Food Oct 2020

OCTOBER 2020

Life in Mars: Talking to Mars Foods Australia GM Bill Heague

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Working for a multi-national such as Mars Foods can offer an interesting career path, such as that sought by Mars Foods Australia’s general manager, Bill Heague. Heague has spent 12 months in his current role after a sojourn to Europe for four years. While it was great to take in the European cultures of Ireland and the Czech Republic, he also learned a lot, and not only in terms of the Czech language. He found that while the brand and its products are the same, consumers’ tastes aren’t. In our interview with Heague in our Meet the Manufacturer section, as well as his overseas experience, we talk to him about supply chain, changing markets, the importance of branding, and of course the inevitable conversation about how the company is handling COVID-19.

Speaking of supply chains and COVID-19, this month’s piece contributed by the Australian Food and Grocery Council is a shout out to the 250,000-plus people who work at the coal face of the food and beverage sector. Especially to those who kept the country running in making sure factories were pumping out the products that help feed the nation, even 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week if necessary. Check out the story on page 32.

Keeping plant and machinery in tip-top shape is important for the smooth running of manufacturing and processing plants. John Sample Group (JSG) is one company that believes this to be so, which is why it is a champion of centralised lubrication systems. These systems are designed to do several things – making sure plant is kept ticking over with clean, lubrication; making sure the right amount of lubrication is dispensed; and allowing plant in hard-to-accessareas to be properly maintained. JSG’s Italo Marcantonio gives a great breakdown on how these types of systems can be an efficient way to keep plant and machinery in tip-top shape.

One of my bully pulpit’s over the past 12 months has been traceability, so it was of no

surprise to me that GS1’s 2DBarcode won Innovative Technology of the Year at the annual Food and Beverage Industry Awards.

And while we gave the technology a onceover-lightly spruik in our award’s feature in the September issue of the magazine, this month, we take a more in-depth look at the technology and what it will mean for the future of the industry. It is something that is going to have a long-term and profound effect on the industry – from the aforementioned traceability, as well as ingredients through to such issues as having an impact on negating the counterfieting of food provenance.

Finally, I would like to talk about floor finishings in the food and beverage industry.

Downtime can be a bugbear of any processing or manufacturing enterprise. This is especially true at the moment when factories are pumping out a huge range of products due to the high demand caused by hordings.

It’s nice to read about a company that is not only ready to work around its client’s schedule, but is ready to put its money where its mouth is in terms of meeting those deadlines. That is the case of flooring speicialist Allied Finishes who are featured on page 18 of this issue.

The company helped out well-known food and beverage company Casella Family Foods who needed its tank farm floor redone. Not only did Allied Finishes bring the job in on time, and make its client very happy, but it did the job over the Christmas break. However, it wasn’t all faces to the grindstone – the workers got Christmas Day and Boxing day off. Still, that is what I call dedication.

Hopefully by the time you read this, Victoria will be in a lesser state of lockdown, and food and beverage manufacturers in the state will be able to try and get some semblence of normality back around their businesses.

Have a great month.

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www.foodmag.com.au | October 2020 | Food&Beverage Industry News 3

CONTENTS INSIDE

6 NEWS

16

10 MEET THE MANUFACTURER

Mars Foods Australia general manager Bill Teague on his first 12 months in the job.

14 INSTRUMENTATION

Reliable instrumentation and great back up service helped Hipex

20

meet its goals.

16 BEARINGS Long-lasting bearings and how they stop fires.

18 HYGIENE AND SAFETY

Allied Finishes on how it helped a beverage manufacturer get its new floor.

20 LUBRICATION

Why use a centralised lubrication system? There are many reasons to do so.

22 MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE

How to handle your receivable accounts.

24 CONSTRUCTION

24

26

When building a new facility there is a one-stop-shop company

that can help with all your needs.

26 TRACEABILITY

The new standard in barcoding.

28 CLEANING

Tennant celebrates 150 years in business.

32 28 INTERNET OF THINGS

ifm’s IIoT Toolkit has a lot to offer the industry.

32 AFGC

The AFGC talks about workers at the coalface of our industry.

35 AIP 35 DAIRY REPORT 35 NEW PRODUCTS 4 Food&Beverage Industry News | October 2020 | www.foodmag.com.au

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NEWS

Bakers Delight celebrates 40 years A

ustralian brand, Bakers Delight, is celebrating its 40th year in business. What started from humble beginnings with one shop front has grown to become one a successful franchising business.

Started in 1980 by founders Lesley and Roger Gillespie, the

family-owned business now has more than 650 stores world-wide, spanning Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the US, with over 500 franchise partners.

In 1980, Roger and Lesley saw a gap in the market, with Australians seeking quality, well-priced baked

Bakers Delight has become a household name in Australia since launching 40 years ago.

goods that were convenient. With Roger’s heritage in baking – both his father and grandfather were bakers – he and Lesley opened their first store in Hawthorn, Victoria, followed by a further 14 prior to launching their franchise model in 1988.

The origin of the name was conceived from the simple notion that they are bakers who live to delight.

Joint CEO Elise Gillespie – daughter of Lesley and Roger who took the reins in 2017 – said the brand has become a household name across the country, with this anniversary an opportunity to reflect on its rich family history and value the business brings to the Australian economy, while sharing future growth plans.

“Bakers Delight has evolved into somewhat of an institution in Australia. It’s likely most of us, both young and old, have a fond food memory that resonates with the brand. We’ve now been feeding

Aussie households for four decades and we couldn’t be more delighted by it,” said Gillespie.

“For 40 years we’ve worked hard at establishing a reputation that we’re incredibly proud of. We started as a small family business, and while our presence has continued to grow throughout Australia and beyond, our core values and community-focus still rings true today.

Today, the global business remains family-owned and operated and directly employs almost 400 people with a further 8,000-9,000 bakers and sales staff employed across more than 650 bakeries.

As a result of the widespread success of Bakers Delight, the company has become a contributor to Australia’s franchising sector and the wider economy, paying approximately $250 million in wages annually and generating more than $250m in business expenditure for their trusted network of suppliers.

General Mills sees double digit growth in Victoria A

s Australian states and territories experience different stages of COVID-19 lockdowns, consumer needs have also fluctuated.

General Mills has been at the centre of COVID-19 changes, first experiencing the increased demand of stockpiling at the beginning of the pandemic in April and now navigating the different needs around Australia as states and territories head to a “COVID normal”.

Victoria’s continued lockdown has seen General Mills experience stable growth in Victoria, up 17 per cent on last year, compared to the company’s national figure of 14 per cent for the 21 weeks ending 2 August 2020.

However, in Queensland and

New South Wales, where COVID19 restrictions have eased, General Mills has seen sales settle closer to business as usual levels.

General Mills managing director, Peter Everett, said the top priority for the company is to support the community through whatever stage they’re in.

“What we’ve noticed in Victoria is continued growth across our homecooked meal brands, such as Old El Paso and Latina Fresh, as restaurants and cafes remain closed to in-house dining and more Victorians cook at home,” Everett said.

While product mix and meeting demand are important for the company, it believes food companies have a responsibility to give back

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and ensure all members of society can enjoy the basic necessity of food, particularly in the current context.

It has demonstrated this through its recent announcement of a model that is unique to Foodbank Australia, with General Mills’ Rooty Hill plant in Western Sydney producing on average 10,000 dedicated meals of Latina Fresh ricotta and spinach agnolotti each month, for the next year, for people in need.

“We take our responsibility to help Australia through this pandemic seriously, which can be seen across our product offering and through our partnership with Foodbank Australia,” Everett said.

This comes as the General Mills Foundation has granted a further

General Mills’ general manager Peter Everett said the company has seen growth by 17 per cent. $137,500 to Foodbank Australia to help respond to the increase in community need for food staples due to the pandemic.

NEWS

Bosworth Wines celebrates 25 years of organic vineyards O

rganic wine sales in Australia have soared in recent years.

This year, 2020, marks 25 years since Bosworth Wines began converting their McLaren Vale vineyards to become certified organic, the first growers in the region to do so. That decision sparked a movement that now sees McLaren Vale boasting the highest number of certified organic vineyards of any wine region in Australia.

From those early days in the mid-1990s, Bosworth Wines now produce more than twenty wines from their certified organic, familyowned estates under two labels – Battle of Bosworth and the Spring Seed Wine Co. They also export to over 10 countries, including the US, Korea, Russia, Sweden and Japan.

As there was no existing methodology for modern McLaren Vale vineyards wanting to convert to organic, viticulturist Joch Bosworth Projekt3 25.05.20 10:38 Seite 1

Joch Bosworth with his partner Louise Hemsley-Smith at Bosworth Wines in McLaren Vale, WA. (who is also the co-founder and co-owner of Bosworth Wines together with his partner Louise Hemsley-Smith), had to largely invent his own. This included pioneering the use of the local yellow

soursob under the vines for weed control, and the modification of a rotary hoe to cultivate only the soil under the vines in order to remove weeds.

Twenty-five years later, many

of McLaren Vale’s organic growers use Joch’s rotary hoe technique in their own vineyards. And the humble soursob has become the Bosworth Wines logo.

Born and raised in McLaren Vale, Bosworth’s decision to convert to organic was made when he returned home after a stint working as a viticulturist in the US and Victoria.

“I realised that McLaren Vale’s Mediterranean climate was well suited to organic viticulture”, said Joch. “Personally, I’d never been too keen on using chemicals, so I took what I knew and made a start, devising the process as I went using some ideas and advice from a few old growers in the district.”

Some reports indicate demand for organic wine in Australia is growing at more than 50 per year as consumers become more conscious of their purchasing decisions and aware of issues like sustainability.

www.foodmag.com.au | October 2020 | Food&Beverage Industry News 7

NEWS

Sterile fruit flies reduce pests’ numbers R

eleases of sterile fruit flies at two Australian locations have reduced Queensland fruit fly numbers.

The pilot, which ran from September 2019 to mid-April 2020 in Hillston, NSW and Cobram, VIC involved releasing sterile fruit flies each week from a plane and is part of the Hort Innovation research project – Post Factory Pilot of SITPlus Fly production.

“The sterile fruit fly releases have worked well so far and are widely supported by local growers and community. The program is a very useful complement to the regional fruit fly management strategy,” said Cobram agronomist Russell Fox. “The timing of the SITPlus project has been ideal to fit in with our area wide management activity,” said Goulburn Murray Valley regional fruit fly coordinator Ross Abberfield. “In Cobram, the sterile fruit fly releases contributed to an

83 per cent reduction in Queensland fruit fly activity.”

“The rate of capture of wild male Queensland fruit fly in traps is on average 10 times higher in Mooroopna than in Cobram where sterile flies are being used,” said Plant and Food Research New Zealand plant and food scientist, Lloyd Stringer.

In Hillston, initial analysis indicates wild Queensland fruit fly were detected in very low numbers in town and almost undetected on nearby farms. Residents claimed they were able to eat their backyard fruit for the first time in years.

The project is a pilot that enables grower groups to confidently consider the Sterile Insect Technique, or SIT, for management of Queensland fruit fly. The project is testing efficacy of Queensland fruit fly SIT in the field and rearing sterile flies in localised centres.

It’s also testing the development of quality control procedures in the

The Queensland fruit fly can have a devastating effect on agriculture in Victoria and New South Wales as well as its home state. dedicated rearing out centres. The project also underpins economic

Woolworths shakes up leadership team W

oolworths Group has announced moves within its leadership team to better support its evolution into a Food and Everyday Needs Ecosystem.

