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December 2011 | www.foodengineeringmag.com

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www.foodengineeringmag.com

FEATURES
COVER STORY
35 Fabulous Food Plant: Built to Last
A quarter century had passed since Hormel Foods had
commissioned a new production facility. In designing its
Dubuque plant, engineers aimed to create a facility that
would be contemporary for the next 25 years.

43 Supply Chain: Demand-driven Production

Mastery of the supply chain can yield tremendous cost
savings for food companies, but only if production is
aligned with what will sell in the months ahead.

49 Site Selection: Redefining Location,

Location, Location
What makes location the most important criterion in
selecting a site? Transportation, logistics, labor force,
water and utility costs—to name a few. 35
57 Tech Update: Packaging Machine Controls
Thanks to open standards, packaging machine controls
communicate up and down the line and with MES and
ERP systems to provide key performance data.

20
DEPARTMENTS
8 Editor’s Note
10 Calendar of Events
13 Manufacturing News
Consumer satisfaction stagnates as economy slows.
19 Food Packaging
43 ‘Green’ bag in bottle makes its debut.
23 Technology Sourcebook
Connect with FE on Facebook Focus on PACK EXPO show products
www.facebook.com/FoodEngineering 64 Classified Advertising
Follow FE on Twitter 71 Engineering R&D
http://twitter.com/FoodEng With a large cadre of American workers ready to
retire, training and educating the next generation of
Join FE’s Group on LinkedIn technicians and engineers is a critical need in
Food Engineering Magazine manufacturing.

www.foodengineeringmag.com | Food Engineering | December 2011 3

 WE www.foodengineeringmag.com

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To order your personal copy, call Ann Kalb at Human Resources Marlene J. Witthoft
Information Technology Scott Krywko
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Conference & Events Scott Wolters
Clear Seas Research Beth A. Surowiec
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 EDITOR’S NOTE

Barometers of our industry and

the economy

Joyce Fassl, Editor in Chief
e-mail: fasslj@bnpmedia.com
A
s 2011 comes to a close, I am con-
tinuing my research into the life line
of the economy and how it affects
the food and beverage industry.
My local traffic barometer has been ratchet-
ing up—that’s always a good sign of a recov-
ering economy in my book. I am happy to
report the highway traffic in my area has been
approaching pre-recession levels over the past
two months. Hopefully, all of these commut-
ers are out there working and shopping.
On a more proven, scientific note, this
year our industry witnessed a fantastic
PACK EXPO Las Vegas and a new biennial
PROCESS EXPO that doubled both in size
and attendees.
Even though many signs are pointing toward
economic recovery, Food Engineering’s annual
survey on the State of Food Manufacturing
reports processor budgets for production,
process and packaging equipment are flat, and
there is actually a slight decrease in spending
for automation and software. The good news
is all of those lean initiatives must be paying
off—the same survey respondents said their
throughputs are expected to increase, some in
double digits.
So, with capital budgets fairly stable and
production units up, why are food prices
so high for consumers? The answer lies in
an intricate mix of factors including higher
costs of raw materials and transportation, bad
weather, smaller harvests, a weakened dollar
and globalization of the industry.
Some experts believe American economic
woes lie in wealth inequality. According to
a recent report in Businessweek, “inequality
is not just a problem for the have-nots.” The
report states with the recent $650 billion in
income shifted to the top 5,934 households,
the result could be shorter recoveries and
gun-shy investors. It also cautions there are
recovery lessons to be learned about market
similarities and defaults in 1929 and 2008.
Just a little something to think about over
the holidays. Here’s hoping the food industry
barometer and our overall economy continue
to rise in 2012. ❖

Food Engineering Editorial Advisory Board

Tom Lance David Watson Alex Peele Dan Sileo
Vice President-Operations Vice President-Engineering Director of Vice President,
The Boston Beer Company Campbell Soup Company Project Engineering Manufacturing
International and Baking Interstate Brands Corp. Sunny Delight Beverages
Ed Delate Technology
Vice President, Diane Wolf David Haase
Global Engineering and Sam Casey Former Global Vice President, Vice President of
Corporate Social Responsibility Director of Engineering Safety and Environmental Operations
Keystone Foods LLC H. J. Heinz Sustainability, Kraft Foods WILD Flavors

8 December 2011 | Food Engineering | www.foodengineeringmag.com

9OUKNOW who it is on the football field. But did you know the Slipstick Conveyor
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MANUFACTURING
`NEWS
PLANT OPENINGS
& EXPANSIONS
Consumer satisfaction
The J. R. Simplot Company will
stagnates as economy slows
build a state-of-the-art potato process-
ing plant in Caldwell, ID. Site prepara- 76 ACSI scores from 1994 to third quarter 2011
tion is anticipated to begin next May
with startup expected by spring of 2014. 75

ACSI gained slightly and stagnated

The 380,000-sq.-ft. plant will replace the
company’s existing potato processing 74

plant in Caldwell.
73

Dorada Foods opened a 180,000-sq.-

72
ft. chicken processing facility in Ponca
City, OK. The company is one of three
71
suppliers of chicken products to
McDonald’s in the US.
70
Q4/1994
Q1/1995
Q2/1995
Q3/1995
Q4/1995
Q1/1996
Q2/1996
Q3/1996
Q4/1996
Q1/1997
Q2/1997
Q3/1997
Q4/1997
Q1/1998
Q2/1998
Q3/1998
Q4/1998
Q1/1999
Q2/1999
Q3/1999
Q4/1999
Q1/2000
Q2/2000
Q3/2000
Q4/2000
Q1/2001
Q2/2001
Q3/2001
Q4/2001
Q1/2002
Q2/2002
Q3/2002
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Q2/2003
Q3/2003
Q4/2003
Q1/2004
Q2/2004
Q3/2004
Q4/2004
Q1/2005
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Q3/2005
Q4/2005
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Q2/2009
Q3/2009
Q4/2009
Q1/2010
Q2/2010
Q3/2010
Q4/2010
Q1/2011
Q2/2011
Q3/2011
Baseline

Chobani has picked Twin Falls, ID as

the home for its new $100 million yogurt
` The ACSI started in 1994, and took a hit

production facility.
Sara Lee opened a state-of-the-art
manufacturing plant in Kansas City, KS.
The 200,000-sq.-ft. facility processes
sliced deli meats under the Hillshire
Farm and Sara Lee Deli brands. The
plant uses robotic systems that pro-
vide “no-touch” processing from the
initial raw meat phase to the finished
product. The new facility reduces pro-
cessing time by 50 percent compared
to conventional operations. While the
unit needs half the employees as a con-
ventional facility, the $140 million plant
created 255 new jobs.
Smithfield Packing Company
will expand its facility in Kinston, NC. The
project represents an $85.5 million dollar
investment over a three-year period and
is expected to create 330 new jobs.
Unique Pretzel, located in Muhlen-
berg Township, PA, will expand its
manufacturing space and add three
50-ft. flour silos.
T
he measure of how satisfied
American consumers are with
food, pet food and other neces-
sities has stagnated, according
to the latest American Customer Satisfac-
tion Index (ACSI). The ACSI is appar-
ently stuck in neutral for the third quarter
of 2011, yielding an unchanged 75.7 on a
0-to-100-point scale. ACSI says the lack-
luster performance mirrors the economy
and frail markets. Where numbers are
down doesn’t necessarily mean that con-
sumers are having issues with quality; cost
increases have been the typical reason for
slipping satisfaction.
Condiment purveyor Heinz, however,
is doing a good job at pleasing its custom-
ers and has been leading the food industry
for 12 years in consumer satisfaction.
This year, according to ACSI, satisfac-
tion with the company’s food products
rose 1 percent to 89 on the ACSI scale.
The processor rated number one among
ACSI’s 225-plus measured food compa-
nies. Food manufacturing as a whole is
stalled at 81, following last year’s decline
in the face of rising food costs.
in the middle to late 1990s as companies
tried to improve profit margins by cost
cutting. The last two quarters have yielded
static results due to the sagging economy.
Source: ACSI.
“When there is little or no industry
growth, the only way for many compa-
nies to expand is to take market share
from competition,” says Claes Fornell,
founder of the ACSI. “In an anemic labor
market with tight household budgets,
this leads to more price competition,
deflationary pressure and a further weak-
ening of the aggregate demand. The
best defense a company can have against
competitive efforts to take market share
is to have satisfied customers.”
Results are mixed for individual food
processors, with an even number of gain-
ers and losers; three processors have
unchanged scores. Mars (+2 percent)
placed second at 87, but its score is well
ahead of Hershey (-2 percent) and Nestlé
(unchanged) at 84. Like Hershey, Pepsi-
Co’s Quaker brand slipped 2 percent to 84,

www.foodengineeringmag.com | Food Engineering | December 2011 13

 MANUFACTURING
`NEWS
while four processors tied at 83 (ConAgra,
Dole, General Mills and Kraft). Customer
satisfaction with this latter group is gener-
ally static (changes of 0 to 1 percent) with
the exception of Kraft (+3 percent).
Sara Lee and Campbell Soup—down
4 percent to 82 and 79 respectively—had
W
NE
14 December 2011 | Food Engineering | www.foodengineeringmag.com
the largest decrease in customer satisfac-
tion. The loss pushes Campbell Soup to
the bottom and into a tie with Tyson (+3
percent) and the aggregate of smaller food
producers (-1 percent). ACSI assumes
cost is the likely reason for Sara Lee’s
decline as consumers encounter prices
that average 10 percent higher on the com-
pany’s big-name brands such as Ball Park
and Jimmy Dean. Likewise, Campbell has
raised its prices in response to cost increas-
es at a time when competing soup labels
have kept their prices the same.
Pet foods are showing similar issues.
The customer satisfaction of consum-
ers who purchase pet food has slipped
a second year, down 1.2 percent to 82.
The decline at the industry level has been
driven by drops of Mars Petcare and the
aggregate of smaller pet food compa-
nies. In 2010, both Mars and the smaller
brands led the category with a score of 85.
After a drop of 4 percent to a score of 82,
the smaller pet food companies have tied
with the industry average while Mars fell a
steep 6 percent to last place with a score of
80. ACSI says price has played a key role
in depressed satisfaction.
With a 2 percent gain, premium brand
Hill’s Pet Nutrition (Colgate-Palmolive)
has taken the industry lead with a score
of 84 while Procter & Gamble’s premi-
um offering, Iams, gained 1 percent to
reach a score of 81. Del Monte lost 1 per-
cent, and Nestlé Purina PetCare, which
remained unchanged, rounded out the
industry with scores in the middle at 82.
As a point of reference, the current
study also compares athletic shoes and
apparel. As a group, makers of athletic
footwear showed the only gain in custom-
er satisfaction among the four industries
reported in the study with a 1.3 percent
increase to 81. The apparel industry took
an almost -4 percent hit and had an overall
ACSI score of 80.
The ACSI was started in 1994, and
has generally trended upward except for
1997 when it plunged. “For much of the
1990s customer satisfaction fell,” says
Fornell. “Companies tried to improve
profit margins by cost cutting, especially
in customer service. As a result, there was
a large and sustained drop in the ACSI.
“However, in sectors where service
plays less of a role (most non-durable
products, including food products), the
impact was much less and customer sat-
isfaction held steady,” adds Fornell.
 the group says it has a problem with the “They would effectively ban the advertising
REGULATORY IWG guidelines. of 88 of the most 100 most popular foods
WATCH “The IWG’s proposed nutrition stan- consumed in America, including healthy
dards are in direct conflict with established foods such as cereals, soups and breads.”
FSMA’s effectiveness is government food policy standards such GMA says the guidelines are not volun-
questioned as the USDA dietary guidelines and the tary, would not reduce obesity and would
President Obama signed the Food Safety school lunch program,” the group said. end up costing 74,000 jobs.
Modernization Act (FSMA) nearly a year
ago, but whether the new law will be fully
implemented anytime soon remains an
open question. The law, which expands
FDA’s authority, requires additional fund-
ing. Republicans, who control the US
House of Representatives, are demanding
budget cuts and have balked at the idea of
increasing funding for FDA.
Dennis T. Avery, a senior fellow for the
Hudson Institute in Washington, DC and
an environmental economist, suggests that
even with unlimited FDA funding, the new
law would not provide that much protec-
tion. In a recent guest column for Ag Week-
ly, Avery notes that salmonella bacteria are
everywhere and that USDA inspectors say
they have never visited a cattle farm where
they did not find E. coli O157: H7.
The White House says FSMA does
have prevention as its main objective. A
White House statement notes the law
“directs the Food and Drug Administra-
tion, working with a wide range of pub-
lic and private partners, to build a new
system of food safety oversight—one
focused on applying, more comprehen-
sively than ever, the best available science
and good common sense to prevent the
problems that can make people sick.”

