates its 20th anniversary in Australia.

What initially started off as a dedicated air conditioners sales division in 1999, under the banner of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Australia (MHIAU), has today expanded around the country and into New Zealand. The company grew and eventually developed into MHIAA in 2009 to bring award-winning, high-quality air-conditioning solutions for both commercial and residential applications.

According to Yuji Ito, managing director for MHIAA, it is the people of MHIAA, with their commitment to innovation and excellence, who have been responsible for the company’s success and growth.

“Taking Australia’s comfort into our hands is no small feat. We are inspired by our customers; we listen to them and we develop solutions based on their needs,” Ito said.

Ito said that over the past 20 years the company had been instrumental in creating change through engineering and design. “From silent

operation, to long-reach air flow, energy conservation and durability right through to digital advancements with Wi-Fi connectivity, MHIAA products continue to focus on innovative solutions for the HVAC market,” Ito said.

“One of the things I really enjoy about being part of the team is the focus on innovation, research and development. It is so important, not only in today’s competitive market, but in keeping us ahead of consumer demands and new technology.”

To celebrate 20 years in the local market, Ito said that MHIAA wanted to give something back to the community. The 2018-19 summer campaign proved just that, with MHIAA donating $20 to the Australian Red Cross Natural Disaster Relief Fund for every registered air conditioner unit purchased by the consumer between December 2018 and February 2019.

Ito said that cause resonated in the hearts and minds of many Australians, particularly over the harsh summer season. “While most of us enjoy a comfortable home environment throughout the year, many Australians face the reality of

48 Food&Beverage Industry News | April/May 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au

natural disasters each day particularly during our harsh summer. With MHIAA celebrating its 20th year in the market, we really wanted to use this time to give back to our local communities,” he said.

MHIAA was selected by Choice magazine as the “Best Brand” of air conditioners for 2018 against tough competition. This highly regarded stamp of approval is based on the latest reviews of 140 split-system air conditioners and the 7,738 responses in the annual reliability and satisfaction survey completed by Choice members.

The results were based on a number of different factors including

“Customer Satisfaction” and “Brand Reliability”, in which MHIAA scored well – achieving 91 per cent for customer satisfaction and 88 per cent for brand reliability.

This allowed the company to out-perform all competitors and achieve an overall Best Brand Score of 79 per cent.

Furthermore, the brand is endorsed by brand ambassador and home aficionado, Tara Dennis. Dennis joined the company in July 2017 as the brands first ambassador to Australia and New Zealand. This partnership has generated and extended the MHIAA brand image across Australia and New Zealand.

“Without our customers and our resellers, it would not be possible to have achieved any of these milestones or accolades.

“Thank you for your continued support and here’s to the next 20 years,” said Ito.

MHIAA was selected by Choice magazine as the best brand air conditioners in 2018.

AIP

AIP supports Certified Packaging Professional roll out The AIP is assisting with the global roll out of CPP certification.

Food & Beverage Industry News explains why.

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s the peak professional body for packaging education and training in Australasia it is paramount that the Australian Institute of Packaging (AIP) offers professional designations that are internationally recognised and have the ability to raise the profession of packaging technologists and designers across the globe. Such a designation is the CPP; which is a registered trademark of the Institute of Packaging Professionals (IoPP) in the United States.

Since 1972, IoPP has awarded over 2000 qualified applicants the designation Certified Packaging Professional (CPP) and is recognised as the premier designation in the industry signifying excellence as a packaging professional.

Candidates achieve the CPP designation by demonstrating industry expertise and experience, measured through a flexible applicant testing process.

Attaining the CPP recognises

the designation as a commitment to excellence in the packaging profession and the credential demonstrates that a packaging practitioner possesses packaging knowledge, experience and skills to the degree that they deserve recognition as a true packaging professional. CPP’s are in demand as speakers and as leaders on packaging teams.

Approximately three years ago, the AIP approached the IoPP about the possibility of rolling out the CPP program into Australia. Since then, the AIP announced that the region has 20 certified packaging professionals, with enrolments coming in every week from across Australia, New Zealand and Asia.