Claire Peters, currently managing director of Woolworths Supermarkets, will take up a new position as managing director of B2B and Everyday Needs. In this role, Peters will take leadership of Woolworths Group’s portfolio businesses including Big W, Woolworths International, Wholesale and Property. She will also take stewardship of the Group’s new partnership with PFD Food Services and join the Investment Committee of venture capital arm, W23.

“Claire has successfully led

the ongoing transformation of Woolworths Supermarkets over the last three years,” said Woolworths Group CEO Brad Banducci.

“During her leadership we have seen significant increases in customer and brand metrics, implemented a new store operating model to better serve changing customer needs, implemented the foundation phases of Fresh Made Easy, evolved our store formats and materially improved supplier engagement. In more recent times, Claire has played a critical role in helping the Group navigate through COVID. In her new role, Claire will combine her detailed knowledge of the food and non-food retail environment to lead our important growth adjacencies. These

8 Food&Beverage Industry News | October 2020 | www.foodmag.com.au

areas of our business are critical to the next phase of our journey and we look forward to the opportunities that Claire and her team will unlock in her new leadership position.”

After two years as managing director of Woolworths New Zealand, Natalie Davis will return to Australia from October and assume the role of managing director of Woolworths Supermarkets.

“In the past two years, Natalie has led the growth of Woolworths New Zealand, worked to deliver improvements across customer, brand and reputation metrics and also rapidly grown Countdown X, especially in eCommerce. Natalie will work in partnership with the Food Leadership team to continue

modelling for future operational Queensland fruit fly SIT use.

to transform our Australian Food Business,” Banducci said.

An announcement on the appointment of the new managing director of Woolworths New Zealand will be made in the coming weeks. In the interim, Sally Copland, general manager digital for Woolworths New Zealand will step into the role of acting managing director.

Managing director of Group Portfolio, Colin Storrie will take up a new role as managing director of New Business and Partnerships.

“Colin is, in many ways, the unsung hero of our senior leadership team, generally working behind the scenes on many strategic initiatives that have helped us build the business that we have today,” said Banducci.

NEWS

Lab grown meat not on agenda for some G

en Z are the new kids on the block. As a cohort of five million people born between 1995-2015 encompassing 20 per cent of the Australian population and two billion people globally – they’re consumers to be reckoned with.

New research published today by the University of Sydney and Curtin University in Frontiers in Nutrition, found that, despite having a great concern for the environment and animal welfare, 72 per cent of Generation Z were not ready to accept cultured meat – defined in the survey as a lab-grown meat alternative produced by in-vitro cell cultures of animal cells, instead of from slaughtered animals.

However, despite their lack of enthusiasm for the new meat alternative, 41 per cent believed it could be a viable nutritional source because of the need to transition to more sustainable food options and

improve animal welfare.

“Our research has found that Generation Z – those aged between 18 and 25 – are concerned about the environment and animal welfare, yet most are not ready to accept cultured meat and view it with disgust,” said the study’s lead researcher, Dr Diana Bogueva from the University of Sydney’s School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.

Fifty-nine per cent of participants were concerned about the environmental impact of traditional livestock farming specifically, however many were not clear on what those impacts were nor did they understand the associated resource depletion.

“In-vitro meat and other alternatives are important as they can help to reduce greenhouse emissions and lead to better animal welfare conditions. However, if cultured meat is to replace livestock-based

Meat protein grown in a laboratory setting will not be on the agenda for Australia’s younger generation. proteins, it will have to emotionally and intellectually appeal to the Gen Z consumers. It may be through its physical appearance, but what seems to be more important is transparency around its environmental and other benefits,” said Bogueva.

The participants had several concerns relating to cultured meat,

including an anticipated taste or disgust, health and safety, and whether it is a more sustainable option.

Societal concerns were also prevalent throughout the study, with a large number of respondents worried that eating cultured meat would be in conflict with perceptions of gender and national identity.

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www.foodmag.com.au | October 2020 | Food&Beverage Industry News 9

MEET THE MANUFACTURER

Why the customer is the boss After arriving back in Australia at the end of 2019, Mars Foods general manager Bill Heague had a baptism of fire. Mike Wheeler explains.

Bill Heague learned a lot from his time in Ireland and the Czech Republic.

10 Food&Beverage Industry News | October 2020 | www.foodmag.com.au

MEET THE MANUFACTURER

I

n 2019 Bill Heague found out he was going home. He’d applied for - successfully as it turned out – for the role of general manager at Mars Foods Australia. It was to be a full circle homecoming for the University of Newcastle alumni after making his bones overseas for almost four years at Mars’ businesses in the Czech Republic and Ireland.

And what a homecoming. First, Heague came in at the end of one of New South Wales’ worst fire seasons, then COVID-19 flew in and landed behind him three months after he had touched down at Sydney Airport.

These events had two effects on him – he realised he was indeed back in Australia, and it also reiterated to him how generous Australians could be.

“The fires were a stark reminder what it was to be Australian – how much the elements play a role in our everyday lives and how wary we need to be,” he said. “I enjoyed a nice summer and started to get my feet back under the desk, and then COVID hit, which threw us for six again. It has been a roller coaster ride is the easiest way to put it.

“There was also the generosity of many countries around the world hearing how the fires affected us, and they wanted to help us.”

Being a manufacturer of many well-known retail brands – Uncle Ben’s, Dolmio, MasterFoods, Kantong, plus the huge number of confectionary brands where the company got its start – Heague found that while initially the supply chain was doing okay, there were a lot of other challenges that hit home.

“I remember a retailers saying it wasn’t’ a supply chain problem, it is a demand-surge problem,” he said.

“Our supply chain has been super strong. If anything, it has been part of an Australian manufacturing business that has made me proud throughout this. Mars Food Australia’s catchcry has been ‘let’s keep feeding the nation’.”

This included going to extreme measures with its suppliers to make sure the manufacturing plants had enough stock of raw materials from different parts of the world – and more broadly from Australia – through to the measures it put in place in its factories to keep its people safe.

“Then there’s working with our customers through different pricing panics as that was ebbing

and flowing right in the peak of the pandemic in April,” he said. “We’ve worked with so many stakeholders to keep that availability. It has added a whole new layer of competition for me in this industry, in addition to looking at the consumer and where they are going, as well as innovating and pricing.”

As time went on, Mars Food Australia managed to keep the supply chain running even in such a topsyturvey environment. Heague said it was important to keep pumping out products, which did include going the

extra mile with some operations.

“You might have your suppliers upstream who might not be able to respond as quickly as you would like,” he said. “And there was the issue of sourcing materials from overseas as well such as the caps on our product. The caps come from Europe, so we had to arrange airfreight via Dubai which was tough in terms of commercial flights and there we no passenger flights.

“We needed to keep our operations running. You can have the plant ready to go, but if you don’t

"You have to find easier and precise ways to communicate with people, especially when it is not the same language that you’re speaking."

Rolling back the years – one of MasterFoods staples in years gone by, Kangaroo Tail Soup.

have the material ready then there’s nothing you do can do. It was a super complex problem, but we had a great team that did a great job to keep our products on shelf and in Aussie cupboards.”

Pastures new Working for a multinational like Mars has many advantages if you are on the payroll, one being the ability to spread your wings to other parts of the world, which Heague did in 2016. His first foray was into the Czech Republic where he had the role of market director, and then on to Ireland as the general manager of multisales. As well as having to learn a new language – in this case Czech – Heague had to learn the intricacies of a new market. While the products might be the same, how they are consumed are not.

“It’s interesting, because you come with a reputation and momentum from your home market and you’ve got connections and people know you,” he said. “Then you go to a place where nobody knows you. You are starting from scratch. You’ve got the job but everything you do is new. It is quite humbling. You are doing a new role not in your native language and that is more of tax on the people you are working with because my Czech wasn’t the best. It was enough to get me around town in an evening but that was about it.

“You have to find easier and more precise ways to communicate with people, especially when it is not the same language that you’re speaking.

You need to understand how the consumers’ tastes change in different parts of the world and build your skill sets on different parts of the portfolio. There are different ways of executing what is required in those parts of the world compared to what you have grown up with and know.”

Heague said it was important to be clear and precise in the language he used because there is lots left to interpretation in English, let alone translating that to another language.

Then there is family side as well in terms of how to make that work.

“You turn it into an adventure on how to explore another part of the world that you might not usually go to. And it’s great while you are there,” he said.

Then there is the business of doing business. He found the Czech

www.foodmag.com.au | October 2020 | Food&Beverage Industry News 11

MEET THE MANUFACTURER

MasterFoods is one brand that has been part of Australian culture for many decades.

Republic was quite developed in terms of its customers.

“You had Tesco in the Czech Republic, so there were some things that were familiar. Some things translate quite easily and simply, and there are other things that are a bit different,” he said.

When it came to working in Ireland, again it was different. It is one of Mars’ highest per capita consumption markets in the world.

“When I talk about that flexibility of pet care and confectionary and food, you can do good business in all those segments in Ireland,” he said. “It is a bit like here. Australia is up there in the rankings on that. It is a little bit different than dealing with the UK. You have some common customers like Tesco, and then have some great local retailers there like Musgraves and Dunn’s. BWG are a wholesaling group there so you have some great local customers. They know their market well, and they know their consumers well, and how you work them is similar to here. It is about great relationships and the mutuality of what

you want to do and the principles here at Mars that carries around to the rest of the world.”

The customer is the boss Another intrinsic element of being part of a worldwide organisation like Mars is that its values transcend countries and continents. So, while there might be idiosyncrasies at a local level, there are some mores and truths that translate into any market, according to Heague. That includes Europe where there is generally more competition as brands fight for supermarket shelf space.

“One of our principles at Mars is the quality principle and it starts with the consumer as our boss,” he said.

“That dog-eat-dog part can be ‘how fast can the system move to keep pace with what the consumer wants?’ If you are willing to be agile, quick at moving on the actions you want to take, and are in an environment where retailers and customers want to do the same, then the pace of competition increases and that can feel a bit dog-eat-dog at times. However, if

12 Food&Beverage Industry News | October 2020 | www.foodmag.com.au

"Our job is to understand where the consumer is going and go on that journey with them. If we can do this, then private label tends to be less of an issue." you have it in your DNA that it is something that you want to be able to do in your organisation – to be able to move quickly with ultimately being able to service the consumer with your end goal in mind – then that is fair competition. The consumer is the one who sets the pace.”

Don't be afraid to change Mars has been around for more than 100 years, and it is no accident that it has lasted not only as an entity but is still in private hands of the Mars family.

And while Mars may be a household name and is huge in the market, Heague knows that there is still major competition in the marketplace, and that keeping its customers – ie the retailers – happy is just as important as keeping the end consumer onside. In other words,

complacency is the enemy and there is no way Mars will ever become that. Another key is that it is not afraid of change. Not in the branding aspect in terms of its core products – Mars bars and M&Ms for example – but certainly in terms of some of the lines certain brands have produced over the years. Take for example the foundation of Mars Food Australia, the iconic MasterFoods brand.

“The product portfolio of MasterFoods has changed so much over the years – the way we’ve talked about the brand and how we have marketed it has evolved too,” he said.

“That’s because there has been a hunger to understand the flavours consumers want and how our products can make easier, healthier, tastier dinner times that bring families and friends together.