Food marketing guidelines

still under debate
Food industry representatives in Washing-
ton are closely watching the work of the
Intergovernmental Working Group (IWG)
as it develops guidelines for food market-
ing to children. Following a hearing by the
House Energy and Commerce Committee
on the proposed guidelines, the Grocery
Manufacturers Association (GMA) issued
a statement saying member companies are
committed to providing consumers with the
products, tools and information they need
to achieve and maintain a healthy diet. But

www.foodengineeringmag.com | Food Engineering | December 2011 15

 MANUFACTURING
`NEWS
INDUSTRY & PEOPLE
Sara Lee Corp. announced an agreement
to sell its fresh bakery businesses in Spain
and Portugal to Mexico’s Grupo Bimbo
S.A.B. de C.V. for approximately $154
million. The agreement includes all Sara Lee
16 December 2011 | Food Engineering | www.foodengineeringmag.com
fresh bakery brands in Spain and Portugal
as well as seven manufacturing facilities.
Sara Lee Corp. is considering a binding
offer from Sagard for the sale of Euro-
Dough (Sara Lee’s European chilled dough
business) for a purchase price of approxi-
mately $159 million.
Omaha Steaks announced that Alan
Simon, company chairman and fourth
generation family owner, was inducted into
the Meat Industry Hall of Fame.
Rob Sweatman joined Just Born, Inc.
as the company’s VP of operations. Sweat-
man reports to David Yale, Just Born presi-
dent and COO.
Gary Saunders
was promoted to
general manager
at Magnum Sys-
tems, where he
previously served
as VP of sales and
marketing.
SAUNDERS
Del Monte Foods appointed consumer
goods veteran M. Carl Johnson, III as
its executive vice president, brands, report-
ing to CEO David West.
Kraft Foods opened its new European
biscuit research and development center
in Saclay, France, a suburb of Paris. The
two-year construction project represents a
$20 million investment.
Ralcorp Holdings, Inc. announced that
Robert Vitale will serve as chief financial
officer of Post Holdings in conjunction with
the separation of Ralcorp and the Post
cereal business.
James T. Hackett was appointed to
Bunge Limited’s board of directors as
an independent director.
The ConAgra Foods Lamb Weston
Boardman, OR potato plant earned its
first ENERGY STAR certification from
the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Additionally, the Lamb Weston plants in
Park Rapids, MN and Richland and Quin-
cy, WA received ENERGY STAR recertifi-
cation for 2011.
Sun Pac Foods Limited was acquired by
Liquibrands Inc., a private investment firm
owned by beverage industry veteran Csaba
Reider. Reider will take over the helm as
president and chief executive officer.
food and beverage industry projects and
include Scott Mark, vice president, food
& beverage services operations; Michael
Polczynski, vice president, field services;
Matt Doherty, senior project manager,
food & beverage; Nathan Edwards, proj-
ect manager, food & beverage; Lauren
Hedberg, procurement analyst, refrigera-
tion services; and Jim Martini, senior
automation engineer.

Grocery Manufacturers Association

announced the appointment of Robert
Burns, PhD, as its vice president, Health
and Nutrition Policy.

John Bean Technologies Corporation

named Steve Smith as the vice president
and division manager of JBT FoodTech’s
Food Processing Systems Division.

Siemens Industry Automation Divi-

sion acquired Vistagy, Inc., a supplier
of engineering software and services with
emphasis on designing and manufacturing
structures made of composite materials.

NJM Packaging acquired Montréal-

based automated production equipment
manufacturer, The Company of Jalbert
Automation.

POWER Engineers, Inc. acquired Min-

neapolis-based Professional Design
Group (architects/engineers).

S+S Inspection moved its headquarters

from Niagara, NY to Bartlett, IL.

The Institute for Food Safety and

Health (IFSH) at Illinois Institute of
Technology (IIT) presented its 2011
IFSH Award to C. Patrick Dunne,
PhD, senior research chemist and senior
advisor, Nutritional Biochemistry and
Advanced Processing at the US Army
Natick Soldier Research, Development &
Engineering Center.

Stellar promoted nine of its employees,

including three to vice president roles. Six
of the newly promoted employees focus on

www.foodengineeringmag.com | Food Engineering | December 2011 17

 Vibratory Inspection Feeders
• Sanitary wash down
and quiet operation
Metal Detector • Replaces unsanitary
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Visit purity.eriez.com for details.

Features include:
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F O O D PA C K A G I N G
Kevin T. Higgins, Senior Editor
Bag in bottle
`
Green aesthetics meets bag-in-box functionality in the eco.
bottle container.
B
ag in box was such a functional success,
it spread from foodservice to consumer
packaging applications. Now, a Califor-
nia startup firm is reshaping the box and
wrapping it with green credentials to form the eco.
bottle container.
The bag in bottle’s commercial roll out began in
March with Seventh Generation, a laundry detergent
distributed through Whole Foods and independent
retailers and cooperatives. Target stores and other
supermarket chains were expected to put the deter-
gent on their shelves in November, according to Julie
Corbett, founder and CEO of Ecologic Brands, the
Oakland, CA firm she created to market the bottle.
` Molded paper fibers in the shape of a bottle form the exterior of the
eco.bottle package, with a flexible inner pouch protecting the product.
Laundry detergent is the first application. Source: Ecologic Brands.
www.foodengineeringmag.com | Food Engineering | December 2011
A trial with the cardboard bottle was done last
year with Straus Family Creamery, a Petaluma,
CA organic dairy. According to an Ecologic repre-
sentative, the novel bottle helped lift sales of the
dairy’s nonfat milk 72 percent at a local Whole
Foods Market.
“It is true, sales of our nonfat milk increased dra-
matically during the test,” confirmed Straus’s Helen
Lentze. “We only ran a small batch. We don’t have
the equipment to fill this kind of bottle on a large
scale at our facility, but we do hope to be able to so
at some point.”
The container’s outer shell is made of molded
fiber from recycled cardboard. The spout is com-
posed of #4 low-density polyethylene, and the inner
pouch can be formed from whatever flexible film a
manufacturer desires, Corbett says. A 50-oz. con-
tainer was designed for home cleaning products
such as detergent, while quart and half-gallon bottles
target beverage bottlers and others, she adds.
Getting the bag inside the bottle requires special
machinery, and Ecologic engineered a unit to com-
bine the two elements. “We provide an integrator,
after which the bottles are sent to a standard rotary
filler,” says Corbett. A star-wheel changeover also
is necessary. “Copackers spend their life making
changeovers,” she says, and procuring the necessary
parts is “the filler’s responsibility.”
Commonly used closure sizes are used, including
a 38mm cap for 64-oz. bottles and 51mm for the
50-oz. detergent container. Aseptic products could
be filled, she suggests, though validation of the addi-
tional equipment would be required.
Corbett credits a visit to Canada for the contain-
er’s inspiration. Fluid milk commonly is sold there in
flexible pouches, then placed in a reusable carafe for
home use. “You don’t need any instructions in how
eco.bottle performs,” she says. “It’s tactile, it’s vis-
ibly different, it resonates with consumers.” USDA
approval for direct contact with food and beverages
is being sought. ❖
For more information:
Julie Corbett, Ecologic Brands, 877-326-5642
19
 F O O D PA C K A G I N G

Scoop-and-store bag for nuts

C
onvenience and freshness pres-
ervation are the drivers behind a
new resealable pouch for baking
nuts from Fisher Nuts, a division
of John B. Sanfilippo & Son Inc., Elgin, IL.
An ex pandable bottom helps the bag
stand upr ight , w hi le the w ide opening
makes it easier for bakers to scoop walnuts,
pecans, almonds or raw peanuts out of the
bag. The resealable strip is included on bags
ranging from 2 oz. to 16 oz.
The pouch was designed and produced
by Clear Lam Packaging Inc. The Elk Grove
Village, IL supplier has some ownership ties
to Sanfilippo and is located in close proxim-
ity to some of the food company’s produc-
tion sites. ❖

For more information:

Roman Forowycz, Clear Lam Packaging Inc., ` A resealable stand-up pouch with a wide mouth for easier scooping adds
847-439-8570, rforowycz@clearlam.com greater convenience to Fisher Nuts for baking. Source: John B. Sanfilippo & Son Inc.

PUSH START. SAVE MONEY! Barrels. Buckets. Belts.

Scale Parts. Bins. Totes.
Any washer, for any need. All push-button
easy to operate! This means saying
goodbye to the time-consuming and
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your employees for more productive
and profitable tasks.
Call 800-331-6870 today for pricing,
literature and specifications on a model
suited to your particular needs – or visit
www.dougmac.com for
additional details.