As a member country of the World Packaging Organisation (WPO), the AIP recently agreed to provide support for CPP program roll outs for other countries across the globe. This has been to ensure that the CPP designation and the packaging profession is recognised

globally. WPO member countries that are in the process of the rollout include Nigeria, Brazil, South Africa and Singapore with many others to follow shortly.

The CPP designation is now internationally recognised by several organisations including the IoPP, the AIP and the WPO. By encouraging other countries to roll out the CPP program the aim is to see packaging technology and design become more globally recognised as a profession, which in turn will encourage more people to attain greater packaging skills and knowledge.

The flow-on effect will be more people developing long-term careers in packaging across the globe.

The CPP designation should also assist companies to recognise and employ highly skilled packaging professionals through various means including international transfers and exchange programs.

Attaining the CPP designation

is an excellent investment in a packaging professional’s development and the credential defines the packaging professional, allowing organisations to seek out and hire the right professional based on verified knowledge, skills and industry contributions.

In an ideal world, all companies who are hiring packaging professionals should ensure that the CPP designation is a recognised and required skill-set for the hiring and promotion processes.

The CPP is the premier designation in the industry, signifying excellence as a packaging professional.

The most recent IoPP salary survey has revealed that CPPs earn anywhere between seven per cent and 10 per cent more than their co-workers who don’t have the certification.

Using the CPP program to assess and evaluate one’s professional competency will validate the person as internationally proficient as a packaging professional.

The IoPP has awarded more than 2000 people the designation Certified Packaging Professional. www.foodmag.com.au April/May 2019 | Food&Beverage Industry News 49

DAIRY REPORT

Global Dairy Commodity Update – March 2019 The latest news with commodities in the dairy industry.

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he fundamentals underpinning the global market outlook continue to gradually improve as global milk supply slows and demand remains strong. This should keep prices relatively stable in the short-term. As for the recent outlook, the separate drivers of fat and protein values in Europe and Oceania have different implications for each of the respective commodities.

Minimal growth in European Union milk output, the clearance of intervention stocks, and the surge in demand for Skim Milk Powder (SMP) will continue to support protein prices, but the prospects for the European spring hold the key to sustained recovery. Butterfat prices in Europe have stabilised but will also remain sensitive to availability.

Market sentiment has improved in the US with shrinking milk growth.

Cheese markets have rallied with tighter cheddar availability and risks of a shift in product mix given the divergent returns to regulated milk classes.

Global risks remain mixed, but promising signs of easing tensions between the US and China will boost confidence should that promising spin actually lead to a removal of tit-for-tat tariffs.

Cheese

The global dairy market remains stable despite existing global risks. whose exports lifted to an all-time high (albeit a small quantity).

Butter The butterfat market remains fragile, driven by the gradual weakening in European Union prices, while

European Union and US cheese markets have firmed with weatherimpacted tighter milk supplies. The US market has enjoyed a recent rally due to shortages of cheddar, helped by better returns to other products that has shifted milk use.

Skim Milk Powder Global SMP trade continued to surge in December as prices remained attractive, lifting 26.2 per cent on the prior year comparable, bringing exports for the quarter 21 per cent ahead of the previous period. This reflected strong exports New Zealand and the European Union – and India, 50 Food&Beverage Industry News | April/May 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au

increased New Zealand availability has come to the market as demand remains tentative. The tighter European Union milk supply has not significantly curbed butter availability as superior returns for the butter/SMP has kept output

stronger in major producers.

Whole Milk Powder Increased New Zealand output with strong recovery in milk output has added to availability. This has kept prices lower through recent months prior to the Global Dairy Trade rally in the past six events. Prices have rallied past US$3,000/t for Oceania product, where they should hold with tightening New Zealand availability.

Whey The imposition of Chinese tariffs has affected the United States market as export prospects slow. The market may gradually correct as supplies remains relatively tight. Shifts in shares in markets is occurring and will take some time to adjust. Meanwhile Whey Protein Concentrate markets improve.

By Dustin Boughton, Procurement, Maxum Foods

MARKET WATCH

A slow start to 2019 for the dealmakers C orporate activity in the food and beverage industry started slowly in 2019, with five transactions announced in January and February 2019.