“We are privileged to have a brand

MEET THE MANUFACTURER "We are privileged to have a brand that is part of the story of Australians evolving tastes. And we’ve only be able to do this by continually evolving the MasterFoods brand and by testing, failing, succeeding and learning before moving onto our next initiative." consumption, so we’ve got a hidden vegetable variant of Dolmio that is being launched. We have a herbs and spices range that is helping people flavour up their vegetables. How do we evolve our portfolio to make sure it is fitting in with the flavours consumers want, the lifestyle that they lead and their way of eating which is a broad spectrum these days ranging from carnivore to plant based or any variation in between.

“Our job is to understand where the consumer is going and go on that journey with them. If we can do this, then private label tends to be less of an issue, but it not an ironclad insurance policy,” said Heague.

Remaining sustainable The final point that Heague talks about is something that is at the forefront of every food manufacturer’s mind – sustainability.

He said that one thing that impressed him when he came back to Australia

was how seriously local businesses are taking sustainability.

“I know it is important in other parts of the world, but it has been really noticeable here,” he said.

“It’s really important to consumers and I’m proud that we’ve got a sustainable, and generational plan at Mars and talk about the progress we are making – whether it is greenhouse gases, alternative energy, the healthy profile of our products, or whether it be our packaging.”

When it comes to packaging, Heague also knows it is an important part of sustainability.

“The challenge is making sure it’s doing is doing its role – keeping the product fresh and t safe for the consumer.

“I’m super conscious of what has touched my food before I consume it.

And we are seeing this heightened, during COVID-19.”

He said Mars is a partner of the Ellen McArthur Foundation, and

shares the same goal: all packaging either compostable, reusable or recyclable by 2025.

Heague admits they’re working on meeting the target and committed to achieving it. Mars Food Australia is phasing out PVC by the first quarter of next year, and have partnered with RedCycle providing information, via a logo on soft plastics packaging, as to what can be recycled in the RedCycle collection bins at major retailers nationally.

Mars may seem like a huge conglomerate from the outside looking in – after all it has more than $45 billion in revenues and employs more than 100,000 people worldwide. But as Heague readily points out, at its heart, Mars is a family-owned business.

“As a family business, we are able to think longer term and work towards creating the business we want tomorrow, today. We are able to think in generations rather than quarters, to think ahead of the curve and find solutions, showing others the way.

“We can also role model how business can drive positive, change and deliver safety and quality across all aspects of our business and supply chain, from the growers we source ingredients to the final product on shelf,” he said. F Image credit: TY Lim / Shutterstock.com

that is part of the story of Australians’ evolving tastes. And we’ve only be able to do this by continually evolving the MasterFoods brand and by testing, failing, succeeding and learning before moving onto our next initiative?

We’ve done that whether it be our meat pastes or kangaroo tail soup, both of which are products that were relevant in their day, but not so today.

“However, the MasterFoods portfolio is borne on the back of those products, and our herbs and spices range, which are the cornerstone of the brand, and many of the original products are still around today.”

Over the past five years, the main supermarket retailers have also been pumping up the output of their home brands, sometimes at the expense of some well-known companies’ products. How does Heague feel about this encroachment?

“A big part of it in my mind is; what are brands doing to understand where the consumer is going and starting to evolve their innovation?” he said. “How do we remain relevant? Whether it is how people consume media or whether it is about brands. How do we talk about our brands?

“And then there are innovations.

This year, we are seeing people moving to more vegetable

Mars Food Australia’s has some of the most well-known confectionary brands in the world. www.foodmag.com.au | October 2020 | Food&Beverage Industry News 13

INSTRUMENTATION The VEGAPULS 64 is the ideal sensor for pilot plants because it can read a lot more information than some similar products.

Sensor solves problem for mini plant projects Getting a reliable sensor is one thing, but getting the right back-up service is also key to success.

Food & Beverage Industry News explains.

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ipex is a company that specialises in equipment for the food and beverage industry and therefore expects a high standard of service and quality when it comes to instrumentation. One of its specialties is making pilot plants for companies so they can trial new products under real working conditions. Doing so saves companies money as they don’t have to shut down production lines to trial the production runs, and it allows them to make errors without having to waste a batch of produce.

Hipex mechanical engineer Jay Edward is at the cutting edge of the research and development aspects of these mini plants. He knows the intricacies involved in making these plants work and how the machinery and equipment used to build them has to be top of the range.

“It’s quite complex mimicking

a production-scale plant on a tiny pilot plant. It is not without many complications. Most off the shelf components and instruments are designed for much larger capacities than we handle in our range of Mini plants. We had one instance when we made a plant for the Queensland

sorts of complications that would affect any instrumentation,” he said.

To solve the issue Edward contacted instrumentation specialist VEGA, who offered up a solution.

“It was the VEGAPULS 64 sensor that has this really great function in that it could learn to ignore the

"One of the reasons it is critical that the instrument met the specifications is that Hipex is an OEM, which means not only are local companies its competition, but overseas corporations are, too."

Department of Agriculture and Fisheries. We had a little batch tank and we needed level adjustment and control within the batch tank.

However, it had an agitator, it had steam, both pressure and vacuum at various stages of the process – all

14 Food&Beverage Industry News | October 2020 | www.foodmag.com.au

agitator so it didn’t affect the results,” said Edward. “It worked extremely well. It was a very small plant, but the whole system was complex and expensive. It went off without a hitch. Because it is an R&D device, the Department had people coming

in from all over the place trialling products. With new operators all the time it had to be accurate, repeatable and reliable. It got a lot of publicity.”

VEGA’s area manager, Geoff Agg, who looks after the Hipex account, knew straight away how the company could help.

“It was really small pilot plant – the size of a kitchen table,” said Agg. “The 80Ghz liquid radar VEGAPULS 64 was a perfect solution for the application. As Jay said, it had steam, there were agitators in there, there was Sterilise in Place (SIP) involved at a high temperature. Once the radar was in place, it could adapt to all those different changes. There was a vacuum, liquid boiling, an agitator, and the aforementioned SIP, which took temperatures up to 135˚C – it could handle the temperature.

INSTRUMENTATION

Having an agitator spinning around meant we had to do false signal suppressions. It dealt with all those issues they had inside the vessel.”

“We did shop around and we looked at every possible way we could solve this problem,” said Edward. “The VEGAPULS 64 was the only one that did the job. It would not have been done without the radar. There were a set of conditions that couldn’t be met by any other traditional product.”

One of the reasons it is critical that the instrument met the specifications is that Hipex is an OEM, which means not only are local companies its competition, but overseas corporations are, too.

“A reasonable percentage of our business is export,” said Edward.

“We compete with many of the international companies, both here and abroad. We do get a calls for local support, especially in these times we’re are in at the moment, so we can’t wait on responses from an overseas head office. Local support and product knowledge is key to our support and ultimately our customers’ success.”

A key factor in Hipex continually turning to VEGA for its products is that there is immediate support

A pilot plant needs precise instrumentation so it can showcase what it is capable of doing. and comprehensive local knowledge about the complex instrumentation they offer. Overseas training of local specialists is key in this regard.

Edward cites many examples where a lack of knowledge locally has resulted in delayed response’s to

customer queries.

“Not only has VEGA been excellent with their support, but a comprehensive range of high quality instruments means that they are able to cover almost all of our needs,” said Edward.

Hipex has a lot of transmitters out in the field, which is why they require high quality products, local support that can respond in a timely fashion and a customer oriented organisation with the ability to provide backup. F

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BEARINGS

Reducing harvester fire risk with the right bearing choice The right bearing is key when repairing combine harvesters. Here’s why.

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ctober and November are peak harvest months for crops such as canola, barley, oats and pulses. The season is also associated with higher risk of harvester fires – a major issue for the grain industry in the dry summer of Australia.

Research conducted by the Kondinin Group shows that every year, on average about 7 per cent of combine harvesters – or ‘headers’, as the growers call them – operating in Australian paddocks are likely to catch fire. Of those, 10 per cent will result in significant machinery destruction and crop damage – in addition to the potential risk of injury.

The issue is one that David John (DJ) Sincock, the owner of DJ

Sincock Header Repairs business in West Wyalong of New South Wales, is familiar with first-hand.

As a seasoned header repairer whose business services as many as 150 to 200 headers each year, Sincock said bearing failures are a major cause of fire in harvesters.

get overheated during the operation, there’s a serious fire risk. Bearings that are of inferior quality, or are not fitted properly have a higher risk of getting overheated.”

A few years ago, Russell Randal, the then CBC regional sales manager, introduced DJ to the

"The inner and outer rings of the NTN Black Bearing are coated with black oxide, offering excellent corrosion and fretting resistance."

“As you can imagine, there’s often a heavy buildup of dry straw and chaff in the header. So, if the bearings are not sealed properly, or the seal is damaged and the bearings

16 Food&Beverage Industry News | October 2020 | www.foodmag.com.au

NTN Black Bearing – a bearing specifically designed to offer superior sealing and corrosion resistance in agricultural environments.

Sincock said his servicing

business has since not used any other bearing for repairing headers but the NTN Black Bearing.

“Russell showed me the NTN Black Bearings and asked me to try them just once. We were using a different product at the time but when we switched to NTN Black Bearings, I found them to be great.

They offer much better sealing and can withstand extreme temperatures and extreme dust,” said Sincock.

“We’ve never used any other bearing since. These bearings are extremely reliable and so we use them for our customers with the confidence that they will last for many years.”

As Australia’s largest distributor of bearings and other industrial

BEARINGS The black oxide surface allows for easy removal of the bearing from the shaft.

solutions, CBC Australia, in partnership with NTN Australia, supplies these bearings to multiple customers in the agricultural industry.

The inner and outer rings of the NTN Black Bearing are coated with black oxide, offering excellent corrosion and fretting resistance. The black oxide surface also allows for easy removal of the bearing from the shaft, which is important when quick replacements are necessary.

The superior sealing capability of the Black Bearing is offered by the “trash guard” seals that feature a heavy-duty nitrite rubber bonded to a seal plate to resist the entrance of contaminants. The Black Bearing is also 70 per cent factory-filled with “SRS2000” to offer long lubricant service life in the field.

With more than 60 bearings installed on a typical header, Sincock said the bearings’ long life makes the job of servicing technicians easier.

It also makes the bearings a costeffective solution for farmers who are struggling with financial hardship during the droughts.

“During the drought, when the farmers were struggling financially, we could put a Black Bearing on the

The bearing’s long life makes the job of servicing technicians easier. header and it would last several years; whereas some inferior bearings need replacement every year.”

Sincock said he has enjoyed working with CBC as a supplier of quality products.

“It’s very valuable for us to have a supplier like CBC that supports us with quality products like the NTN Black Bearing. I’ve found CBC terrific to deal with. They help

small, regional businesses like us to grow and build a good reputation with our customers.

“In fact, my business has been growing continuously, despite the previous years’ droughts. We now have three technicians who travel to the farms whenever we get a call from a customer and we help them get their equipment back to work with minimum downtime,” he said. F

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www.foodmag.com.au | October 2020 | Food&Beverage Industry News 17

HYGIENE AND SAFETY

Flooring: getting the balance right Finding the right flooring to meet both health and safety needs is something that Allied Finishes specialises in. Mike Wheeler explains.

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llied Finishes is a thirdgeneration family business that specialises in coatings, including those used in the food and beverage industry.

Director Michael Gillies is part of the second generation, and he is passionate about the industry, which was borne out of a father who got the ball rolling.

“My father, Graham, was

an industrial chemist. He was instrumental in bringing two-pack polyurethanes into Australia in the 1960s,” said Gillies. “He helped develop the two pack called Imperite, which was used in the Snowy Hydro scheme, as well as other infrastructure projects. Today, myself and my two brothers and our sons are still in special purpose coating businesses of one sort or another.