2101 Calumet Street

Clearwater, Fl 33765
(727) 461-3477
Fax: (727) 449-0029
Email: info@dougmac.com
WEB: www.dougmac.com
See Food Master, p. 50

20 December 2011 | Food Engineering | www.foodengineeringmag.com

 Many applications.
One solution.
It forms. It extrudes. It portions. It sheets. It deposits. It fills. It’s a Vemag!
Designed with our unique double-screw pumping technology, the
Vemag offers unrivaled versatility, portioning accuracy, speed and
consistent product quality. Whatever your application, Reiser’s R&D and
engineering team can custom design the right solution for you. From
producing exact weight portions of fillings for egg rolls, burritos and
stuffed sandwiches to portioning salads, chilies, sauces and spreads to
forming cheese blocks – Reiser
has the solution. And with
Reiser’s co-extrusion and filling
systems, producing filled
products is fast and effortless.
Whatever your application –
think Vemag from Reiser.
For more information, contact
Reiser at (781) 821-1290.

Reiser
725 Dedham Street, Canton, MA 02021 • (781) 821-1290
Reiser Canada
1549 Yorkton Court #4, Burlington, ON L7P 5B7 • (905) 631-6611
www.reiser.com Leading the food industry in processing and packaging solutions.
 TECHNOLOGY
S O U R C E B O O K
Focus on PACK EXPO Products
BAR PACKAGING
Engineered for the primary and secondary packaging of bars and bar-shaped prod-
ucts, the Bosch Packaging Systems bar packaging line includes a Sigpack HRM
horizontal flow wrapping machine and Sigpack TTM cartoner, as well as a station,
accumulator and interfaces; all the components are part of a single design, with
their speeds balanced to eliminate bottlenecks. The cartoner runs at speeds up to
150 cartons/ min., enabling an overall output of a 1,000 bars or more per minute.
Automated precision splicing can be achieved at speeds up to 150 meters/min.
Packaging formats and styles can be changed as needed, and the line can be modi-
fied for cold, heat and ultrasonic sealing.
Bosch Packaging Technology; www.boschpackaging.com
surface grain, internal hinges, wash-
able gaskets, locks and no crevices to
trap debris or contaminates. Available
with screw covers for smaller, inte-
grated applications or hinged doors for
larger installations, the enclosures can
be mounted with rounded stand-off
brackets on the back to improve the
flow of water around the unit during
washdown procedures. Using optional
hardware, larger enclosures can be
mounted on leveling feet and fitted
with a wire shelf to assist with cable
HYGIENIC routing. Optional stainless steel cable
ENCLOSURES glands have smooth, solid exterior
Crafted of ANSI 304 stainless steel with a surfaces and are self-sealing to enable
400 grain brushed surface, Rittal Hygien- high-pressure washing.
ic Design enclosures feature a smooth Rittal Corporation; 800-477-4220
www.foodengineeringmag.com | Food Engineering | December 2011
FREQUENCY INVERTER
The B&R ACOPOSinverter P84 frequency
inverter with an integrated POWERLINK
interface has a performance range of 0.37
to 500 kW. Onboard digital and analog
I/O channels control a range of technol-
ogy functions; the integrated POWERLINK
hub simplifies bus cabling. An encoder
interface can be added for applications
with strict requirements for speed or
torque control. The System Diagnostics
Manager makes it possible to perform
full diagnostics or read the status of the
machine, even over the Internet.
B&R Industrial Automation Corp.;
770-772-0400;
www.br-automation.com
ID READERS
Capable of reading 1-D and 2-D codes,
Cognex DataMan 8000 handheld ID
readers offer Industrial Ethernet com-
munication and liquid lens technology.
Cognex DataMan compact 750 readers
can read a range of variations in 1-D
and 2-D code appearance due to deg-
radations in code quality; a built-in laser
aimer provides quick alignment, while
adjustable optics optimize resolution and
working distance.
Cognex Corporation;
www.cognex.com
23
 TECHNOLOGY
S O U R C E B O O K

clear. safe. solutions.

Clarion provides the most highly refined
white oils available to help protect your
facility from contamination, equipment
failure and downtime.
EXPERIENCED
We have a 40-year history of processing
white oils and continue to redefine the
leading edge of industry innovation.
SECURE
As an established national manufacturer,
we know the importance of a strong
supply chain: When you need our white
oils, you’ll be able to get our white oils.
COMPLETE
Clarion Food Grade FR Fluid
Clarion Food Grade White Mineral Oils INSPECTION SYSTEM
Clarion Food Machinery Grease, No. 2 Designed for the inspection of mid-sized packaged products, the Eagle Pack 430 PRO
Clarion Food Machinery A/W Oils
inspection system provides 16.9 in. of detection coverage at the belt and is capable of
Clarion Food Machinery Gear Oils
Clarion Food Machinery HT EP Greases imaging up to 350 ft./min. The system can inspect multiple lanes of the same or dissimi-
Clarion PM Hi-Temp Food Machinery lar products or use one lane for production and the other for rework. It features a CAT
100 Greases
3 (EN 954), PLd (EN 13849) safety system with embedded self-diagnostics; the system
Clarion Chain and Trolley Lube
can also be remotely accessed by Eagle technicians to diagnose and often correct issues
COMMITTED
Our technical field support team is able without onsite service. The system is available with IP65 and IP69K environmental rat-
to optimize your operation by creating ings as well as standard and high-resolution packages.
custom solutions. Eagle Product Inspection; 877-379-1670; www.eaglepi.com
RELIABLE
Clarion Food Grade Lubricants are NSF chains and belts have an operating tem-
H-1 registered and Kosher certified.
perature limit of 245°F.
Emerson Industrial Automation;
To learn how Clarion can refine your
operation, call 855-MY-CLARION or www.emersonindustrial
visit clarionlubricants.com. automation.com

CHAINS AND BELTS
System Plast New Generation NG mod-
ular chains and belts are made from a
PBT thermoplastic resin designed for
dry running applications. They have a
large, flat surface for product stability,
a low coefficient of friction, corrosion
resistance and a reduced pressure/
velocity limit. Available in side-flexing
and straight-running configurations, the
PACKAGING SOFTWARE
Rexroth IndraMotion for Packaging ver-
sion 12 software offers an open IEC61131-
3 programming environment allowing
OEMs to configure and program pack-
aging applications that require precise
synchronization, camming, registration,
electronic gearing, collating, robotic path
planning and dynamic belt synchroniza-
tion. The open architecture programming
environment supports the use of OMAC
packaging guidelines like PackML and
use of PackTags including a wizard to
configure the template.
Bosch Rexroth AG;
www.boschrexroth-us.com

See Food Master, p. IFC 13, 36-41

December 2011 | Food Engineering | www.foodengineeringmag.com
 IMAGINE A WORLD WITHOUT CONTAMINATION OR DOWNTIME.

FOOD GRADE

We know how hard you work to meet demand and stay competitive. But no matter how
meticulously you service your equipment or how much skill your workforce acquires,
accidents happen. Something as simple as a ruptured hose can lead to lost profit, missed
deadlines and even
e damaged reputations. That’s why we created Clarion Food Grade
Lubricants. This full line
ne o
off NSF H-1 regist
registered food grade products including oils, greases
and fluids has been sp pecifically formulated to iinhibit
nhibit oxidation and provide anti-wear clear. safe. solutions.
proper ties to safeguarrd your operation and givee your bottom line the security it des
deserves.
ser
 TECHNOLOGY
S O U R C E B O O K
TAPES AND DISPENSERS
Suitable for a range of basic carton sealing applications, 3M
water-activated tapes create a secure bond when the moistened
adhesive interacts with porous surfaces. Available in white and
kraft and in a variety of widths, the tapes form a tamper-evident
seal that shreds if an attempt is made to pull them off before
delivery. Options include non-reinforced tape for light and
medium duty, and fiberglass reinforced for heavy-duty packaging
needs. 3M water-activated tape dispensers are available in elec-
tric and manual versions. Both offer an extra large water bottle for
fewer refills, and can dispense tapes from one to 3 in. in width.
3M; 800-362-3550; www.3M.com
26 December 2011 | Food Engineering | www.foodengineeringmag.com
BULK BOX
Featuring sturdy structural foam panels and drop-down doors, the
Buckhorn BN4845 48- x 45-in. bulk box has an injection-molded,
2-piece welded base. The box is available in 25- and 34-in. heights;
it includes ergonomic handles as well as 4 drain holes. The box nests
with competitive bins when upright or collapsed, and provides 4-way
forklift entry. Its full 31.7-in. wide dual drop-down doors are either
10.25- or 14.5-in. deep based on the height of the box. 100% recy-
clable, the box features added decoration areas including multiple
recessed ID tag areas on all 4 sides of the base and additional flat
surfaces on the panels and doors for labels or RFID tracking.
Buckhorn Inc.; 800-543-4454; www.buckhorninc.com
 TECHNOLOGY
S O U R C E B O O K

Material Master
TM

• Complete line of Bulk Bag

Discharging Systems, Bag
Handling Systems, and
Bulk Bag Filling Systems
• Safe, dust-tight designs
• Designed for your specific
application
• Improve material flow and
worker safety
• Complete engineering and
support services
PRINTER-APPLICATORS
• Patent-pending technology
Offering a selection of thermal/thermal-transfer print engines,
Weber Model 4300 Pro-Apply label printer-applicators print
203-, 300- or 600-dpi text bar codes and graphic images at
speeds up to 16 in./sec.; they dispense labels up to 6-in. wide
and 6-in. long. Labels are printed in a next-out mode and
immediately applied to cartons or products on the production
Call us: 800.836.7068
or packaging line.
Weber Packaging Solutions, Inc.; 800-843-4242; www. Product showroom: www.materialtransfer.com
weberpackaging.com

FEX03094mtran.indd 1 2/2/09 2:05:32 PM

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INNOVATION BEYOND THE ORDINARY
www.foodengineeringmag.com | Food Engineering | December 2011 27
 Sanibel Harbour Marriott

APRIL 22-25, 2012

Sanibel Harbour Marriott, Fort Myers, Florida

02/'2!-sSave the Date — Register by December 31 and Save $400!

FOOD AUTOMATION & MANUFACTURING CONFERENCE AND EXPO is the industry’s only event presenting
real-world solutions on automation, processing and packaging innovation, sustainability and food safety topics for
Operations, Engineering and Manufacturing Executives. Join us in 2012!

W Sunday, April 22 10:00 – 10:30 a.m.

Refreshment Break
12:30 p.m.
Golf Tournament 10:30 – 11:15 a.m
Engineering Keynote: Manufacturing
7:00 – 8:30 p.m.
Innovation for Today’s Leaders
Welcome Reception
Dave Haft, Senior Vice President, Sustainability, Productivity and
Quality, Frito-Lay
3:00 – 5:30 p.m.
Fundamental change is occurring in how food is processed
Registration and raw materials are handled as food safety requirements
become more stringent. This speaker will discuss how
engineering and operations professionals can deliver
W Monday, April 23 manufacturing innovation and OEE while controlling
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7:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Registration
11:15 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
7:00 a.m. – 8:00 a.m. Creating a No-Compromise Operations
Continental Breakfast & Manufacturing Culture
Neil Ducoff, Founder and CEO, Strategies
8:00 – 8:10 a.m.
Welcome When compromise seeps in, it hinders growth, momentum and
Patrick Young, Publisher, Food Engineering energy. Allow it to go unchecked, and even very achievable
goals can turn into pipe dreams. This speaker will show you
how to turn missed opportunities into manufacturing home-
8:10 – 8:30 a.m. runs. No-compromise leadership is a commitment to a higher
Opening Remarks: standard that guides a business culture to extraordinary
The State of Food Manufacturing achievement.
Joyce Fassl, Editor in Chief, Food Engineering
12:00 – 1:30 p.m.