Acquisitions announced

South Africa-based fishing group, Sea Harvest has submitted a takeover offer to acquire the shares of ASX-listed Mareterram not currently owned by Sea Harvest. Sea Harvest currently has a 56 per cent shareholding in Mareterram.

The takeover offer values the issued equity of Mareterram at $39 million.

Nordzucker, Germany’s second largest sugar refiner, acquired a 70 per cent stake in Mackay Sugar. Nordzucker will invest $60 million as equity capital in Mackay Sugar and will advance a loan of $60 million as part of the transaction. The funds raised from the transaction will be used for maintenance and capital expenditures to increase the capacity of Mackay Sugar’s remaining plants.

Japan’s Nisshin Foods acquired Allied Pinnacle from Pacific Equity Partners for $950 million (enterprise value). Pacific Equity Partners acquired Pinnacle Bakery & Integrated Solutions from Kerry Group in 2015 for approximately $200 million. The Pinnacle Bakery business was merged with Allied Mills in 2017 to form Allied Pinnacle. Nisshin Foods forms part of the Nisshin Seifun Group with a primary focus on the production of pasta products, dried noodles, chilled, refrigerated and frozen food products.

Maggie Beer and her husband Colin sold the remaining 52 per cent of Maggie Beer Products to Longtable Group in a deal worth $10 million. As a result, ASX listed Longtable Group will become the sole shareholder of Maggie Beer Products.

Patties Foods also announced that it had acquired Simplot’s Pakenham production facility. Simplot announced the closure of the Pakenham facility in August 2018, after exiting the frozen meals category.

In addition to the acquisitions announced, several transactions were confirmed and completed during the period, including Freedom Foods’ acquisition of Coomboona Dairy farm and TPG’s acquisition of vet clinic and pet store owner, Greencross.

With several sale processes currently underway, the expectation is that the deal activity in the food and beverage industry will ramp up towards the middle of the year.

Ben van der Westhuizen and David Baveystock are directors of Comet Line Consulting, an advisory business that specialises in acquisitions and divestments within the Australian food & beverage industry. For more information visit www.cometlineconsulting.com.au.

Date

Target Name

Acquirer

Sector

Jan 19

HealthLab (investment)

M.H. Carnegie & Co

Healthy snacking

5 Feb 19

Mareterram

Sea Harvest Group

Seafood

8 Feb 19

Mackay Sugar

NordZucker

Sugar

27 Feb 1919Allied Pinnacle

Allied Pinnacle

Nisshin Foods

Baked goods & milling

1 Mar 19

Maggie Beer Products (52%)

Longtable Group

Packaged Foods

9 Nov 18

Go Natural

Pharmacare

Snacking

27 Nov 18

Max Brenner

Roy Mustaca

Hospitality

Commodity Outlook WHEAT – World wheat prices to recover slightly from low levels due to lower tradeable supplies.

COARSE GRAINS – World barley prices to rise due to low stocks and strong demand for feed and industrial-use coarse grains.

BEEF AND VEAL – Australian cattle prices to fall due to higher production and strong competition in export markets SHEEP MEAT – Strong competition from processors and restockers to drive lamb prices higher.

OILSEEDS – World canola prices to fall due to abundant oilseed supplies.

DAIRY – Milk prices to rise due to a falling Australian dollar and increased competition for milk.

SUGAR – World sugar prices to fall due to world sugar supply growing faster than demand.

Source: Department of Agriculture and Water Resources (ABARES), Agricultural commodities March quarter, 2018.

51 Food&Beverage Industry News | April/May 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au

www.foodmag.com.au | February/March 2018 | Food&Beverage Industry News 51

NEW PRODUCTS

Thermal mass flow meter with breakthrough adaptive sensing technology The ST80 series thermal mass flow meter featuring breakthrough Adaptive Sensor Technology (AST), which has an innovative hybrid sensor drive. This patent-pending measuring technique combines, for the first time, both of the industry’s highly proven constant power (CP) and constant temperature (CT) thermal dispersion sensing technologies in the same instrument. Complementing this new measurement drive technique, is a choice of four different flow sensor element designs to further ensure best installed performance, including FCI’s new wet gas solution.