Ours happens to be flooring, and our particular focus is on flooring solutions for the food and beverage industry.”

Flooring is an integral part of any food and beverage build, especially in terms of hygiene and safety. If not laid properly, floors can be unsafe to work on, and can actually encourage rather than prevent the growth of bacteria and microbes.

Gillies is all too aware of how important it is to make sure that the floors do more than simply meet the relevant standards.

“Our aim is to make life easier for the plant manager by providing true, practical, durable, flooring solutions,” he said.

Gillies is also aware of the elephant in the room when it comes to worker health and safety (WHS)

Getting the right floor means working in tandem with the client.

18 Food&Beverage Industry News | October 2020 | www.foodmag.com.au

HYGIENE AND SAFETY

and food health and safety – they tend to have some conflicting needs.

“The challenge that we often have is that the food health team on site will be looking at a floor that is very easily cleaned, which often means as smooth as possible. However, the WHS team will be looking for a very grippy floor, which is inevitably not so easy to keep clean.

“There’s an almost inherent conflict and it has to be recognised.

You can’t pretend that that problem isn’t there. You’ve got to look at it pragmatically and say, ‘there is a conflict here. Let’s not ignore one team or the other’. The two teams literally have different priorities.”

Yet, that doesn’t mean they cannot work together to try and solve the issue. One effective way to find the middle ground is to ask the client if Allied Finishes can lay three or four different flooring options of four square metres each.

“We then encourage the client to subject those areas to normal use, and gather feedback from all stakeholders – production staff, and those on the food health and WHS teams. We find that after two weeks, consensus can be found, and the best solution identified, allowing the client to move forward with confidence,” said Gillies.

“The aim is to find the solution that satisfies the collective or combined goals, not just those of one team or the other. I don’t believe there is a one-size-fits-all solution.

You’ll find that on every site there’s unique requirements. There’s some different factors that need to be taken into account during the consultation and decision-making process.”

One recent job the company had was for well-known Australian firm, Casella Family Brands. It is a company that has a reputation as one of the country’s best wine producers and exporters.

“Casella is an awesome company, we can’t speak highly enough of them” said Gillies. “We got involved with them because the floor in one of their tank farms was very worn and corroded from years of exposure to wine and different cleaning chemicals.

“What happens when a floor gets like that is it generally becomes cluttered and more dangerous. You’ve not only got trip and slip hazards in the floor itself, but if it’s a tired and worn floor, we find that there’s

Allied Finishes completed the Casella Food Brands floor over the Christmas period.

"The aim is to find the solution that satisfies the collective or combined goals, not just those of one team or the other.

I don’t believe there is a one-size-fitsall solution." less motivation to maintain the area, which leads to the clutter and of course increased risk of an accident.

In addition, as corrosion progresses, we start seeing issues like concrete cancer because waste water and chemicals get into the cracks and attack the reinforced concrete substrate and so forth.”

Allied Finishes got involved in the refurbishment over the Christmas shutdown period. The team ripped up the old floor, got down to a solid substrate, and then started rebuilding. Exposed steel reinforcing was treated, cracks were sealed with high strength resins, and low patches where there was pooling water were corrected.

“Apart from the fact a food floor is not allowed to have pooling fluids, it also creates a health and safety

issue,” said Gillies. “Once that was done – what we call a localised full correction – we then went through and resurfaced the floor. It really is a beautiful floor.”

Like most retrofits, there were challenges with the Casella project.

One was that they were dealing with a live plant, as opposed to a new project, so Allied had to work around Casella’s deadlines. This is why the Christmas shutdown period was chosen.

“We had a lot of difficult access issues to deal with,” said Gillies. “A lot of penetrations into the floor, for example – feet of tanks and things like that. They have to be treated very carefully because anything that penetrates the floor is a potential breakdown point. Along with the floor resurfacing, the surface

drainage needed to be reviewed and adjusted. To do this, laser levels were used, ensuring gradual, even, effective falls to wastes.

Gillies said it was a very tight time line, but the project went well.

“We had a team of 12 on site every day for two weeks except Christmas Day and Boxing Day.” Being a major producer and exporter, adherence to the applicable standards were important to Casella.

“Obviously we had to lay the floor to meet Standard 3.2.3 of the Australian/New Zealand food standard code for Food Premises and Equipment,” said Gillies. “It says that floors must be able to be effectively cleaned, be unable to absorb grease, food particles or water, be laid so there is no pooling of water, and, where practical, be unable to provide harbourage for pests.”

And the future? What are some of the current trends in the flooring coating industry?

“We’re doing a lot more with antimicrobial coatings such as our SteriFloor range. Although different studies indicate that COVID-19 isn’t transferred by food or on food packaging, there is still a heightened awareness of the risk or contamination,” said Gillies.

“SteriFloor has strong anti-microbial properties that thwart the growth of microbes.”

Another feature of Allied Finishes flooring is reduced curing time.

“Often we’ll be engaged to do maintenance works on weekends, as we have a reputation for taking food and beverage factory shutdowns very seriously. It is something that our company is passionate about,” said Gillies. “We want our clients to be always be able to trust us to meet their shutdown times. We’ll guarantee to meet their shutdown times, and if we are an hour over, then we discount our invoice heavily.

We do this because we know and understand that shutdowns in food factories are expensive. Our clients need to keep producing their products. Labour in Australia is expensive, and food is a global commodity so down-time on a food production line is very costly.

“I suppose that is why we don’t lose customers. We have a reputation for doing the absolute best for our clients in all respects including solution features and shut-down times.” F

www.foodmag.com.au | October 2020 | Food&Beverage Industry News 19

LUBRICATION

Lubrication dispensing systems with safety in mind Food & Beverage Industry News talks to JSG’s Italo Marcantonio on why a centralised lubrication is the best way to keep plant and machinery in tip-top condition.

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day. In order to keep the machinery in peak condition there are many facets that need to be taken into consideration, and good lubrication is critically important.

“A central lubrication system is key if you have equipment that is large and the lubrication points are spread out, and difficult to access,” said Marcantonio. “If the lubrication points are difficult or unsafe to access when the machine is running, it is easier to service these points via a lubrication distribution system serviced by a centralised pump. The system is then programmed to run at pre-determined intervals usually

prescribed by the OEM. “Every lubrication point needs a certain amount of grease each day and the most efficient way to deliver this is in small increments over regular intervals in order to keep the bearings running at optimum levels of performance.”

According to Marcantonio, one of the biggest advantages with such a

system is that each lubrication point is provided with an exact quantity of lubricant at regular frequency, keeping the bearings lubricated optimally. To get the best results, it is ideal to apply the grease while the machine is running as this ensures uniform coverage.

He also pointed out the aforementioned safety issues when

"One of the biggest advantages with such a system is that each lubrication point is provided with an exact quantity of lubricant at regular frequency, keeping the bearings lubricated optimally."

Image credit: SKF

fficiency and cost savings are two of the key benefits to having a centralised lubrication system, but there is also a third and important reason – safety.

JSG Industrial Systems (JSG) is a company that has many strings to its bow, including its centralised lubrication systems technology supplied by SKF Lincoln for the food and beverage industry among many other sectors.

As in many industrial factories, food and beverage processing and manufacturing plants have a lot of critical machinery that need to be kept running, sometimes 24-hours a

A centralised lubrication system helps a plant run smoothly, while also delivering the right amount of grease at the right time.

20 Food&Beverage Industry News | October 2020 | www.foodmag.com.au

LUBRICATION

Sometimes lubrication points can be deep inside plant and machinery. lubricating machinery manually because sometimes the lubrication points are deep inside a machine and therefore maintenance staff find access an issue when equipment is running.

“From a hygiene point of view, if you can only access that machine once a week when it’s not running, the tendency is to go in there and overlubricate the bearings,” he said.

“They apply as much grease as they can, which is detrimental to the bearings. If you apply too much grease into a bearing, it won’t run efficiently and you are potentially shortening the life of the bearing.

Even worse, what you typically find is that you will get a lot of spillage and contamination because of over lubrication. Bearings will leak grease over the floor and equipment and potentially contaminate the goods that are being manufactured.

In a food environment, that can be disastrous.

“You can also cause a bearing to fail if over lubricated, particularly on high-speed machines where the rolling elements have to work against excess grease which causes heat and increased bearing load.”

SKF Lincoln’s centralised lubrication systems come in at a reasonable cost, and are easy to use. A moderately complex system can start between $5,000 to $10,000 and will cover 50 to 100 lubrication points.

Marcantonio said if a company is

each bearing isn’t huge, unlike heavier applications such as mining conveyors. You are generally not delivering grease further than 20 to 30 metres and as such the system tends to be more compact. So, this technology is more suited to smaller,

"Lincoln SKF systems will accurately control the quantity of oil to the part that needs to be lubricated – the pins on the chain. This minimises contamination and spillage and optimises lubrication, extending the life of the chain." lubricating those points manually then they will employ someone to do the work by hand which could take them up to half a day.

“You’re saving on labour and you are also extending equipment reliability,” he said.

There are two main systems SKF Lincoln produces that are ideal for the food and beverage industry. The first is the Quick Lube Progressive System for grease.

“It tends to be the most prominent system used in the food and beverage industry because the volume of grease you need to reach

more compact machines.”

Then there is the Chain Lubrication System, which is basically an oil lubrication system, similar in principle to the Quick Lube Progressive System and applies finite quantities of oil onto the pins of chain. This is different to some manual systems, or more agricultural systems, which are semi-automatic – oil is applied to the whole chain, which may lead to spillage and oil wastage, and can cause contamination issues in the surrounding environment.

“Lincoln SKF systems will

accurately control the quantity of oil to the part that needs to be lubricated – the pins on the chain.

This minimises contamination and spillage and optimises lubrication, extending the life of the chain,” he said. “Some of the chains that are used in ovens and other applications cost 10s of 1000s of dollars – they are specialised and quite highly engineered. A simple $5000 lubrication system can greatly increase the service life of these chains when set up properly, reducing unplanned down time.”

The SKF Lincoln systems are easy to install by qualified tradespeople and once installed are simple to operate.

“You just set the run and pause time for the system to suit the amount of oil you want to apply over the time period and the system does the rest,” said Marcantonio.

“In recent times we have seen more companies move to using food grade lubricants in order to minimise risks associated with contamination of product by lubricants. The industry is very sensitive to contamination of product and equipment reliability”.

The other thing that is intrinsic in the food and beverage industry are frequent washdowns of plant and machinery. Most companies will use water or steam to clean equipment down on a regular basis and this practice can potentially wash out the lubricant from the bearings.

“The benefit of a centralised lubrication system is that when the equipment is put back into service the system immediately begins to apply more lubricant into the bearings replacing any grease that was removed during the wash down procedure. Potentially this lubricant is only replaced on a weekly basis if done manually, said Marcantonio.

“You could be running the bearings dry for days. The only way you will know if a bearing is running low on lubrication is via the use of condition monitoring technologies such as vibration or temperature sensing.

If the plant is not using these technologies then there is no way of knowing when that bearing is low on lubricant. That is why a centralised lubricant can be so important.”

JSG Industrial Systems provides access to products and solutions from SKF Lincoln Lubrication within the Asia Pacific region. F

www.foodmag.com.au | October 2020 | Food&Beverage Industry News 21

MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE

Cloud solution makes collections easy Finding an easy solution to manage invoicing and collections shouldn’t be hard, and it’s not, according to financial solutions provider Esker. Food & Beverage Industry News explains.