Theme for Day One: Addressing Manufacturing’s Lunch Buffet

Current Critical Challenges
12:00 – 3:30 p.m. WHY GO
8:30 – 9:15 a.m.
Keynote Address: The Age of Transparency
Expo
ALONE?
1:00 to 4:30 p.m.
Michael J. McCloskey, Founder and CEO, Fair Oaks Farm Learn more when
Public and customer demand for greater transparency in food Solutions Theater
manufacturing is causing many processors to refocus their you bring your
outlook regarding social responsibility as well food safety. 2:15 –2:45 p.m.
This speaker will address how embracing transparency with colleagues and
Refreshment Break Stations
science-based technology can lead to profitability.
share ideas.
5:00 – 6:00 p.m.
9:15– 10:00 a.m.
Expo Reception
Save with the
Food Safety Modernization Act:
What You Need to Know Now Team Discount!
6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Kurt Deibel, Vice President, Quality & Food Safety, HJ Heinz
Harbour View Barbeque
New legislation and resulting enforcement often create questions
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latest trends in food safety management, effective track and
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Plant of the Year Cocktail Reception
7:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Registration W Wednesday, April 25
7:30 – 8:30 a.m. 7:00 – 8:00 a.m.
Breakfast Continental Breakfast
7:30 – 9:00 a.m. 8:00 – 8:15 a.m.
Expo Opening Remarks
9:00 – 10:00 a.m.
Theme for Day Three: Sustainable Plant and Process
Solutions Theater Practices
10:00 – 10:30 a.m. 8:15 – 9:00 a.m.
Refreshment Break Social Responsibility: Addressing Customer
and Consumer Concerns
Theme for Day Two: Practical Measures for Improving Speaker: Leigh Ann Johnston, CPEA, EHS Training,
Communication, & Sustainability Manager, Tyson Foods, Inc.
Plant Performance
Demonstrating social responsibility is important in being an
10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. employer of choice, engaging company critics and effecting
improvements in both food and worker safety. Maintaining
Educational Tracks on State-of-the-Art Methodologies business-to-business relationships is also a prime motivation.
Session A: Packaging Technology Hear how a leading processor embraces this crucial topic.
10:30 a.m. Robotics vs Continuous Motion
9:00 – 9:45 a.m.
Terrence Southern, Senior Engineer, Flexible Automation,
Frito-Lay North America, Inc. Special Panel Discussion:
The Journey to Sustainability Excellence
11:15 a.m. Best Practices in Machine Safety Speakers: Bill Gill, Assistant Vice President, Smithfield Foods;
Michael Thompson, Golden Peanut Company, Amber Brovak, HSE & Sustainability Manager, Sunny Delight Beverages Co.;
a division of ADM Jarod Cook, Director, Environmental Services, Del Monte Foods
Session B: Plant & Process Controls Moderator: Stephen Schlegel, Managing Director, AIOE
The Alliance for Innovation and Operational Excellence (AIOE) brings
10:30 a.m. Overcoming the Challenges of Legacy Systems together operations professionals from consumer products companies
Anass Bennani, MIS Director, and solutions providers to address key industry issues and estab-
Michael Angelo’s Gourmet Foods, Inc. lish best practices on a range of critical operational topics. These
11:15 a.m. Best Practices in Automated CIP members of AIOE’s Sustainability Solutions Group will discuss the
industry guidelines created by the strategic collaboration of more than
12:00 to 1:15 p.m. 25 consumer goods manufacturers and suppliers. AIOE was founded
by PMMI and includes The Grocery Manufacturers Association as its
Networking Luncheon charter member.
1:15 – 2:30 p.m
9:45 – 10:15
Ask the Experts Panel: Perfecting Your Refreshment Break
Continuous Improvement Plan
Speakers: Tom Deschler, Vice President, Continuous Improvement, 10:15 – 11:00 a.m.
T. Marzetti Company; Tom Lance, Vice President-Operations, Lessons Learned on the Road to Sustainability
The Boston Beer Company; John Mutchler, Executive Vice President, Glanbia
Speaker: Paul Halberstadt, Senior Director, Energy and Environment,
USA; Sharri Hall, Director of Manufacturing Excellence, Diageo North America ConAgra Foods Lamb Weston
This special session This speaker will discuss the many lessons ConAgra Foods
featuring a panel of Lamb Weston learned on its sustainability journey. Topics
food and beverage will include construction of the first frozen food processing
industry experts plant in the world to achieve LEED Platinum certification;
will present different achievement of EPA ENERGY STAR certification at four plants;
viewpoint s on sustainable agriculture initiatives with growers; and progress
various continuous improvement methods such as lean manufacturing, and challenges presented by ConAgra Foods’ sustainable
Six Sigma, OEE, KPIs, Kaizen and high performance work teams. reduction goals.
These experts will address your top manufacturing challenges.
11:00 – 11:45 a.m.
2:30 – 3:00 p.m Wastewater Treatment Paybacks and Benefits
Refreshment Break The cost and availability of fresh water is becoming an issue for some
facilities, and many regulators are mandating organic load reductions.
3:00 – 3:45 p.m. High levels of suspended and dissolved sugars, protein and fat pose
Plant Security Audits: Protecting Your People and Assets a special challenge for food plants. This speaker will show how to
achieve cost-effective wastewater treatment.
Speaker: William L. Ramsey, Director of Corporate Security,
McCormick & Company Inc. 11:45 a.m. QUESTIONS?
The ability to document access-card use, the condition Closing Remarks
of perimeter defenses and other aspects of safeguards Contact Marge Whalen, Senior Event
against intentional food contamination will likely be Manager at 847-405-4071
12:00 noon or whalenm@bnpmedia.com
requirements of the Food Safety Modernization Act.
Learn how to upgrade your security systems in a cost-
Conference Adjourns
effective manner.

3:45 – 4:30 p.m.

Register by December 31 and Developed and Produced by:
Plant of the Year Award
Join us as we honor the 2012 Food Engineering Plant of the Year
Award Winner. Each year, only one food or beverage plant in
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 TECHNOLOGY
S O U R C E B O O K

SLIDER SYSTEM
The ZIP-PAK SLIDER SELECT slider system enhances consumer usability through ergo-
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See Food Master, p. 18

30 December 2011 | Food Engineering | www.foodengineeringmag.com

 TECHNOLOGY
S O U R C E B O O K

EVACUATION SYSTEM
The Arena STARFISH Air-Evac system increases the amount of high-viscosity fluids that
can be extracted from bag-in-box packages. A hands-free system, it replaces the vol-
ume of liquid pumped out of the inner chamber of the bag with shop air introduced into
chambers on the outside of the bag. The inflating air chambers push the liquid content
toward the bag outlet. Air volume is increased as the liquid content decreases.
A.R. Arena Products, Inc.; www.arenaproducts.com

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CARTON/CASE LOADER
Equipped with 2 FANUC Robotics Delta
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Spider robotic vertical carton/case load-
er can handle multiple products and
packing combinations. The multi-axis
spider robots locate, inspect and ori-
ent product for high-speed nesting into
a carton. The modular design can be
configured to top load cartons, cases or
trays, in combination or separately, on
the same line.
Schneider Packaging Equipment Co.,
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PLATFORM TECHNOLOGY
Integrated and mechatronic, EPLAN plat-
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heat of cookers and steamers and cold of cryogenics, as well as daily
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able graphical/object orientation, vari-
ant technology and reverse engineering.
EPLAN Fluid software combines CAD
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functionality with logic to automate fluid
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Additional patents pending. ® 2010 W.S. Molnar Company. All rights reserved.

www.foodengineeringmag.com | Food Engineering | December 2011 31

 TECHNOLOGY
S O U R C E B O O K

Reliable Food
Grade Synthetic
Lubricants
For consistant food grade
lubricant quality, buy from a
company that is NSF H1 and
ISO 21469 CERTIFIED.
Summit Industrial Products
is one of the fast growing
synthetic food grade
lubricant manufacturing CUSTOM-FABRICATED EQUIPMENT
companies in the US. Designed for either horizontal or vertical installation, Ross custom-fabricated tanks
can be made of any material of construction, from carbon steel and stainless steel,
Try us out and see why! to aluminum, titanium, Monel, Hastelloy and Inconel. Ross custom-fabricated vessels
and reactors feature charge and discharge ports, a vacuum and/or internal pressure
design, agitation system, heating/cooling jacket or coils, sheathing and insulation,
sanitary design, special polishes and coatings, mounting frames and brackets, and
control systems.
Charles Ross & Son Company; 800-243-ROSS; www.mixers.com

bottom of a container correspond with

the label of the package. When a defect
is detected, the system communicates
with a downstream rejector to remove
the faulty package from the production
line before it can be case-packed. One
print inspection camera and 6 label
inspection cameras are included.
Mettler-Toledo Inc.; 630-446-7700;
www.mt.com

LOGIC CONTROLLERS
ISO 21469 Intended for small, standalone
ISO machine applications, Allen-Bradley
9001:2008 Micro800 component-class micro pro-
KOSHER LABEL VERIFICATION grammable logic controllers are used
SYSTEM with other Allen-Bradley component-
CFIA
Automatically inspecting labels on un- class products such as drives, motion
HALAL
oriented packaging, the Mettler-Toledo control and operator-interface prod-
CI-Vision Mosaic label and print iden- ucts. The controllers offer simplified
800.749.5823 tification inspection system confirms communication via point-to-point data
www.klsummit.com they are correct and match the prod- exchange. Removable terminal blocks

SUMMIT
uct inside the package. The inspec-
tions include verification of the pres-
ence, quality and accuracy of date/
INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS lot/product codes, bar code and 2-D
data matrix, label control number and
graphical label ID. The system also
ensures printed codes on the top or
and a range of plug-in modules for
analog/digital I/O, communications
and expanded memory enable per-
sonalization of the controllers to meet
specific application needs.
Rockwell Automation;
www.rockwellautomation.com

December 2011 | Food Engineering | www.foodengineeringmag.com

 TECHNOLOGY
S O U R C E B O O K

Best
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Haver Filling Systems Inc.; 770-760-1130; www.haverusa.com DeFrancisci Machine Company LLC
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infeed line and place them in different
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ABB Robotics; www.abb.com

PALLETIZING ROBOT
Engineered to meet the high through-
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OXYGEN ABSORBERS
Multisorb FreshPax oxygen-absorbing
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APA-1000 FreshPax dispenser dispens-
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models are available. Multisorb Fresh-
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card with embedded active material; it
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Multisorb Technologies; 716-824-
8900; www.multisorb.com