When operating in AST mode, it measures in CT during start-up and through the lower flow ranges. It will then seamlessly shift into CP mode at mid-range and higher flow rates. The result is a best of both technologies performance level where the advanced ST80 meters deliver extremely fast response with extended measuring ranges, at low power consumption to maximise sensor reliability and reduce instrument energy expenses.

The device features FCI’s rugged no-moving parts flow element design, which provides direct mass flow measurement with just a single process penetration. This approach saves plant real estate space and eliminates unnecessary installation labour and other expenses. It also prevents the performance degradation encountered with other flow technologies, which require the addition of expensive temperature and pressure sensors to compute an inferred mass flow.

With no moving parts to plug or foul and clean, the ST80 Flow Meters deliver extensive lifecycle cost savings over higher maintenance technologies. It provides the accurate air and gas flow measurements essential for process consistency, quality, plant safety and environmental compliance.

The meters are accurate to +/-1 per cent of reading, +/-0.5 per cent of full scale and repeatability of +/-0.5 per cent of reading. The turndown ratio is factory preset to meet the requirements of the application from a minimum of 2:1 up to 100:1. This meter’s insertion style configuration range is: 0,07 to 305 NMPS; the in-line style configuration range is: 0,01 to 3140 NCMH. While a single calibration is sufficient for many processes, the ST80 meters can optionally provide two unique calibration groups.

Depending on the application need, this feature can provide cost and time savings.

A three-point calibration drift self-test feature is built-in standard with all ST80 flow meters. The tests, run at a low, mid and upper points across the flow range, can be performed on demand from the front panel buttons or programmed to run automatically based on day and time to save the user time and maintenance expense. The self-test is performed in-situ.

There is never a need for the ST80 meter to be removed or retracted from process piping, or to suspend the processes’ operation.

The ST80 series features multiple outputs to interface with control systems and/or set-up or configuration devices. The standard configuration includes: dual 4-20 mA, NAMUR NE43 compliant analogue outputs, HART (version 7) and Modbus 485. Optionally available are: Foundation Fieldbus and PROFIBUS PA. All digital bus communications are full two-way I/O. The easy-to-use ST80 Series is offered in three styles – no display, with display, or with display and through-the-glass user programming buttons.

The devices are offered in a range of process connection, mounting and installation options. They are suitable for a wide range of applications in pipe diameters from 1 to 99 inches (25 to 2500 mm)-from compressed air to hydrocarbon gases, single process or specialty gases to biogas mixtures and more. The meter is available for media temperature service up to 850°F (454°C). The ST80 transmitter enclosure is NEMA 4X/IP67 rated.

The ST80 can be ordered for either 24 Vdc or AC input powering.

The ST80 Series Meters feature extensive global HazEx agency safety approvals for potentially dangerous environment installations.

AMS 00800 442 743 www.ams-ic.com.au

IBQ800 low-power CPU module for industrial environments Backplane Systems Technology has released iBASE’s new IBQ800 low-power CPU module, designed for industrial environments, transportation, automation, and power utility.

The IBQ800 is a highly integrated low-power CPU module powered by an Intel Atom x7-E3950 @2.0GHz or x5-E3930 @1.8GHz processor.

Designed to operate at extended temperatures ranging from -40°C to 85°C, the IBQ800 is suitable for use not only in rugged industrial environments, but also in a range of areas including (but not limited to) automation, ATM, transportation, power utility and digital signage.

Built within the Qseven compact module’s footprint and featuring trim 70mm by 70mm dimensions, the IBQ800 supports the necessary components and bus interfaces required for industrial, mobile, and embedded applications. It can be equipped with 8GB or 4GB of LPDDR4 memory and up to 32GB eMMC 5.0 SSD onboard storage. It also features an Intel SoC-integrated Gen9-LP graphics controller and comes with LVDS or eDP display interface.