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verdue invoices, 90-day payments, managing cash flow – keeping the many sides of an enterprise going is key to running a successful food and beverage business.

Keeping financials in order can be a cumbersome task, especially when chasing down late payments, and trying to keep on top of a company’s own outgoings.

Eric Maisonhaute is the director of accounts receivable solutions at Esker Australia, a company that offers cloud solutions to digitise and automate order-to-cash and procureto-pay processes. He is well aware of the pitfalls and strains that can be put on companies as they try to keep ahead of the game when it comes to balancing the books.

Esker can assist with this process with its Accounts Payable automation solution. This is followed by the payment process by the customer.

On the supplier side, then both cash collection and cash reconciliation are critical. It would make the process straight forward and effective if not for discounts, disputes, and claims.

That is why Esker proposes different solutions to address the various aspects of the AR process.”

In terms of the collections process, Esker offers a comprehensive collections management solution. It assists all steps of the collections process and automates the sending accounts statements or statement reminders.

“You can easily segment your customers and have different

"The system allows customers to become self-sufficient because they can go and access their invoices, download their statements online as a pdf, and can query any issues with an invoice."

Esker’s portfolio of Cloud accounts receivable solutions can streamline processes to make collections easy to understand and complete. What sort of features does it offer?

“There is a solution that automates the delivery of customer invoices, proof of delivery and so on,” said Maisonhaute. “It automates the delivery of documents out of any ERP system in any format via any channel. This includes the printing of invoices to be delivered via postal mail, thanks to our local printing facility. It can also format a document according to the preferred mode of reception by the end customer i.e. paper, fax, email, e-invoicing, EDI, etc.

“Of course, delivering invoices is critical. Typically invoices need to be processed by the end customer.

collections strategies for different groups of customers” said Maisonhaute. “We know you have your good, timely payers, but you might also have slow payers, bad payers and so on. You might want to adopt different collection strategies.

“With this solution you can set up your own rules such as when payment reminders will be emailed to customers with overdue invoices.

Based on these rules, the solution creates a personalised to-do list for each AR officer or collector. So, every day, collectors can focus their activities on engaging with customers and discuss payment issues, reasons for late or overdue payments, negotiate payment plans, etc.

This automation has saved two to three hours per week for the AR team at one of Esker’s customers, Australia’s largest crane hire

22 Food&Beverage Industry News | October 2020 | www.foodmag.com.au

company based in WA. “What they love is that they now get all the replies from customers centralised in one place and do not have to set reminders in calendar, it now automatically pops up in their to-do list,” said Maisonhaute.

“The solution also includes internal collaboration tools to create tasks and internally collaborate with other departments. For instance, a customer might request a proof of delivery docket or claim a discount.

This means it is speeding up the process of answering and helping customers and, like for our customer Temperature Equipment Corp., resolve dispute 88 per cent faster.”

The solution includes a selfservice capability. This allows a company’s customers to interact with the same solution in a selfservice mode. As the customer receives its accounts statement, or a payment reminder, the accounts payable officer can click on a link in the email that takes her/him to the customer portal. This enables customers to become self-sufficient, because they can go and access their invoices, download their statements online as a pdf, and can query any issues with an invoice.

“They have access to all of their invoices and accounts statements online,” said Maisonhaute. “They can then select the invoices and pay online and they can also organise a payment by credit card or bank transfer. This is helping companies collect their cash in different ways and helping your customers pay quicker by offering online payment capabilities. LinPepCo, a Pepsi-Cola franchisee, managed to get 69 per cent of its customers on AutoPay with our solution, where invoices are automatically paid on the due date.”

“For customers who continue to pay you directly from their bank account, their Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) triggers the process

of EFT transfer and so on,” he said.

“This is where our Cash Application Solution helps with the reconciliation of those payments. You have the payments coming into your bank account, so we ingest the bank statement first to understand what payments you have received.”

On the other hand, you might have received a remittance advice, so the solution can process it by extracting the data out of the document.

“Usually we have your list of open invoices and credits. Between those three documents – the bank statement, the remittance advice and the open invoices and credits – Esker’s AI logic automatically determines which invoices have been paid, and in what amounts,” said Maisonhaute. “This removes the manual tasks of allocating payments in the ERP. It clearly automates the cash allocation process and your team can focus on exceptions.”

Maisonhaute said the solution is intuitive and provides dashboards.

There are several dashboards that provide real time information about the status of customers, divisions or companies, ageing balances, KPIs such as DSO and CEI. These metrics are essential to measure the efficiency of the collections process and the productivity of the collectors. This helped our customer Wine Warehouse set goals and track easily how they were able to raise the CEI to 80 per cent and increase the amount of money collected by 45 per cent over a single year.

“When you log into our collections management solution you access a dashboard with your to-do list for the day – what calls you have to make, etc,” he said. “Maybe your credit manager decided that, for example, you have to follow the 90-plus day invoices, or invoices that are closed or are critical in terms of receiving a payment. That’ll be organised in the to-do list. You don’t

MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE

have to waste time prioritising and deciding what they have to do, which is typically the case when you don’t have an automation solution.”

Setting up the solution only takes a few weeks. Esker consultants work with the AR team throughout

the AR team also increases as most tedious tasks have been automated.

“We typically start with a kick-off with the team setting up the project and a time line of the tasks,” he said.

“Then we run the implementation activities. It is important to note

"We have a program called First Year @ Esker. This program is like a personal fitness coach for your AR processes and AR teams.

From the time our customers go live, we follow them and have regular interactions with them with calls and ad-hoc training sessions throughout the year." the process. And once it is up and running, the time savings and ease of use will be noticeable to a company’s bottom line, according to Maisonhaute. Job satisfaction in

that at the beginning the IT team needs to be involved for the data integration with the ERP. Then the business teams and the operations teams are involved to validate the

configurations. Then there is a testing phase, and end user training, and finally the planning for the switch to production and going live.”

Esker proposes a simple subscription pricing model for its solutions. For Collections Management the subscription fee is based on the number of transactions and invoices. For the Cash Application the subscription fee is based on the number of payments.

Esker also takes the security of its clients very seriously.

“Also, back-up service is included,” he said. “All our solutions are in the cloud. Every year, Esker needs to renew its various certifications. We have large customers in various industries running our cloud solutions. We have a chief of security and of data privacy – we take it very seriously.”

The subscription fee also includes technical support and it comes with a customer experience program.

“We have a program called First Year @ Esker. This program is like a personal fitness coach for your AR processes and AR teams. From the time our customers go live, we follow them and have regular interactions with them with calls and ad-hoc training sessions throughout the year to make sure users can fully exploit the capability of the solution and that the company achieves the highest ROI,” said Maisonhaute. “We coach end users and provide best practices to drive a long lasting and effective process change. We want the user experience with our solution to be fantastic, and that is why we have such a high level of satisfaction from end users and a very high level of retention of customers.” F

Esker’s accounts receivable solutions will make collections a lot easier for companies who want to be paid on time.

www.foodmag.com.au | October 2020 | Food&Beverage Industry News 23

CONSTRUCTION One of the many food and beverage construction projects that Total Construction has completed.

Concept to completion When it comes to building and design, food businesses can minimise the possibility of problems and cost blow outs by working with builders during the planning process. Total Construction is a company that is well-equipped to take a project from design concept through to completion.

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lant building and design – just like lean manufacturing, automation, and food safety – is critically important for food and beverage makers. Having a well-designed, well-functioning manufacturing plant can be paramount to the success or failure of a venture.

“When a business is looking to either construct a new facility or upgrade an existing one, it needs to find a good builder,” said to Rob Blythman, general manager –

become part of the client’s project team as early as possible, and not be just be a supplier of services.

“We prides ourselves on the value add we can provide to the client, not only do we conduct construction and fit out services, we can provide full design and process engineering services to ensure the finished facility provides maximum efficiencies and yet minimise capital expenditure on building works,” said Blythman.

and has an annual turnover in excess of $180 million.

The food and beverage sector accounts for about 20 per cent of the company’s work. Apart from this, it also operates in the aged care, hospital, industrial, manufacturing, renewable energy, and education sectors.

The company has extensive expertise in delivering food and beverage projects throughout Australia. Its capabilities in the industry include cost planning, design, construction, and fit-out.

One of its key assets is said in its name – total.

"Having in-house process engineering and design capability and experience in live environments, as well as the building capabilities, means that when it comes to those food and beverage, aged care, hospitals and manufacturing builds we are there at the beginning, from start to finish."

Engineering Construction Group at Total Construction (Total). “On top of that, it is important they find someone who is willing and able to work closely with them in the very early stages of any project.”

Total Construction likes to

Who is Total Construction?

Total Constructions was established in 1995 by current directors Steve Taylor and Bill Franks. The company has grown to the point that it now has offices in NSW, VIC and QLD, employs up to 130 staff,

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An example of how Total Construction can help with the layout of services.

CONSTRUCTION

“Having in-house process engineering and design capability and experience in live environments, as well as the building capabilities, means that when it comes to those food and beverage, aged care, hospitals and manufacturing builds we are there at the beginning, from start to finish,” said Blythman.

The Total approach Rather than taking a one size fits-all approach to building projects, Total Construction tailors a project to a client’s needs and offers a range of project delivery models.

“Our approach is to focus on what is/will be inside of the building, then wrap a building or fit out around it,” said Blythman. “This approach has served Total and its clients well.

Having gained years of experience working in live environments, the company knows how to take the necessary precautions to eliminate safety risks as well as minimise noise, dust and vibration.”

With every project, Total looks for innovations to improve buildability and offer value engineering solutions, where possible, to ensure the best possible outcome for the client.

Concept-to-completion As mentioned, one of the company’s specialties is being able to build a

"With every project, it looks for innovations to improve buildability and offer value engineering solutions, where possible, to ensure the best possible outcome for the client." plant from concept through to the finished project. It does this by breaking the project down into stages to create check points to ensure the project continues in the right direction. This allows the client to clearly identify any potential issues in cost or operability of the proposed facility.

“The first stage involves us having a concept discussion with the client to ascertain the scope of the project, current and proposed processes and what the desired outcomes need to be. From this a high level square metre rate can be provided,” said Blythman.

“The next stage is to workshop with all stakeholders, including operations, from the client side to confirm all process flows, equipment, and operational requirements. From these we can develop design and layout options that allow for the client’s operational needs.”

Total will identify risks and cost implications associated with the buildability of each option and

overlay the client’s process flows to check for any pinch points or efficiency issues.

The desired option is then selected to move into the design-development stage. Again, this is workshopped and tweaked with the client to establish the ideal mix of functionality and need with buildability, as well as cost to arrive at the ideal fit-out and building scope.

Once the process design and layout are nailed down, Total will then move to the final design stage and populate the design with all required services – power, drainage, water, hygiene stations, compressed air etc – and also the area finishes, such as flooring, walls, room, air conditioning etc, which will be suitable for live market costing.

“The live market cost and designs provided are sufficient to assist in obtaining finance, board approvals, or simply use to progress to construction and then you are on your way to getting your new building/plant and machinery up and running,” said Blythman.

Throughout the design process shown above, the key items to consider are: • optimisation of plant and equipment layout; • build and fit out cost reduction wherever possible; • ensure authority codes and requirements are met; • establish service requirements (power, gas waste); • consider people movements and amenities; • streamlining production and process flows; • designing to SQF, WQA and BRC standards as required; • minimise excessive conditioned air areas and refrigeration needs where possible; and • maximise the available floor space.