See Food Master, p. 45

www.foodengineeringmag.com | Food Engineering | December 2011
 WEBINARS
Preventing Contamination: A Guide to
Material Selection for Food and Beverage
Equipment Design
Food and beverage design engineers are under
constant scrutiny to deliver machines that are both
good for the bottom line and that protect the company
from devastating product recalls. This webinar outlines
the steps engineers should consider to select material
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Jerry Scherzinger
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Seven Surprising Uses for Spray
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Processors clean, coat, cool, dry, and lubricate products and
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Tim Oberg
Director of Food & Beverage Markets
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Questions? Email webinars@bnpmedia.com
FABULOUS FOOD PLANT
Hormel’s Progressive
Processing plant is
built for the long haul
A quarter century had passed since Hormel Foods had
commissioned a new production facility. In designing its
Dubuque plant, engineers aimed to create a facility that
would be contemporary for the next 25 years.
` Kevin T. Higgins, Senior Editor
A
daptability is as much an element in
sustained operations as energy effi-
ciency, water management and other
objectives in corporate social respon-
sibility programs, and the ability to
adapt to market changes is as much a part of Hormel
Foods Corp.’s Dubuque, IA facility as its sustainable
manufacturing credentials.
Officially known as Progressive Processing LLC,
the 342,000-sq.-ft. plant was conceived in headier
economic times as “the culmination of our com-
mitment to sustainable operations,” writes Jef-
frey Ettinger, CEO, president and chairman in the
www.foodengineeringmag.com | Food Engineering | December 2011
` Extensive use is
made of natural light
at Hormel’s Dubuque
plant. One of 212
skylights is visible in
the upper left of the
retort area. Source:
Gene Lifka, Studio H.
company’s 2010 Corporate Responsibility Report.
Financial storm clouds had formed by the time
ground was broken in July 2008. When production
started, the housing bubble had burst, Wall Street
was reeling, and retrenchment in food purchasing
patterns was occurring. At the plant’s grand open-
ing, Ettinger noted initial plans for two production
lines for microwavable shelf-stable entrées already
had been scrapped.
Adaption to changing conditions was a given
from the first day of design work in 2007, and the
facility transitioned to a meat canning line that came
on line in fall 2010. Although Dubuque is the first
35
 FABULOUS FOOD PLANT
` A vision Hormel greenfield project in more than 25 years,
inspection system the 120-year-old company knows something
identifies trays with about shifting demands and new opportunities in
food on the sealing food production.
surface and rejects Given a blank slate, planners were able to build to
them before they the highest energy-efficiency and resource-use stan-
reach the sealer, a dards. That inspired a quest for LEED (Leadership
critical safeguard in Energy and Environmental Design) certification.
for shelf-stable The company’s manufacturing network is strug-
meals that must gling to attain goals of 10 percent cuts in energy use,
maintain an air- though a similar reduction in water consumption is
tight seal. Source: on track. In Dubuque, there were more ambitious
Gene Lifka, Studio H. goals of 25 percent reductions in both energy and
water use per pound of finished goods, compared
to similar production lines. Those goals were sur-
passed in the first year of operation.
“From both a customer relations and business
perspective, we were looking at being as sustainable
and energy efficient as possible with the project,”
explains Mike Devine, vice president-operations
for Austin, MN-based Hormel’s grocery products
division. LEED certification was not originally
considered, but as the project planning evolved,
“the LEED structure best fit what we wanted to
accomplish,” he says. Six months after production
began, the facility joined a short list of LEED Gold
food plants.
36 December 2011 | Food Engineering | www.foodengineeringmag.com
Eleven sites in six states were considered for the
expansion project, including some existing plants.
In the end, “we decided a greenfield would give us
the most flexibility to do the things we wanted to
do in energy use and efficiency,” says Devine. After
a floor plan was devised, “I took it to all our shelf-
stable plants and said, ‘Tell me what you would want
that isn’t in there.’” Based on the feedback, the layout
was tweaked to optimize flow.
Premium efficiency motors, reflective roofing
materials, high-efficiency lighting and other tried-
and-true technologies help drive down electric
and gas consumption, but corporate engineers
looked for opportunities to innovate, as well. Argu-
ably the most novel advance is a thermal recovery
system that captures waste heat from equipment
and product cooling in a closed loop water system.
Incoming cold water cools air and ammonia com-
pressors, dryers and other equipment, warming it
to 125°F to 140°F. The now-hot water is either used
immediately or stored in a 200,000-gallon reservoir.
Reuses include sanitary washdowns and space heat-
ing. Similarly, after each batch, water from retorts is
circulated through a heat exchanger, which recovers
thermal energy for reuse.
Waste heat from the plant’s three two-stage, oil-
free rotary screw compressors is reused two ways.
Besides feeding hot water into the piping loop,
hot air from the compressors is used to wring out
water from the compressed air before it is used.
Using water to cool the compressors also deliv-
ers greater operational control, according to John
Ruprecht, director-sales at Atlas Copco. As a result,
the machines run at higher efficiency, are more
reliable and require less maintenance. Other food
companies are considering installing heat harvesting
systems similar to Hormel’s, but to date, Dubuque is
the first and only application in the food industry.
Water reuse opportunities were a design prior-
ity, according to corporate engineer Chad Sayles,
manager-mechanical & electrical engineering. For
example, retort water typically goes to drain; at Pro-
gressive, some is retained for the next batch, while
the rest feeds the gray water stream after its heat is
reclaimed. Retort cooling water is directed to the
closed loop, where thermal energy is extracted and
applied to other uses.
The plant’s utilities infrastructure set new bench-
marks, but other facilities in the manufacturing net-
work are building on those advances, says Sayles.
“Even though this is our sustainability model, we now
have more advanced systems in locations around the
country,” he adds. “We’re not going to keep copying
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 FABULOUS FOOD PLANT
` A multi-function this plant over and over.” Continuous improvement
packaging system projects are ongoing at every Hormel plant, with those
that performs designated as the Best of the Best serving as inspiration
everything from for the other 38 US processing facilities.
collating single “A little bit of everything” is on display in
trays to shrink- Dubuque in terms of lighting, Sayles continues. “If
wrapping finished we redid it today, we would have the same mix, but
products reduces we could be 20 percent more efficient.” T-5 fluo-
floor space rescents and metal halide fixtures illuminate much
requirements 50 of the space, with some LED lights sprinkled in.
percent. Source: Fixtures are equipped with sensors that adjust the
Gene Lifka, Studio H. intensity and number of bulbs that are energized,
depending on occupancy and available light. With
212 skylights, the availability of natural light results
in continuous adjustments, with each passing cloud
triggering an automatic change in the number of
fixtures turned on.
Linear layouts, in which raw materials enter the
plant at one end and finished goods exit at the other,
have been the prevalent industry design in recent
decades, but today’s trend is toward a network of
rooms where discreet processes are executed. Pro-
gressive Processing reflects that shift, with separate
areas for blanching, ingredient preparation, cook-
ing, filling and other processes. “By separating
operations, the plant can potentially run 24/7,” with
production proceeding in one area while another
undergoes cleaning or maintenance, points out
Mark Zelle, plant manager. “There’s so much cost
associated with the equipment,” and prorating those
costs over more hours of operation offers great
potential in boosting overall equipment efficiency.
Since launching Compleats microwavable trays
in 2004, the company had scrambled to meet dou-
ble-digit annual growth, ultimately installing five
38 December 2011 | Food Engineering | www.foodengineeringmag.com
lines throughout its network. Despite the depth
of experience, Dubuque boasts several firsts and
process innovations, beginning with an optical
scanning and screening system from BEST. Screens
or manual picking traditionally have been the only
defense against foreign materials mixed in with peas
and other produce. The vision system identifies any
objects out of color or size spec and removes them.
Instead of kettles, the protein cook system relies
on a thermal blender that gently and uniformly mixes
ingredients with minimal pumping and greater con-
sistency, according to Zelle. Once cooked, product
moves to the adjacent fill room, where it is deposited
in trays. Gravy or other ingredients can contaminate
a tray’s lip, compromising seal quality and raising
the possibility of package failure during retorting. A
vision inspection system was engineered in-house to
identify and reject those trays prior to sealing. Inte-
gration of the system, along with downstream X-ray
inspection and checkweighing, was performed by
Raque Foods, the fill and seal line fabricator.
Fully automated loading of individual trays into
retort baskets is executed by a multi-function robot-
ic system from Aagard. A twin of that unit unloads
retorted product and collates, sleeves, case packs,
palletizes and stretch wraps finished goods. All
of the handling is executed in a 126 ft.-long unit,
about half the footprint required for conventional
machines performing the same functions. Loss of
flexibility is the downside: The system packs six
trays to a case, and variations are not an option.
Advanced electronics also mean the plant is “very
closely connected” to the machine builder, particu-
larly for machine troubleshooting and programming
changes, observes Zelle.
A Hartness accumulator between the fill and seal
line and the retort-loading system provides a two-
minute buffer, giving mechanics a narrow window
to correct any system hiccups. Having new workers
in a new plant is a plus: “It’s a startup, and the team is
engaged,” Zelle says. “There’s a sense of ownership.”
In-house technical skills now are advanced, he says.
More reductions
A corporate goal of 10 percent greenhouse gas
(GHG) reductions over five years got off to a
rocky start last year, when GHG emissions actually
increased half a point. The shuttering of an older
facility in Turlock, CA and relocation of its Valley
Fresh can line to Dubuque should help Hormel get
back on track. The change puts finished goods clos-
er to both their markets and raw material sources for
chicken and turkey.
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 FABULOUS FOOD PLANT
The relocation also provided an opportunity to upgrade
key equipment. Open-to-atmosphere water baths stretched
the cook process for chunk chicken to more than two hours in
Turlock. “The original system was pretty antiquated,” allows
Sayles. New spiral ovens reduce cook time by 80 percent,
lowering energy inputs despite the superior heat transfer
through water vs. air. The process change eliminated the need
to manually strip out cooked breast meat from casings, and
the larger breast meat pieces now used are more easily diced
and produce fewer fines. Besides saving energy, “the quality
has been greatly enhanced,” reports Zelle. “We’ve picked up a
lot of market share.”
Three can sizes are produced, the largest being 12 oz. The
five-oz. cans are comparable in size to canned tuna. The low
profile is a challenge for conventional labelers when cans
roll into the machine. At Progressive Processing, a Krones
labeler handles cans in a horizontal orientation. Zelle gives
the machine high marks for can control and reduction in label
application miscues. Downstream from the labeler, cans are
double stacked for case packing, eliminating a cardboard tray
and the attendant packaging waste and cost.
Pack-out for both lines is in an area that accounts for the bulk
of the facility’s square footage, a cavernous space that doubles
as a short-term warehouse. Finished goods are held for three
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days before shipping, and mountainous stacks of pallets stretch
toward the room’s 30 ft.-high roof. To increase worker comfort,
aerodynamically designed ceiling fans stretching up to 24 ft.
in diameter slowly rotate, moving up to 223,572 cubic feet of
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Maintenance workers began their 92-108 hours of on-site
training in personal safety, food safety and work-order pro-
tocols in September 2009, with the first operators following
in November and December. Production commenced in
January 2010
Sustainable outreach
All Hormel facilities compete in the Best of the Best continu-
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Best initiatives were executed in Dubuque, says Zelle, with the
most successful submitted for top honors consideration. Last
year’s entry involved reuse of inedible waste, which is blended
and shipped to a recycling partner for use as feed stock in
anaerobic digestion.
Sustainability opportunities with the city and other Dubuque
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Zelle says. He credits the cooperation received from local offi-