Finally, it utilises the established ruggedised MXM connector to interface with the carrier board and route all the I/O signals, which include 1x Gigabit LAN, 3x USB 3.0, 4x USB 2.0, HD audio, 1x COM, and 52 Food&Beverage Industry News | April/May 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au

2x SATA III. The IBQ800 Qseven CPU module and the IP416 Qseven carrier board are both currently available.

Backplane Systems (02) 9457 6411 www.backplane.com.au

NEW PRODUCTS

ICP DAS’ new IIoT cloud UA-series products ICP Electronics Australia has introduced ICP DAS’ New IIoT Cloud UA series UA-5231M-4GE and UA-5231M-4GC Industrial Internet of things (IIoT) servers.

The UA-5200 is a series of IIoT communications servers, now with the latest UA-5231M-4GE and UA-5231M-4GC, which have metal cases and can support 4G LTE in a multitude of countries including Australia.

The built-in OPC UA Server, MQTT Broker and Client functions meet the requirements of connecting MES, ERP, SCADA, and Cloud services.

The UA series can access I/O modules and controllers in the field via communication interfaces such as Ethernet, RS-232, and RS-485, or through protocols like Modbus TCP/RTU/ASCII. UA-5200 series products support the Cloud service platform “IFTTT”, and is able to connect with over 500 web apps.

The logic control “If This Then That” allows users to receive firsthand notification messages through the most commonly used mobile apps when an event is triggered. The UA series also connects IT to OT and integrates all the devices, as well as web-based apps into the cloud, allowing managers to improve production performance and enhance their factory competitiveness for Industrial IoT. Key features are: • Built-in OPC UA server, the new industrial communication standard: the ability to connect IT to OT for integrating devices to the cloud to achieve cross-platform monitoring.

• Built-In MQTT Service: active IIoT transmission technology that is able to accelerate data exchange and make efficient use of network resources.

• Supports Logic Control IFTTT for devices connecting to over 500 web-based apps and transmitting alarm notifications to LINE, Facebook, Twitter, Calendar, Mail, and Sina Weibo, etc.

• Provides Function Wizard Web UI for easy step-by-step setup. The “step-box” function helps users to create new projects and can upload or execute these right away.

• Supports IIoT cloud platforms such as Microsoft Azure, Amazon AWS, and IBM Bluemix. By real-time uploading I/O data information, it can get full analyses and reports in order to complete big data.

ICP (02) 9457 6444 www.icp-australia.com.au

SMC introduces innovative wireless fieldbus system SMCwireless fieldbus unit, the EX600-W is a decentralised solution is EtherNet/IP and PROFINET compatible, can withstand electric noise and is suitable for harsh, industrial environments.

This wireless and decentralised fieldbus system can manage both digital and analogue signals, as well as pneumatic products.

In addition, the EX600-W is unaffected by other factory noises and is suitable for environments such as automotive and welding workshops. As a reliable unit, it makes use of frequencyhopping techniques to prevent interference from other wireless equipment. Data also encryption stops unauthorised access.

As a wireless unit, the number of cables and connectors are also cut to minimise installation, modifications and maintenance time.

The risk of disconnection and circuit breakage is also reduced to both performance and productivity.

The EX600-W offers operational flexibility as it can be positioned pretty much anywhere and this is suitable for those working with moving parts, such as rotary and indexing tables and robotic arms.

SMC Australia (02) 9354 8222 www.smcanz.com

www.foodmag.com.au | April/May 2019 | Food&Beverage Industry News 53

NEW PRODUCTS

Serving a higher standard of clean Maintaining sanitary environments is critical in food and beverage facilities. Tennant’s high-performance total floor care solutions help provide clean, hygienic environments where food or beverages are prepared, processed, packaged, bottled, stored or transported.

Australia is governed by a Food Standards code. HACCP is a systematic approach to identifying, evaluating and controlling food safety hazards – where a hazard is anything that could make food dangerous to eat such as microbiological (e.g. bacteria), chemical (e.g. cleaning products) and physical (e.g. debris).

Whether the challenge is cleaning tight, congested spaces or keeping large areas free of dirt and food grease build-up, Tennant has a solution to protect a facility and keep cleaning sanitary with innovations like the easy-to-clean Hygienic solution and recovery tanks and the detergent-free ec-H2O NanoClean technology.