Having completed this process a client can be assured they have thoroughly accounted for all functionality requirements and mitigated project risk by identifying any issues at each check point and covering them off.

Having a builder involved from the project concept stage that understands both the client’s operational needs and building cost implications can be invaluable in ensuring a project goes without a hitch from concept to completion. F

www.foodmag.com.au | October 2020 | Food&Beverage Industry News 25

TRACEABILITY

2DBarcode – the next generation of barcoding technology For almost five decades barcode technology hasn’t changed. Now, GS1 has created the 2DBarcode, which will take traceability to the next level. Here’s why.

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or more than 45 years, consumers around the world have become familiar with the ubiquitous barcode, named by the BBC as one of the top 50 inventions that changed the modern economy.

Applied by brand owners and manufacturers and used extensively along the supply chain, the barcode that most of us are used to seeing is the EAN-13, which appears on tens of millions of products worldwide.

The EAN-13 contains one piece of information only – a Global Trade Item Number or GTIN. A GTIN is the number uniquely assigned to the product by the brand owner from the numbers allocated to them by not-forprofit standards body GS1 Australia.

A GTIN is entered into a retailer’s database as the look-up for the product. The product’s description, price and other data is then linked to that GTIN, so that when it is scanned

at point-of-sale, or further up the supply chain, the correct information is provided to the user, decisions can be made and transactions recorded.

This has had a significant impact on the way companies do business across the world. Retailers have streamlined their supply chains, brand owners have pored over scanned data to make product development decisions, while consumers have been offered a range of products, made possible by better supply chain management capabilities due to better information; information made available by the barcode.

So, after 45 years it is time to take the next step. The GS1 DataMatrix is a two-dimensional barcode, that contains much more data than the 13 digits of the linear and one dimensional EAN-13. This allows much more information to be encoded than just a product identifier.

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2DBarcodes can encode alpha characters as well as numbers, and over 3,000 digits instead of 13.

Batch and serial numbers can be included in the data within the code.

Best before or use-by dates can be added. Pack weights and variable

shelves. Recalled or expired product can be blocked from sale. Retailers can apply automatic mark-downs for product approaching expiry to facilitate stock liquidation without the added expense of remarking product on the shelf.

“The GS1 DataMatrix is a two-dimensional, or 2DBarcode, that contains much more data than the 13 digits of the linear and one dimensional EAN-13.” dimensions or quantities can be included. This provides much more granular information about the product to support decision making at every point of the supply chain.

Suppliers and retailers can manage stock rotations based on expiration dates. Recalls can be managed by batch instead of pulling a complete product line from the

“For suppliers and retailers, 2DBarcodes mean that food products can be recalled by batch or lot number,” said Maria Palazzolo, CEO of GS1 Australia, “The affected batch can be identified more accurately within the supply chain. This means only the affected products need to be removed from warehouses and supermarket shelves.

TRACEABILITY Knowing the provenance of produce being bought is important information that will be available to consumers.

scannable barcodes.

Mark Dingley is chairman of the Australian Packaging and Processing Machinery Association (APPMA), which represents the printing and coding suppliers who are working with manufacturers to deliver codes that are clearly readable by retailers.

“Understanding the transition from 1D barcodes to 2DBarcodes will be very important to manufacturers,” said Dingley.

“Especially as this will likely drive changes to the production line with the move to in-line printing of the barcode from pre-print.

Understanding that this may require additional infrastructure and validation on the production line to ensure that print quality is maintained from the first printed barcode to the last and that this is maintained day in, day out to achieve a high level of scanning at point of sale will be crucial to long term consistency. Discussions with your coding and label supplier will be able to assist in this transition if required.”

“Early learnings have shown that for suppliers who are transitioning to implement 2DBarcodes, getting in touch with their print partners early on in the process, as early as possible, will greatly assist in the transition process and help avoid

any complications that may occur with their product labels in-store and down the track,” said Andrew Steele, director, retail at GS1 Australia.

Manufacturers and suppliers should not assume they can turn this around quickly.

Consideration must be given to the data source, and ensuring data is consistent across the pack to align with inkjet batch and expiration codes. It will take trials and testing to ensure everything is adequately

the Innovative Technology of the Year award at the recent Food and Beverage Industry Awards. The judges acknowledged the technology ahead of strong competition for its potential to shape the future in much the same way the original barcode had done all those years ago.

The key takeaway for suppliers is to not think this can be implemented overnight. It may require an upgrade or enhancement to existing systems.

Suppliers should start thinking today

"Understanding the transition from 1D barcodes to 2DBarcodes will be very important to manufacturers. Especially as this will likely drive changes to the production line with the move to in-line printing of the barcode from pre-print." controlled to ensure the quality of codes remains high, long after installation. Maintenance is key.

While those suppliers who use the codes for internal purposes, such as stock control, batch control and recall management are more likely to pick up errors as soon as they occur, long before products make it to market.

While still in the implementation phase, the results have been excellent. One result has been that 2DBarcodes were awarded

about how they can make this work within their operations so they can be ready to go when their customers make the request.

“GS1 is working closely with Woolworths and their suppliers to provide tools and assistance in support of their transition from 1D to 2DBarcodes,” said Steele.

“We’ve developed a dedicated webpage and handy step-by-step guide, available on the GS1 website which is great place for suppliers to start.” F New barcode technology will have a huge impact on how consumers select products.

The product recall process currently requires all recalled products to be removed from the supply chain and disposed of.”

The benefits are significant, which is why Woolworths has commenced an initial implementation in its perishable goods area with two suppliers, Hilton Foods and Ingham’s. The lessons gained from this implementation will facilitate a smooth rollout across all suppliers over the next few months.

One of the early lessons, that was flagged from the beginning but is being better understood now, is the requirement for manufacturers to consider capabilities around dynamic coding, instead of pre-printed barcodes. This means they need some form of in-line printing or labelling capability, able to support existing production line speeds and to deliver consistently high-quality, www.foodmag.com.au | October 2020 | Food&Beverage Industry News 27

CLEANING

Tennant Company celebrates 150 years

YEARS

2020 sees the Tennant Company celebrate 150 years of being in business.

It’s come a long way since it started out on the banks of the Mississippi.

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ne hundred and fifty years ago, Tennant Company founder George Tennant started his business on the banks of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. Like many others, he chose the location to power his sawmill, milling and planing timber to help build the young and growing city.

Over the years, Tennant’s business grew and changed as company leaders made investments in innovation and focused on solving problems for customers. Innovation is at the core of Tennant’s success, from the early days when the company recognised the potential of mechanising the laborious task of maintaining its wooden floors. The company moved from making floors to providing floor care solutions

– introducing ground-breaking products to improve cleaning processes, provide safer and more comfortable equipment for operators, and make cleaning more sustainable.

The latest advancement in this tradition is the first-to-perform robotic floor scrubber. Tennant’s entry into the world of robotics shows that the 150-year-old company is still focused on the future—and looking forward to another 150 years of industry firsts.

The Tennant brand is known globally for quality, reliability and service. The flagship mark leads other respected brands owned by the company: Nobles, Alfa, VLX and recent acquisitions IPC and Gaomei.

With manufacturing facilities in Europe, Asia, and North and South

"Tennant’s entry into the world of robotics shows that the 150-year-old company is still focused on the future – and looking forward to another 150 years of industry firsts."

A Tennant road sweeper in Vienna in the early 20th century.

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Tennant has a solid reputation as a company that produces high-end cleaning equipment for a range of industrial situations.

America, direct sales operations in 15 countries and a network of distributors spanning more than 100 countries, Tennant Company cleans around the world to fulfil its mission – Making the world a cleaner, safer, healthier place.

Built into that mission is a focus on community and stewardship that has become a core part of Tennant’s culture. In addition to sustainable technologies and cradle-to-cradle manufacturing processes, the company contributes to its communities by maintaining environmentally focused practices in Tennant facilities, as well as engaging in community clean-up and improvement activities.

Volunteering and community involvement take many forms at Tennant. In fact, the cornerstone of the company’s celebration of this

year’s milestone anniversary is our “$150,000 for 150 Years” challenge, inviting Tennant employees throughout the world to raise the equivalent of $150,000 for charities they choose through donations of cash, goods, and work in their neighbourhoods.

The company offers a century and a half of innovation, of involvement in communities and of partnership with customers.

This year, as Tennant Company celebrates one 150 years, a new global headquarters campus is opening in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.

The property is less than 20 miles from the Mississippi River where George Tennant started his business – as is fitting for a company that is grounded in deep traditions, inventing its future, and making its mark as an industry leader. F

OCTOBER 2020

Life in Mars: Talking to Mars Foods Australia GM Bill Heague

PLUS: Collections software | Centralised lubrication systems

FOOD & BEVERAGE INDUSTRY NEWS

PLANT AND MACHINERY

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NOVEMBER

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

Plant and machinery are the nuts and bolts that keep industry moving. They are the essential cogs in the food and beverage manufacturing sector.

If you are a supplier of this equipment to the food and beverage industry, then you need to be in our November issue. With a lot of manufacturing plant running full steam, manufacturers and processors are looking for the best plant and machinery that can meet stringent wear and tear capabilities while pumping out product.

PLUS: MEET THE MANUFACTURER

Every edition Food & Beverage Industry News talks to a major manufacturer about the industry – their supply chain, how they handle disruptions, their manufacturing processes, and the long-term forecast for the industry.

In November we will be talking to Twisted Health Treats CEO and Food & Beverage Industry Awards winner Cassandra Spies.

BOOKING DEADLINE: 9 OCTOBER 2020 For advertising enquiries please contact Luke Ronca on 0402 718 081 For editorial enquiries please contact Mike Wheeler on (02) 9439 7227

INTERNET OF THINGS

Take charge of your operation today From something futuristic and unreachable, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) has become a reality in many company’s day-to-day working environment. ifms’s systems solutions manager, Freddie Coertze, explains.

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he industrial world is on the verge of entering the next revolution: Industry 4.0. This is going to change control systems architecture, systems connectivity and sensors as we know it. Tasks that had been thought of as “undoable” have become more affordable. Industry 4.0 was once a dream but is now becoming a reality A lot of the data from devices will be analysed on the Internet and hence the Internet of Things (IoT) will be a big part of Industry 4.0. The field which relates to industrial data to the Internet is now referred to as the IIoT. The other major aspect of Industry 4.0 is how businesses utilise the data collected and analysed from their systems. This will provide information on important aspects of machine condition, for example premature machine failure. This field is referred to as the machine analytics and forms the basis of the technology that is predictive analytics.

This article discusses Industry 4.0, the IIoT and predictive analytics in detail with recommendations on how businesses can improve their operations by adopting future forward smart solutions.

Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) Simply put, the IIoT is the concept of connecting any device with an on and off switch to the Internet (and/or to each other). This includes everything from cell phones, coffee makers, washing machines, headphones,

ifm’s IIoT Toolkit with SMART products, comprehensive services and intelligent software offers energy efficiency and condition monitoring.

lamps, wearable devices and almost anything else you can think of. If a device has an on and off switch, then chances are it can be a part of the IoT. Global management consulting firm A.T. Kearney predicts the IoT will lead to a $1.9 trillion productivity increase and $177 billion in reduced costs by the end of 2020, with 26 billion connected devices.

Some of the benefits of IIoT include: • tracking behaviour for real-time monitoring;

30 Food&Beverage Industry News | October 2020 | www.foodmag.com.au

• • • •

enhanced situational awareness; sensor-driven decision analytics; process optimisation; optimised resource consumption; and • instantaneous control and response in complex autonomous systems.