cials for ensuring a smooth project and startup. “We want to be
a bigger part of the community,” Devine says, and Progressive
Processing is raising its profile in municipal and public welfare
initiatives. To be a better corporate citizen, Devine has chal-
lenged the facility to achieve zero waste to landfill.
Worker safety is placed on a par with food safety, and
Dubuque’s safety excellence award in its inaugural year is as
much a point of pride as its achievements in energy efficiency,
sustainability and flexibility. With a background that includes
22 years of QC experience, Zelle notes, “I’m a stickler for fol-
lowing procedures. I tell the staff, ‘There are no safety short-
cuts, there are no procedural shortcuts. Don’t think you’re
doing us any favors by cutting corners.’
“I was brought here to develop a culture,” he adds. “That cul-
ture sticks around a long time after the plant manager is gone.”
Good manufacturing practices, food safety programs, superior
environmental and energy-efficiency execution and “an open
door policy” are the legacy he hopes to leave.
Adaptability is another goal. The plant is experimenting with
flex scheduling of four maintenance teams, with each working
four 12-hour shifts followed by four days off. The approach
poses some project continuity challenges, but early results are
encouraging. Similarly, operators involved in processes that run
See Food Master, p. 5-7
semi-continuously might be asked to work shifts when other
areas of the facility are dark.
Flexibility is served with the building design. Refrigerated stor-
age is sufficient for current raw material inventories, but glycol-
heated underground freeze protection was engineered to provide
flexibility for frozen-goods storage. “The way the business environ-
ment and consumer preferences change, you have to be flexible,”
muses Devine. “We want to be able to run cans, run jars, run
pouches, even run a refrigerated process. It’s hard to find a product
like Spam that’s been around for 70 years in basically the same can.”
Brands like Spam and Dinty Moore are Hormel treasures.
The Dubuque facility approaches that status, serving as a
springboard for updates throughout the network and as a
learning lab for company engineers, 125 of whom recently
toured the facility for up-close exposure to systems and ideas
that might be transplanted to their own facilities. Construc-
tion occurred in the teeth of the economy’s freefall, and other
projects had to be placed on hold. “I tell the other plants, ‘I’m
driving the car, but you paid for it,’” says Zelle.
With an infrastructure designed to support a doubling of the
current space, it’s a car built for the long haul.❖
For more information:
John Ruprecht, Atlas Copco Compressors Inc., 704-504-6931
www.foodengineeringmag.com | Food Engineering | December 2011 41
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SUPPLY CHAIN
Demand-driven
production
Mastery of the supply chain can yield tremendous cost savings
for food companies, but only if production is aligned with what
will sell in the months ahead.
` Kevin Higgins, Senior Editor
W
alk the floors of any modern food
or beverage production area, and
there’s a fair chance no other human
beings will be encountered. Hair-
nets and hard hats still are present
in the packaging area, but their numbers are dwindling.
Compared to a generation ago, today’s facilities are
models of efficiency, incorporating automation wher-
ever feasible and shifting personnel to value-added
tasks. Rather than rest on their laurels, manufacturing
teams use Six Sigma, TQM, lean and other continu-
ous improvement frameworks to squeeze out more
costs and build greater efficiency.
Outside the walls of the plant, however, waste
abounds. Inefficiencies are compounded as respon-
sibilities are handed off from one organization to the
next, making the supply chain the piñata of control-
www.foodengineeringmag.com | Food Engineering | December 2011
` Accounting for
the genealogy of
finished goods’
contents is an
effective way to
improve quality
control and lower
costs. Source: Plex
Systems Inc.
lable costs, ripe for a solid thwack to shake loose cost
savings. It spans raw material management, demand
forecasting, logistics, trading partner relations and
a host of other business functions. How it is viewed
depends on where an individual engages with the sup-
ply chain: at the strategic, tactical or operational level.
Supply chain management implies collaboration,
and production managers often focus on opportuni-
ties in transport (see related story on page 44). For
Mark Zelle, manager of Hormel Foods’ Dubuque, IA
plant, opportunities exist in better coordination with
retail customers to minimize the movement of empty
trucks as goods are shuttled through the pipeline. For
Vanns Spices, inventory optimization offers the most
tangible return from its investment in an ERP system.
Vanns sources about 350 different spices, both
directly and from 50-65 importers, then heat or
43
 SUPPLY CHAIN
steam sterilizes them before blending and packing for private-
label accounts in retail and foodservice. Tracking raw materials
through the global supply chain and managing the certificates of
analysis and other records related to each delivery overwhelmed
the Baltimore firm’s old inventory management system, accord-
Alt fuels attract supply chain interest
Liquid propane, biodiesel and ethanol blends are intriguing
alternatives to diesel fuel and gasoline, and many companies
are closely watching developments in these fuels as petroleum
prices and availability continue to veer in unpredictable direc-
tions. Perhaps the most intriguing option is compressed natural
gas (CNG), a fuel that may power a major share of the supply
chain in the coming years.
Even if transportation is a cost of doing business, it is not a
fixed cost. Frito-Lay, which claims to operate the eighth larg-
est privately owned trucking fleet in the country, has a goal
of slashing fuel use in half over five years, which would push
overall performance to about 30 mpg by 2014. Trucks generate
about a third of the organization’s total emissions, corporate
engineer Al Halvorsen says, and lightweight, fuel-efficient
vehicles can both embellish Frito-Lay’s sustainability credentials
and produce significant savings. “Our ultimate goal is to be the
most fuel-efficient company out there,” he says, and experi-
ments with electric and hybrid vehicles are underway. Among
the most promising possibilities is CNG. “We’re cautiously opti-
mistic CNG may be the future,” says Halvorsen.
Spotty availability is the biggest deterrent for manufacturers
like Frito-Lay, which dispatches trucks to seven states from its
plant in Casa Grande, AZ (see Food Engineering, November
2011). Fewer than 900 CNG refueling stations dot the coun-
try, according to Dan Luther, manager-supply & distribution
for Mansfield Oil Co., Gainesville, GA, and many of those are
proprietary to school districts and municipalities that have
converted some or all of their vehicles to CNG. Compared to
diesel, carbon emissions can be 85 percent lower, and the cost
savings range from the equivalent of $1.75-$2.75 per gallon. “It
` The city of Rancho Cucamonga, CA operates a skid-mounted
compressor package from Mansfield Oil for refueling cars and
trucks with compressed natural gas. Source: Mansfield Oil Co.
44 December 2011 | Food Engineering | www.foodengineeringmag.com
ing to Mick Whitlock, president. “We were putting a lot of
information in, but it was difficult to get any information out,”
he says. In August 2010, the company implemented business
management software from Syspro Impact Software Inc. “We’re
halfway along on the implementation,” estimates Whitlock, and
` Gas Equipment Systems built and maintains more than 150
CNG refueling systems for municipalities and school districts,
such as Sonoma County schools. Source: Mansfield Oil Co.
makes financial sense,” says Luther, and with America awash
in natural gas, it frees users of the caprice of foreign suppliers.
For companies wedded to gas-powered internal combustion
engines, a here-and-now option is liquid propane, the fuel of
choice for decades at Marshall, MN-based Schwan Food Co.
“Propane exists in a multitude of stations already,” points out
John Roberts, vice president and managing director of Bi-Phase
Technologies LLC, an Eagan, MN subsidiary of Schwan. Several
thousand retail outlets carry propane, and installing a refueling
station “is pretty straightforward,” he says. “It’s not nearly as
cumbersome as CNG.”
About three-quarters of Schwan’s 5,500 medium-duty trucks
for home deliveries are propane powered. Carbon emissions
are about 15 percent of those from gasoline or diesel, and tax
credits and other incentives keep cost per mile traveled low.
Propane is a byproduct of oil refining, says Roberts, so supplies
will be plentiful as long as fossil fuels are around.
Bi-Phase Technologies was acquired by Schwan in 1999
because of its propulsion system that keeps propane from
converting to a gas until it reaches the intake manifold of a fuel
injection system (see “Energy Management: Your new com-
petitive edge,” Food Engineering, October 2008). “It’s a simple
install, and from a drivability standpoint, you get a slight bump
in power,” Roberts says. The Bi-Phase system, which takes
about half a day to install, is one of two selected by General
Motors for conversion of GM vehicles to propane, he adds, and
a similar partnership is being developed with Isuzu Commercial
Truck of America Inc.
the ability to extract special reports and other data
has enhanced his standing with the board of directors
because he now can respond to specific operational
inquiries. But it is the built-in cycle counts of how
much of each spice has been used and what remains
in inventory that have yielded a direct payback from
the investment.
“We’ve definitely seen some healthier profits,” he
says, and most of the improvement can be attributed
to reduced inventories for each spice to three months
or less, based on demand forecasting and the cycle
counts. “We wouldn’t have been able to do just-in-
time before,” Whitlock explains.
As guidelines for the Food Safety Modernization
Act crystallize, it is becoming clear that imported
products will face the most stringent documentation
requirements. For companies like Vanns, certifica-
tions and genealogy specifics will be more explicit,
though the details still are not known. “Whatever the
requirements are, the ERP system must have the flex-
ibility to deal with them,” notes Rene Inzana, product
manager at Costa Mesa, CA-based Syspro. The key
is accommodating additional data fields without the
expense of changing the source code, she adds.
One-up, one-down traceability is a legal require-
ment and an industry expectation, and Whitlock
expects improved accounting for both finished goods
and raw materials will pay off when Vanns undergoes
its SQF audit in March, as it seeks certification under
the Global Food Safety Initiative. While improving
food safety and responding quickly and effectively
when a product recall is necessary are important,
those goals fall under the category of risk manage-
ment. Instead of approaching track and trace systems
as insurance policies, manufacturers would be better
served by regarding them as tools to improve raw
material quality and to lower manufacturing costs,
suggests Mark Symonds, president and CEO for Plex
Systems Inc., Auburn Hills, MI.
A supplier’s base price is only part of a manufac-
turer’s sourcing cost, Symonds points out. Order
lead times, on-time delivery, material defects and
machinability all impact manufacturing costs, and
food companies are tracking those attributes to refine
their supplier selection processes. An early example
is USDA’s school lunch program, until a decade ago a
dumping ground for low-quality beef trim. By requir-
ing grinder operations to track bacterial plate counts
from incoming trim and record results in a statistical
process control (SPC) program, the program was
able to screen out suppliers of poor-quality trim while
lowering finished goods costs for hamburger patties.
In another SPC application, quality inspectors at Sor-
rento Cheese track deviations in quality parameters ` Bar coding has
and their impact on manufacturing costs, feeding the emerged as an
results back to suppliers to help them improve the effective tool in
consistency of their cheese. linking internal
Those types of programs are common in the processing with the
automotive industry, where Plex initially focused rest of supply chain
its sales efforts. “As far as reducing parts per mil- management.
lion defects, those numbers have come down dra- Source: Plex
matically” in automotive, where adherence to ISO Systems Inc.
9000 and related standards over the last 11 years
has forced “the whole supply chain to clean up its
act,” says Symonds. A degree of visibility to trad-
ing partners’ systems is necessary to push quality
management outside the plant, however, and the
food industry lags in achieving a comparable level of
supply chain management. “Those who are on top
of their processes are happy to show what inspec-
tions and quality checks they’ve done,” he says, “but
there’s a lot of fear.”
This ERP’s for you
While the food industry trails some others in stream-
lining and improving its mastery of the supply chain,
CDC Software Inc.’s Steve Halula believes great
improvement has been made in recent years. “Com-
panies have totally disappeared because they couldn’t
trace back quickly,” points out the director of custom-
er strategic solutions at Atlanta-based CDC, and their
fate as a consequence of poor inventory management
was a lesson to other manufacturers. Now, companies
are turning supply chain software from a defensive
shield to a proactive weapon to improve efficiency
and bottom-line performance.
CDC characterizes its ERP components three
ways: basic back office functions, regulatory com-
pliance modules and supply chain programs that
www.foodengineeringmag.com | Food Engineering | December 2011 45
 SUPPLY CHAIN