Water makes up 50-65 per cent of the human body. It covers approximately 70 per cent of the earth. It has shaped our land, served as a barrier and a travel route throughout history, and is one of the most important factors to sustaining life as we know it.

Last year, Tennant celebrated the 10th anniversary of Tennant Company introducing a different way to use water – ec-H2O Technology. Scrubbers equipped with ec-H2O technology electrically convert water into a detergent-free cleaning solution that cleans effectively, saves money, improves safety, and reduces environmental impact compared to traditional cleaning chemicals and methods.

The technology initially launched on select Tennant Walk-Behind Scrubbers in 2008 and expanded to select Rider Scrubbers by 2009.

The second generation of ec-H2O Technology, ec-H2O NanoClean,

was introduced on the Tennant T300 in 2016. ec-H2O NanoClean technology offers the same benefits of the first generation but cleans better by cleaning more soils in more applications.

Ec-H2O NanoClean can create real savings by • Reducing the need to purchase floor cleaning detergents.

• Increasing productivity by allowing operators to clean up to three times longer.

• Reducing other costs such as water supply and waste as well as costs associated with the purchasing and storing of conventional detergents Tennant 1800 226 843 www.tennantco.com

MaxGuard for control voltage distribution Innovative ideas are required in panel building for control voltage distribution. With Klippon Connect, Weidmüller is showcasing a connectivity solution for efficient planning, installation and operation.

As part of the Klippon Connect product portfolio, Weidmüller is offering maxGuard, which provides load monitoring and potential distribution in one complete solution. It is an application product, so in other words, it’s precisely matched to the specific requirements in panel building.

Fail-safe and maintenance-friendly control voltage distributions that can also be installed in a time and space-saving manner are a must for efficient machine and facility operation. The new maxGuard system integrates the potential distribution terminal blocks (that were previously installed separately) in the electronic load monitoring’s outputs as a complete solution in a 24V DC control voltage distribution component. A new combination of load monitoring and potential distribution such as this saves time during installation, increases safety against failure and reduces the amount of space required on the terminal rail by up to 50 per cent.

MaxGuard is characterised by its ease of servicing. Operating, testing and connection elements developed for the panel building application permit safe access to all voltage potentials and load circuits during commissioning and maintenance activities. In addition, maxGuard can be used in a customised way. The range of variants and the different potential distribution terminal blocks and additional components can enable customised solutions at all times. The integrated test points in the maxGuard control voltage distribution’s input and output are user-friendly, as they speed up troubleshooting operations. For testing and checking purposes, the potential distributors have practical disconnecting levers for simple galvanic isolation of the load circuit. maxGuard is also equipped with cross-connectors that are unique on the market, so it reduces the time and effort needed for wiring due to 54 Food&Beverage Industry News | April/May 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au

cross-connections between load monitoring and potential distribution terminal blocks. Finally, the new control voltage distribution system has a particularly space-saving design – electronic load monitoring elements and potential distributors have a 6.1 mm pitch.

Weidmuller (02) 9671 9999 www.weidmuller.com.au

Creating new lines in Manufacturing

NEW PRODUCTS

Featuring the latest advancements in food and drink manufacturing, FoodTech 2019 is proud to support and showcase Queensland’s appetite for innovation within the food industry.

28–30 July 2019 Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre foodtechqld.com.au www.foodmag.com.au | April/May 2019 | Food&Beverage Industry News 55

ULTIMATE LIGHT-WEIGHT & COMPACT SIZE, METICULOUS DEDICATED DESIGN

KITO EQ ELECTRIC CHAIN HOIST LEADERS IN CUSTOM LIFTING SOLUTIONS

1300 792 262 | www.pwbanchor.com.au HEAD OFFICE & MANUFACTURING PLANT Address: 441 Grimshaw Street, Bundoora, VIC 3083 Tel: 1300 792 262 Fax: 03 9467 7290

QLD OFFICE Address: 1/119 Bandarra Street, Richlands, QLD 4077 Tel: 07 3375 1288 Fax: 07 3375 8241

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