Using the data from machines can flow to the Internet and provide real-time information to the user about the availability of the machine or help look at the performance of the machine. The data generated from the machines can be used to do

predictive analytics – for instance let the factory manager know that they have a machine that is about to fail in the next few days. This information can assist the stakeholders to be ready for failures.

Where do you start?

In this period of disruption there are a few constants: 1. the unending use of acronyms and tech-jargon; and 2. the sheer amount of information available.

Many of us experience information

INTERNET OF THINGS

overload. Understandably, there is also an apprehension about investing in concepts. As well as valid concerns about being taken for a ride by tech-experts, companies don’t want to invest a lot of money into technology or systems that they don’t actually need.

The first step is in gaining an understanding of how these concepts – such as IIoT and Industry 4.0 – and how their corresponding technologies will apply in practical terms to a business.

There is no sure formula to success, but can you future proof your operation? Yes, but that future needs to start now.

The word innovation has become an overused buzzword in industry.

The literal meaning of innovate is to invent or to come up with new and different ways of doing something.

Like changing your maintenance strategy from a run-to-fail model to predictive maintenance.

Predictive analytics In order to do predictive analytics, it is important for the sensors and field devices to create meaningful data.

This data generated has to address failure modes or process information pertaining to the machine – for example, pressure, temperature and vibrations. It is also important to note that the data generated from the sensors has to be easily available and be based on generic protocols (like https, MQTT) and cannot be vendor specific.

Once the data reaches the cloud, analytical systems act on the information and provide detailed information back to the key stakeholders in the organisation.

users with real-time alarm event information via SMS or emails, and/ or view a history log of all previous alarms that have occurred directly to their smart device, is a must and no longer an optional feature.

Data directly into ERP system Getting the data into an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system and to the cloud in a cost-effective manner has been a challenge in the past. But with the introduction of unique software offerings, parallel communication between factory floor sensors, Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) and ERP is now possible. This communication is classed as Y-Path by ifm efector, and allows for smart IO-Link sensors to communicate not only with the PLC, but directly with ERP systems such as SAP.

The perfect solution An out-of-the-box approach that addresses the challenges mentioned in this article and aligns the user towards IIoT, is ifm’s IIoT Toolkit with SMART products, comprehensive services and intelligent software that offers energy efficiency and condition monitoring.

By understanding your process, it is possible to deploy sensors to “smart” gateways for more

“qualified” data to a software platform that can not only monitor but alarm you when anything goes out of specification. This is easily done by comparing historic data with current data and alarming that your asset is about to fail.

We would typically start monitoring any energy (water, electricity, air, etc.), then the

monitoring and preventative maintenance. It is a smart bridging option for modern industrial operations.

From the individual sensor to an overall business solution – the ifm solutions are scalable so that the digitisation of your company is implemented in steps according to your wishes. Industry 4.0 is feasible –

"Simply put, the Internet of Things is the concept of connecting any device with an on and off switch to the Internet (and/or to each other)." process followed by vibration of critical assets. ifm sees this as the fundamentals and basics of starting to utilise Industry 4.0. ifm can provide a solution from the shop floor to the top floor. Starting with more than 10,000 sensors to choose from with a combination of its smart software.

Summary Businesses can begin to harness the benefits of IIoT and predictive analysis by adopting smart solutions.

As we approach Industry 4.0, there is a pronounced need to implement future forward solutions. The ifm smart software and products create a communication between sensors and systems that enables condition

with the right partner it is easier than you might think.

Benefit from this chance to be among the pioneers of digital technology as well as from the many advantages.

Everything is running smoothly, standstills or even downtimes of a complete operation are a thing of the past. There will be more room for new projects. ifm will accompany you on your way. Depending on your requirements ifm will support you right from the beginning – from strategic advice, the development of individual software and hardware solutions and their corresponding implementation to advanced services. F

The IIoT helps collect data so it can be analysed to help plant and machinery run more efficient.

Visual analytics: Real time and historic views It is important for the user of the system to be able to view real-time data and be able to make changes to the process and analyse historical data (both locally and/or remotely).

Armed with all this data in an easyto-find central location will enable the user to analyse and improve system efficiencies more effectively.

Alarm management In today’s modern world, virtually everything is controlled and communicated to a smart device such as a phone or tablet. Therefore, the ability for the software to provide www.foodmag.com.au | October 2020 | Food&Beverage Industry News 31

AFGC

The essential sector The AFGC is looking to the federal government when it comes to incentivising the food and beverage manufacturing industry. Food & Beverage Industry News explains why.

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nowing that you are able to walk into your local supermarket and buy what you want to feed yourself or your family and stock your pantry is something that we take for granted.

Australia is fortunate that we make enough food to feed 75 million people, three times our population and that we have a strong and resilient food, beverage and grocery manufacturing sector in our country.

COVID-19 has taught us all many things about our sense of community, our vulnerability and not to take this $127.1 billion dollar food, beverage and grocery sector for granted. We realise now more than ever how essential it is.

When there was panic buying

in early 2020, when shelves were stripped, this was equivalent to three Christmas buying periods all at once, on the same day, with no notice. Retailers and suppliers were caught unprepared, and shelves were emptied.

However, the 274,835 people who work every day to make the food, drinks and grocery items to ensure our shelves are stocked stepped up – they are our essential heroes. This sector went into overdrive straight away to help meet the runaway consumer demand, working 24 hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week to make the products that Australians were wanting. The shelves have not been empty since.

The supply chain was sorely

"When there was panic buying in early 2020, when shelves were stripped, this was equivalent to three Christmas buying periods all at once, on the same day."

Australian food and beverage companies want to export around the world, capitalising on the reputation of safe products made here.

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tested. Speciality ingredients not made or found in Australia had to be acquired in other ways, or substitute supplies found, as borders closed.

Movement of goods across such an expansive country is always a challenge but the logistics sector met the challenge to move more products, more often. Workers in the factories, who are the most important asset to our sector, split shifts, implemented COVID-safe plans right away and socially distanced to help ensure transmission of COVID-19 was kept at bay from our essential sector.

Everyone met the challenge to keep the supermarket shelves stocked.

Australia’s food, beverage and grocery manufacturing sector works hard, and it has had to. Rising input costs and market challenges have long been an issue for the sector. Companies in Australia want to invest in capital and invest in more jobs. They want to buy the exceptional, high-quality raw

commodities from Australian farmers, transform them into products, and then send them around the country for Australians to enjoy.

And they also want to export them around the world, capitalising on the international appreciation for the high quality and safe food products made here.

This is how traditional supply chains work but there needs to be certainty for business to invest.

Certainty, through a stable economy, a skilled workforce and access to markets.

There also needs to be a responsive domestic market too, which will help foster innovation and business growth. As the world modernises and becomes highly automated, this sector strives to do so as well. This will help ensure the sector remains competitive on the world stage, innovation will flourish and jobs will grow.

To do this, the Australian Food

Image credit: Shuang Li / Shutterstock.com

AFGC

The food sector supports rural communities through social, environmental and other outreach programs and direct contributions. and Grocery Council has called for the Federal Government to implement a Food, Beverage and Grocery Site Modernisation Program that provides short-term incentives for the food, beverage and grocery manufacturing industry. It does so by bringing forward investment in manufacturing plant infrastructure and equipment through an instant asset write off, or grants program for

Taking the jobs offshore would result in job losses at a time when we need to ensure job growth. While nearly 60 per cent of the sector’s jobs are in metropolitan areas, around 40 per cent, or 108,000 jobs, depend directly on this sector in regional Australia.

This sector is the backbone to regional Australia and the bond in so many communities – it is the heart

“A strong international trade system is crucial to maintaining global food security while Australia can benefit through local economic stimuli. Trade helps to stabilise food prices and supply volumes, which in turn improves social stability across the globe.” smaller investments, and targeted and efficient investment allowance for larger investments.

Without investing to improve efficiency and innovate, there is a real risk that businesses will either need to reduce the scale of their operations or move offshore.

of the community. The jobs and support services in so many country towns and regional centres rely on the economic contribution the sector brings through the wages it pays and the flow on to other businesses servicing the sector or the people who work in it.

In turn, the sector also supports the community through social, environmental and other outreach programs and direct contributions.

This might include supporting the construction of local assets being built like a swimming pool, donating to local soup kitchens or getting involved in environmental programs like tree planting. This is happening right across the country with the support of this sector.

At the same time as strengthening our local economies and communities, the sector has seen a growth in exports. In 2020, food and beverage exports have increased 5.8 per cent, led by 7 per cent year-on-year increase in food product manufacturing.

Supply chain dependencies and priorities within countries changed with COVID-19 but recent Australian Bureau of Statistics data proved that COVID-19 hasn’t destroyed our global trade. So, the trajectory of a growing and strong export market should weather the pandemic, even though it has definitely complicated things due to

geopolitical developments.

A strong international trade system is crucial to maintaining global food security while Australia can benefit through local economic stimuli. Trade helps to stabilise food prices and supply volumes, which in turn improves social stability across the globe. During the 2007-08 food price crisis, restrictions by countries on exports of certain commodities led to significant increases in world food prices and intensified the impact on food insecurity and poverty. To date, we have not seen a repeat of this food price crisis and trade flows have continued, albeit with some delays at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

While we like to know that we can walk into our supermarket and buy what we want on nearly every occasion, we also need to stop and realise what goes into ensuring we can do just that. Australians should be proud of the food, grocery and manufacturing sector here on our shores, for what it makes, supplies us with and the value it brings to our local economy and communities. F

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The growth of the Australasian Recycling Label on-pack Author

Nerida Kelton MAIP, Executive Director, Australian Institute of Packaging (AIP)

Nerida Kelton looks at the Australasian Recycling Label and why it is important for the packaging industry.

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very week when I receive my grocery delivery, I am starting to notice that more packs are including the Australasian Recycling Label (ARL) and I can’t wait for the day that it is on all consumerfacing packaging. I opened a pack of pork steaks the other night and followed the ARL instructions and I have to say it was the most intuitive pack I have experienced in a long time. The ARL made it easy to understand which bin I was placing each component in. What is the Australasian Packaging Recycling Label (ARL) Program? The ARL provides designers and brand owners with the tools to inform responsible packaging technologists and designers and helps consumers to understand how to correctly dispose of packaging. Led by APCO, in collaboration with Planet Ark and PREP Design, the program aims to reduce consumer confusion, increase recycling recovery rates, and contribute to cleaner recycling streams. The two elements of the program are the Packaging Recyclability Evaluation Portal (PREP) and the ARL.

Packaging Recyclability Evaluation Portal (PREP) What makes the program unique is the PREP Tool component, which provides packaging technologists and designers with the correct information on whether their packaging format is recyclable in the majority of household kerbside collection systems and then how it will be handled and recovered by the Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs).

The PREP Tool also indicates if there are other closed-loop recycling systems that the majority (80 per cent) of the population has access. i.e. “soft plastics”, which can be

returned to a Coles or Woolworths store via the REDcycle program.

The PREP tool then works handin-hand with the second part of the process which is the ARL program.

The ARL symbol represents how the MRF recognises materials, inks, weight, shape, adhesives and how each component will behave in the recycling ecosystem in Australia and New Zealand. Using the datasets from the PREP tool the ARL then identifies the correct symbols to use on-pack for all components of the product e.g.: lid, tray, cap, bottle, box, film etc. It is not possible for a piece of packaging to have the Australasian Recycling Label without a PREP assessment that backs up disposal claims.