` Supply chain optimization is forcing food manufacturers to

improve source records of the raw materials and ingredients that
make up their finished goods. Source: Prather Ranch.

tion between trading partners to achieve the best outcomes.

improve the organization’s efficiency and effectiveness. In the
past, supply chain elements sometimes were viewed as discre-
tionary, but organizations that don’t deploy them risk the same
fate as the grinder that ships pathogenic hamburger patties, Halu-
la suggests. Information sharing with trading partners is essential
to get the most from these tools, he adds, and the Internet is prov-
ing to be a great facilitator in exchanging information.
Transportation management, warehouse management,
advanced order management and demand chain planning are
the modules in CDC’s supply chain suite that require collabora-
Data re-entry and redundant information capture are counter-
productive activities. “Sharing the information is key to every-
one; you shouldn’t have to keep replicating it,” he says. “Even
competitors see they can be more efficient by collaborating
and letting the product being sold be the differentiating factor.”
Cost-effective and timely delivery of the right product also is
important, and the shift away from transaction-based produc-
tion and toward forecast-driven manufacturing is possible with
an integrated ERP solution.
Vendors of supply chain management solutions take issue with
ERP’s competency in demand forecasting, inventory optimiza-
tion and distribution efficiency. “ERP traditionally focused on
the transaction and the system of records,” points out Danny
Halim, vice president-industry strategy for process manufactur-
ing at JDA Software Group Inc., Scottsdale, AZ. Cobbling supply
chain modules to ERP won’t yield the kind of demand forecast-
ing accuracy at the heart of programs like JDA’s, he insists.
Not surprisingly, Logility Inc.’s Karin Bursa seconds Halim’s
position on the shortcomings of ERP. While excellent at man-
aging transactions, “they’re not planning systems,” Bursa says

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46 December 2011 | Food Engineering | www.foodengineeringmag.com
of ERP. A reliable demand forecast must reconcile changes both
upstream and downstream from the production facility, she adds,
and adapt as scenarios shift. The forecast model either demon-
strates its reliability over time or is scrapped. Best-in-class models
for food products are accurate 60-90 days out 75 to 80 percent of
the time, she suggests.
Vendor managed inventory (VMI) programs are on the rise,
and food companies get involved both as “a category captain” for
their customers and as customers collaborating with VMI sup-
pliers, according to Bursa. Continental Mills, a client of Atlanta-
based Logility, utilizes VMI to improve order fulfillment to its
retail and foodservice accounts. On the supply side, “They know
what they need from a procurement perspective, and they are
likely to share that with their suppliers because they don’t just
want bulk commodities; they want time-phased deliveries of those
commodities,” she says.
Goya Foods uses a variation of VMI to manage a supply
chain complicated by Goya’s dual roles of food manufacturer
and distributor of finished goods sold under the Goya label.
The company’s SKU portfolio mushroomed from 1,000 to
1,600 items in five years, and demand forecasts generated
from Excel spreadsheets were not up to the management
challenge. Black beans sold in a Caribbean neighborhood
move at a faster velocity than in a Puerto Rican enclave, so
aggregating black bean demand is insufficient: It must be
store specific, according to JDA’s Halim. A year after imple-
mentation, demand forecasting continues to improve, greatly
reducing out-of-stock rates and improving production sched-
uling and supplier scheduling.
JDA gives end-users the option of installing its software on their
server or operating in the cloud environment, with JDA maintain-
ing the program and providing analytical services. “A number of
food and beverage clients are using the cloud,” Halim says. “It’s
gaining a lot of users.”
The cloud delivered Vanns Spices’ program. Syspro relies on
a network of resellers to reach food companies. In Vanns’ case,
Operations Resource Group in Sunnyvale, CA delivered the solu-
tion. According to Whitlock, no one from the group had to make a
transcontinental site visit.
Plex System relies exclusively on the cloud. Also known as
software as a service (SaaS), cloud computing dramatically lowers
installation and maintenance costs for manufacturers, according
to Symonds. Companies that installed ERP in preparation for Y2K
are entering their replacement cycle, and he believes this is “a ripe
time to make the change” to SaaS. ❖

For more information:

John Roberts, Bi-Phase Technologies LLC, 952-886-6450
Steve Halula, CDC Software, 414-365-4736
Danny Halim, JDA Software Group Inc., 301-255-5000
Karin Bursa, Logility, kbursa@logility.com
Dan Luther, Mansfield Oil Co., 678-450-2285, dluther@mansfieldoil.com
Mark Symonds, Plex Systems Inc., 248-391-8000
Rene Insana, Syspro Impact Software Inc., 714-437-1000

See Food Master, p. IFC3

www.foodengineeringmag.com | Food Engineering | December 2011
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SITE SELECTION

Redefining location,
location, location
What makes location the most important criterion in selecting
a site? Transportation, logistics, labor force, water and utility
costs—to name a few.

` Wayne Labs, Senior Technical Editor

` Sara Lee’s

U
nless you’re looking to locate an abat- Wakefield. “While this may help draw the attention
new meat-slicing toir, you’ll find it easier than you of a food industry company seeking a location, it does
facility in Kansas thought to find an appropriate site for a not remove the need for full due diligence of the site’s
City, KS represents new food and beverage facility or even suitability for a given project’s needs.”
an investment a brownfield site you can turn around. In the present weakened economy, communities
of more than Thanks to the economy, most communities, through are wooing manufacturers. The food and beverage
$140 million and their economic development corporations (EDCs), industry has generally been regarded as a good match
features robotics are doing everything they can to get you to set up for several reasons, but especially because it puts
and no-touch shop in their vicinity. people to work. In fact, according to Mace, the food
processing. Hixson But that doesn’t mean you should jump at the first industry has been one of the most active segments in
provided A&E site that comes along. terms of adding new production capacity.
services to the “I have seen a few cases where economic develop- Brad Lindquist, specialist leader for Deloitte
processor. Source: ment agencies or property representatives advertise Consulting, notes that his company’s food and
Sara Lee Corp. properties they say are particularly well suited for beverage processor clients tend to have solid fund-
food processing operations,” says Andy Mace, supply ing in place. These processors usually have free
chain solutions managing director of Cushman & capital or access to credit and are looking to expand