The ARL is an evidence-based standardised labelling system for Australia and New Zealand that provides clear and consistent on-pack recycling information to inform consumers of the correct disposal method. As packaging is made up of separable components, each with differing recyclability, the ARL will identify each item as either recyclable, conditionally recyclable or not recyclable. The ARL is designed to ensure that consumers can understand the true recyclability of all packaging components that are disposed of in Australia and New Zealand.

The ARL symbols used on-pack in turn help consumers understand which packaging components belong in the recycling bin, or the general rubbish bin, or which parts should be returned in Australia to a Coles or Woolworths store through the soft plastic collection bins.

Consumer education There are many brands busy updating their artwork to incorporate

It is not possible for a piece of packaging to have the Australasian Recycling Label without a PREP assessment that backs up disposal claims. the ARL on pack, and I would encourage everyone to consider a strong consumer-facing marketing campaign to let everyone know that you are adding the ARL on-pack, why, and what the benefits are.

Showcase the use of ARL on your packaging as a part of your sustainable packaging journey.

Start talking to your family and friends about the ARL and encouraging your own community to look out for the ARL on-pack and teach them the benefits of the new symbols. The more consumers see the ARL and understand why it needs to be on all packaging, the better the acceptance will be across Australia and New Zealand.

Once consumers become more aware of the ARL symbols on packaging, they will gain confidence in the program and recognise that the labels are an important link to the current recycling capabilities of Australia and New Zealand. In turn, the use of ARL symbols on-pack

should encourage consumers to become more active in disposing of waste correctly, which will limit contamination in our waste streams and keep recyclable material away from landfill.

The AIP has also developed a number of training courses that will greatly assist your sustainable packaging journey including Tools to Help you Meet the 2025 National Packaging Targets: PREP and ARL, Introduction to Sustainable Packaging Design, Lifecycle Assessment Tools for Sustainable Packaging Design, Flexible Packaging: Now and Into the Future, Plastics Technology: Introduction to Polymers and Recycling, How to Implement Sustainable Packaging Guidelines into your Business, Suitable, Functional and Sustainable Labelling and The Future of Bioplastics and Compostable Packaging, which are run on a regular basis across Australia, New Zealand and Asia. F

www.foodmag.com.au | October 2020 | Food&Beverage Industry News 35

DAIRY REPORT

Global dairy commodity update August 2020 butterfat demand due to the impacts of food service closures is weighing on prices, while the durability of premiums over US and EU skim milk powder (SMP) will be tested.

Skim milk powder Global SMP trade jumped 21 YOY in June, 43 per cent of which came from Southeast Asia. The rolling annual total of SMP trade has recovered to within 2.6 per cent of peak tonnage (achieved last September).

Whole milk powder

W

hile dairy commodity markets remained relatively steady (except for US cheddar), dairy market fundamentals are mixed across major producing regions and local factors continue to influence prices, creating some diverging trends.

Global trade rebounded strongly in June, with healthy rises across most major product categories as buyers took advantage of low prices in April and May. The trade in the month took overall trade for the first half of 2020 to just 0.7 per cent behind the 2019 comparative, despite COVID-19 disruptions. COVID-19 restrictions will continue to ease but “second wave” surges in infections will cause reversals of reopenings in some regions. This will ensure retail demand remains a stable platform alongside a slow and bumpy recovery in food service channels, while business and tourism travel and events will be limited through much of 2021.

Milk production trends are varied.

While the EU-27’s growth may slow a little, and changing climate may stem Latin America’s surge, output in most other regions is improving – with the strongest being in the US, while weather is still a lottery in NZ. Domestic demand for cheese and butterfat – sustained by strong grocery sales – may be vulnerable to the impacts of recession on household food spending. Shoppers will probably trade down to cheaper

products, do less entertaining and opt for low-cost eating out or takeout options. This may weaken overall demand and increase price sensitivity – but this hasn’t shown up just yet.

This risk of stock-build in butterfat remains a moderate risk but is dependent on the sustainability of cheese demand in Europe and the prospects for increased exports, while improved US cheese supplies will weaken prices.

Oceania markets are mixed.

While whole milk powder (WMP) fundamentals appear balanced, weak

Global WMP trade rebounded 23 per cent in June (with exports to North Africa making up half the gains in the month with the rolling annual total of WMP trade remaining 5.8 per cent behind its peak six years earlier.

Cheese Global cheese trade increased 14.4 per cent YOY in June, with gains in most regions – strongest being UK, China and Mexico. Once the lure of low prices washed through the trade data, weak food service demand and uncertainty about the ongoing effects

EU butter prices have improved, while US values softened.

36 Food&Beverage Industry News | October 2020 | www.foodmag.com.au

of COVID-19 will hang over cheese markets in coming months.

Butter Global butterfat prices continue to converge, with Oceania values weakening further through August.

EU butter prices improved, while US values softened through the month.

Butterfat trade lifted 13.1 per cent YOY in June in overall terms, this time aided by a 19 per cent jump in butter trade, half of which came from MENA.

Whey Whey powder prices continue to steady in the EU, while US prices have firmed in August after dipping in July. WPC prices for higher concentrated products remain weak with the lack of demand from the fitness market and weak growth in infant formula trade. The lack of demand for WPCs is pushing more whey solids into commodity powder production, as cheese output improves – especially in the US. Global trade in whey products lifted 8.5 per cent YOY in August with strong trade into China. F

NEW PRODUCTS

TiTAN-300 palm-sized ruggedised system edge computing Backplane Systems Technology has released Aplex’s TiTAN-300 palm-sized ruggedised system edge computing for various industrial applications.

TiTAN-300 is a palm-sized ruggedised box PC that can be applied to a wide range of industrial applications. The compact, palm-sized, fanless, and rugged design provides easy configuration and installation.

It features Intel Celeron N3350 (dual-core) or N4200 (quad-core) processor for quick and efficient processing speeds, one 204 pin SO-DIMM DDR3L slot for up to 8GB of memory, and USB Type-C I/O for faster data, power, and video signal transmission along with ALT mode. The TiTAN-300 also provides one mSATA and one SD slot for storage.

Additionally, it has dual-display capability with a Display Port and USB-C ALT mode port, as mentioned above. TiTAN-300 can be deployed as an edge computing device or an IoT gateway in industrial applications such as kiosk, processing control, or automation control, etc.

Key Features: • Intel Celeron N3350 or N4200 CPU; • 1 x SO-DIMM up to 8GB memory; • USB type-C support; • 1 x display port; • 2 x USB3, 2 x LAN; • 1 x mSATA, 1 x SD; • 1 x mini PCIe for Wi-Fi/GPS/LTE; • I/O expansion modules; and • wide range DC 9-36V power input.

Backplane Systems Technology (02) 9457 6400 www.backplane.com.au

Ethernet switch with two fiber ports ICP Australia has introduced ICP DAS’ NSM-206PFC 4-port 10/100 Mbps PoE (PSE) Ethernet switch with two fiber ports (multi-mode, SC connector).

The NSM-206PFC is a six-port unmanaged Ethernet switch supporting power-over-Ethernet on ports 1 to 4. The switch is classified as power source equipment (PSE), and when used in this way, the NSM-206PFC switch enables the centralisation of the power supply, providing up to 30 watts.

NSM-206PFC can be used to power IEEE 802.3af/at standard devices (PD). Broadcast storm protection is implemented to ensure severe network congestion is avoided.

This Ethernet switch can withstand operating temperatures of -40 °C, up to +75 °C, allowing for steady performance in vast temperatures. DIN-Rail mounting and wall mounting are optional with its compatible design.

Features include: • 4 PoE/PoE+ PSE capable ports, fully compliant to IEEE 802.3af/at; • up to 30 Watts per PoE port at 24-57 VDC power input; • supports operating temperatures from -40 °C-+75 °C; • full duplex IEEE 802.3x and Half Duplex Backpressure Flow control; • power input 12-57 VDC wide range redundant power Inputs; • broadcast storm protection; • automatic MDI/MDI-X crossover for plug-and-play; • multi-mode, SC connector fiber supports; and • DIN-rail mounting, wall mounting (optional).

ICP Electronics Australia (02) 9457 6011 www.icp-australia.com.au www.foodmag.com.au | October 2020 | Food&Beverage Industry News 37

NEW PRODUCTS

Web-enabled analytical measurement and process control With its intelligent web-enabled design, the new LQ800 multi-channel controller from Electro-Chemical Devices (ECD) combines advanced IoT liquid analytical measurement of 50+ parameters and precision process control of flow/level for a range of water-based industrial applications.

The device is designed to operate with up to eight digital analytical and flow/level process sensors. The controller has built-in analytical calculations and data logging. Selectable mathematical functions include: automatic measurement conversions for dissociation, cross-sensitivity and concentration levels.

It communicates with any of ECD’s S80 intelligent sensors. Via two-way communication, each plug-n-play S80 sensor automatically configures itself to the device’s menus and display screens for the desired measurement parameter, which eliminates technician set-up routines.

The type of S80 sensor, identity and serial number are stored in the sensor’s memory along with calibration registers. It features a colour 120w-x90hmm touchscreen display. The display and interface can be web enabled with remote monitoring and activation with smart phones, tablets, personal handheld devices and computers with access via the web.

The ECD S80 sensors come pre-calibrated from the factory. Field calibrations are also easily performed.

The Configuration menus allow the display and output functions and the sensor’s characteristics to be configured or adjusted. Display screens include the hold function, graphical display style, back light and contrast adjustments, labels/tags for naming the transmitter, password protection and a factory default reset. Output screens include setting the digital communications output, setting the 4-20 mA ranges and fault settings and configuring the alarm relays.

The unit is available as a 24 VDC or 100/240 VAC-powered controller.

Designed for harsh rugged environments, the device features a NEMA 4X/IP65 rating. It is suitable for use in ambient temperatures from -10 to 55°C. AMS Instrumentation and Calibration (03) 9017 8225 www.ams-ic.com.au

Crystal Group’s rugged twin server This Crystal Group rugged server delivers computing performance in extreme and unpredictable environments — critical for successful execution of combat, sonar, and electronic warfare applications across all domains, including cyber.

The smaller, integrated footprint of the unit fits easily into standard rack slots. With system availability, superior cooling, and shock/vibe resistance, this 1.5U rugged server stands ready to perform.

Warfighters achieve dominance with accurate, real-time information – which requires failsafe computer hardware that works in any conditions.

Crystal Group products are engineered and tested to meet or exceed strict MIL-SPEC standards.

In addition, the unsurpassed thermal performance uses custom heatsinking solutions and special air management techniques. Crystal fuse the GPU and networking capabilities with the latest Intel Xeon Scalable processors to deliver secure, near-zero latency at the tactical edge.

Features include: • rugged 1.5U, 21-inch deep rack mounted Dual Node, front I/O server; • lightweight aluminium construction – 12.7–14.51kg; • shared 1500W power supply operates off 110/220V 50/60Hz AC or 180-350 V DC;

38 Food&Beverage Industry News | October 2020 | www.foodmag.com.au

• • • •

dense SWAP capability with two dual socket motherboards per chassis; 2nd Gen Intel Xeon scalable processors up to 125W each; four removable U.2 NVME SSDs; four low profile HHHL PCIe x16 slots, plus 2x SIOM modules with up to 8 ports of network connectivity per chassis; and • 4X USB 3.0, 2x VGA, 2X Gigabit IPMI. Metromatics (07) 3868-4255 www.metromatics.com.au

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World Class Facility Construction With a specialist builder such as Total Construction you can be assured your next facility expansion goes without a hitch.

Contact us today to find out how we can help with construction planning for your next project