www.foodengineeringmag.com | Food Engineering | December 2011 49

 SITE SELECTION
` Monogram to meet market growth whether in metro, state and/
Meat Snacks or countrywide markets.
employs more Dean Foods located its Meadow Gold dairy, milk
than 400 people in and ice cream greenfield facility in North Las Vegas.
Martinsville-Henry Big-D Construction guided the processor through
County, VA. The the site selection and due diligence process, includ-
company makes ing the short listing of feasible properties to meet
beef jerky and the dairy’s needs up to the purchase of the property.
packaged cheeses While this process was ongoing, the A&E firm’s team
that are sold in was well on its way in the schematic and conceptual
convenience stores design of the facility. As a result, when the purchase
across the nation. was complete, construction began immediately.
Source: Martinsville- But growth and expansion are not limited to just
Henry County, VA. large processors. The decision to expand is more
a function of a processor’s business strategy (e.g.,
growth plans, competitive advantages a new plant can
provide, etc.) and the condition of an existing facility,
says Chris Harmon, Hixson Architecture & Engi-
neering senior vice president and project manager.
Monogram Meat Snacks, located in Martinsville-
Henry County, VA, makes beef jerky and prepack-
aged cheeses that are sold in convenience stores
across the nation. Starting out with relatively limited
distribution, the processor soon had national cover-
age and needed to pick a site where it could expand
to meet its growing customer base. The processor
opened a plant in Henry County in 2004 with 105
workers and has expanded a couple times since then,
according to Spencer Johnson, director of research,
Martinsville-Henry County EDC. The company now
employs more than 400 people and is one of the area’s
largest employers.
In this economy, there is a focus on expansions
and remodels rather than greenfield sites. “The bank-
ing industry still has the handcuffs on the business
world,” says Forrest McNabb, Big-D Construction
50 December 2011 | Food Engineering | www.foodengineeringmag.com
Corp. senior vice president. He explains that while
large processors often have funds for capital invest-
ments, the smaller ones are limited by their ability to
free up capital or obtain loans. Processors are, how-
ever, getting more creative in funds allocation and
looking at multiple options for financing.
Beyond location, location, location
What makes a location great? Some might argue that
it’s the warm climes of the South, the manufacturing
know-how of the Midwest or the high-tech industry
of California. But beyond these stereotypical regional
features, several factors add up to equal a nearly per-
fect site (assuming no site is 100 percent perfect).
These include the cost of energy (electric, natural gas,
etc.), water, access to transportation, labor availabil-
ity, incentives and sustainability issues.
Some other important issues, according to SSOE
Project Manager Roger DeGood, include:
• The neighborhood (distance to residential areas,
shopping, hospitals, low crime rate)
• Quality of site (soil bearing, groundwater table,
no expanding clay, no rock, height restrictions [usu-
ally related to air traffic], number of site owners, no
nature reserve nearby, nearness to seismic zone, wind
loads, tornado/hurricane area, floodplain, etc.)
• Business climate (right-to-work state, high degree
of industrial engagement, political stability)
• Education environment (close proximity to high
schools, universities; region willing to support fur-
ther qualification of workforce)
• Risks/permits/schedule impact (site already
owned by state or city, connection time of utilities to
the site, grading/leveling of site, 404 wetland permit
required, blue lien stream permit required, PSD [Pre-
vention of Significant Deterioration] air permit)
• Costs (incentives, tax abatements, site develop-
ment, funding)
• Existing amenities (for example, a building that
can be converted to meet a processor’s needs).
Sometimes a processor wants to expand in the
same area to minimize disruption to production as
well as to its employees. “After all,” says Bob West, A
M King Construction business development manag-
er, “one of the biggest and most expensive disruptions
involves replacing the workforce if a facility needs to
be geographically relocated.” Keeping a new facility
within 10-15 miles from the original site causes the
least disruption, but may pose the bigger challenge
when searching for a location.
While open ground may not be available for a new
facility, a brownfield site in the community may offer
a solution. Mark Redmond, president of Hendon &
` When Frank-Lin Distillers had to move from its San
Jose location, it found a site with a rail connection
and I-80 access in Fairfield, CA, 75 miles from San
Jose and close to Anheuser Busch/InBev and Jelly
Belly Candy Company. Source: Fairfield County, CA.
Redmond, tells the story of a bakery client that was
experiencing a growing customer base. The existing
operation could not be expanded, so a search for a
greenfield site was initiated. Desiring to relocate near
its existing facility limited the options available for
open land in this urban area. Not being able to find a
suitable site caused the processor to change direction
and consider using existing building structures.
A building of the correct size was found in a desir-
able location, but the building was too low in height.
Hendon & Redmond’s engineers and designers
devised a way to raise the entire 120,000-sq.-ft. roof
by 12 feet to accommodate the operation. The cre-
ative use of an existing building helped the owner remain in the
area of choice and saved the cost of a new building project by
reusing an existing structure.
Mace suggests some existing buildings may be better suited to
conversion than others, though available modern buildings ready
for occupancy tend to be warehouses or distribution centers
(DCs). Of course, reusing them for the same purpose will pose
fewer problems than converting them for food manufacturing.
Consideration for turning a DC into a processing plant should
include floor and roof load-bearing capabilities, water supply and
industrial wastewater treatment capacities, electric capacity and
redundancy, and temperature and humidity control. Also impor-
tant is the adaptability of the internal floor plan for manufactur-
ing equipment and material handling.
Energy costs vary widely
The cost of electricity seems to be all over the map, and can vary
by as much as 100 percent depending on location, according
to Mace. As a result, food processors that consume significant
amounts of electricity should carefully evaluate projected elec-
tricity costs for their specific operating characteristics during
the site selection process. Lindquist suggests the cost difference
from location to location can even span a 4:1 ratio. And these
differences can vary greatly within a small geographical area.
The two unknowns affecting rates are:
• Difficulty in determining how long these differentials will last.
• Inconsistent fuel sources and their costs for generating plants.
Lower electric rates have been a drawing card for some pro-
cessors that opted to settle in Henry County, VA, which has
competitive rates compared to those in the Northeast and some
urban areas, says Johnson. These rates are expected to remain
competitive into the foreseeable future.
For some industries like poultry processing, the cost of energy
can be a major factor in site selection. But for others, while the
cost of energy isn’t necessarily the number one deal-breaker
when it comes to choosing a site, it can certainly be an issue that
might swing the outcome when it’s time to make final decisions,
says Redmond.
Bob West points out that utilities are getting involved in drawing
industry to their communities by offering some attractive incen-
tives—so much so that it’s common for the EDC
team to bring the utility along and discuss future
energy needs. West explains that during one recent
project, the utility kicked in some very nice incen-
tives to come up with a design that could save up
` This 44-acre site with an 18.4-acre, graded pad
is a certified food processing designated site.
In the summer of 2010, the Martinsville-Henry
County Economic Development contracted with the
consulting group Ady-Austin to certify the tract of
land, making it “shovel ready” for any prospective
food processing company. Source: Martinsville-Henry
County, VA.
www.foodengineeringmag.com | Food Engineering | December 2011 51
 SITE SELECTION
35,000
Streamflow, in cubic feet per second
"1-in-100 chance flood" based on data from 1940-1996
30,000
25,000
"1-in-100 chance flood" based
on data from 1940-1975
20,000
15,000
10,000
5,000
Highest annual flows
0 it should. “The floodplain of a site is one of
1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990
Chehalis River near Doty, Washington
` Stream flow to 15 percent energy usage over an original design.
data collected Other big savings come from load-shedding agree-
since 1975 on the ments, especially where energy is critical in summer
Chehalis River near months. Some utilities have even paid the bill to install
Doty, WA indicate generators on a processor’s site so the utility can take
the estimated the processor off the grid in an energy crunch.
stream flow of a
1-in-100 chance Water, water everywhere
flood is higher than Water issues are multifaceted. “Utility [water] access
it was 20 years ago, is a major concern,” says Harmon. “Wastewater
which underscores discharge, storm water retention, water rights, what
the importance the plant will process and how it will operate can all
of continued river be problematic depending on the locale in which a
monitoring. Source: processor wants to build.”
USGS Fact Sheet While some areas such as Texas and parts of
229-96. Atlanta have suffered droughts and water shortages,
other areas have fared better. For example, Henry
County, VA has an excess water capacity of 9.2 mil-
lion gallons per day (MGD) and an excess wastewa-
ter capacity of 9.5 MGD, according to Johnson.
Since food processors typically require significant
water and wastewater capacities, municipality capac-
ity numbers are very important and should be part of
due diligence, according to Lindquist.
“As part of the due diligence process,” says McNabb,
“prior to purchasing property, verify water availability
to meet needs and include written agreements with
the seller and/or municipality.” The same rules apply
to wastewater treatment. Also, find out what capacity
the public water treatment has and whether it will be
necessary to preprocess wastewater on site.
While water as a utility is indispensable, too much
of it can be devastating at worst and annoying at best.
West offers simple advice: Do floodplain studies and
check on the infrastructure to support the flood-
52 December 2011 | Food Engineering | www.foodengineeringmag.com
plain. During site selection, always locate
the floodplain and never build inside it.
Pick a high and dry area away from rivers,
creeks and streams and their immedi-
ate floodplain. While not necessarily a
flooding issue, selecting a site near or on
wetlands will provide lots of expensive,
recurring issues and worries—especially
if the wetlands is next to or registered as a
nature preserve.
With the more chaotic weather that’s
been occurring, heavy snows, torrential
rains and hurricanes have caused flooding
that seems to occur more frequently than
the first things that should be addressed,”
says DeGood. Site selection experts should
not pick a site that has been recently affect-
ed by a 100-year floodplain event, he adds.
According to the US Geological Survey, the term
100-year flood is misleading because it leads people
to believe that such an event happens only once
every 100 years. Unfortunately, a big flood can hap-
pen any year. The term 100-year flood is a statistical
designation, and there is a 1-in-100 chance that a
flood this size will happen during any year. A better
definition might be a 1-in-100 chance flood. The
actual number of years floods of any given size will
occur varies, and big floods are affected by long-term
and short-term climate changes.
In the case of flooding, maps indicating potential
flooding risk and frequency are typically available for
a given property as an initial due diligence step: Sites
well outside the 100-year floodplain are preferred,
and in some cases, the location of the 500-year flood-
plain may be known, says Mace. However, for large
investments and in areas of perceived elevated risk,
it is worthwhile to retain experts to evaluate site-spe-
cific risks and mitigation costs. This is particularly
true if the floodplain maps are dated or watershed
conditions have changed significantly over time.
Transportation: Take the train?
Many processors have been reluctant to look at new
possibilities for transportation of ingredients and ship-
ping of products because they stay with the familiar
options, says Mace. But the volatility and overall rise
of transportation costs has encouraged processors to
consider new shipment modes and intermodal facili-
ties. Choosing sites with access to rail and water trans-
port provides opportunities to lower unit transport
costs and increase flexibility/leverage with respect to
road-based transport options.
 “We have seen rail play a larger role from an inbound raw
material perspective,” says Lindquist. Bulk inputs to the system
can typically be moved more efficiently for many processors.
The outbound rail and intermodal needs are highly dependent
on the regional scale of the market, he adds.
Five to 10 years ago, processors would not have entertained
the idea of shipping perishable products by rail car since tem-
perature controls on the rail car were not sufficient to preserve
the food for longer than 48 hours, says West. Today, however,
technology has made it possible to monitor and control the tem-
perature of refrigerated/frozen products on the rails and assure
food will stay at the intended temperature during intermodal
transfers. And with access to ports, processors find intermodal
transport economical and practical.
DeGood suggests another reason for choosing a site with
rail access relates to the construction of the plant. Heavy and
large processing equipment and building materials can be
brought in by rail where they may not fit on a truck or on the
highway system.
Incentives: Scrutinize carefully
According to Harmon, the current economic situation has had a
profound impact on local communities’ willingness to embrace
industry. Communities that in the past were not particularly
open to development are now quite interested and are offering
inducements that make their sites very attractive to a processor.
While incentives are always a factor in the site selection decision,
processors need to make sure the site is suitable before consider-
ing incentives. “A less desirable site may increase production and
operating costs or create other limitations,” Harmon explains.
“These issues need to be considered when evaluating the ben-
efits of the incentives offered.”
Besides incentives, EDCs provide much more in the way of
helpful services. When San Jose, CA-based Frank-Lin Distillers
had to relocate due to an imminent domain proceeding, the
City of San Jose tried unsuccessfully to find another location
within the city. The processor made inquiries within California,
with a successful contact to the City of Fairfield. Curt Johnston,
Fairfield economic development division manager, provided
background on the suburban San Francisco area with access to
I-80 and a railroad system, which was a sought-after amenity.
Johnston’s city staff served as a liaison to the brokers and
property owner, facilitating the land transaction. It also worked
with the PUC for a rail siding and railroad crossing and made
improvements to an access road. In addition, Fairfield allowed
a four-inch connection to the water system at the cost of a two-
inch connection, saving Frank-Lin $200,000. Also, the City of
Fairfield worked through the California Enterprise Develop-
ment Authority to issue a $22 million tax-exempt Recovery
Zone Facility Bond whose proceeds were used to finance construc-

ED
T IFI
C ER

H C V
M SSING SITE
ROCE
DP
OO
F

Our 44-acre tract with 18.4-acre graded pad is certified as a designated food processing site. That means
your company can begin construction immediately in Martinsville-Henry County, Virginia. This certification
saves you a lot of time, money, and research. Over 500 pages of it. That’s because we’ve worked diligently
with the Ady-Austin Consulting Group to compile the key information
you need, such as property and environmental information, utilities,
site photos, maps, surveys, and more. In addition, there are a number
of incentives available, including the Tobacco Opportunity Fund. To learn more about this site,
along with the many other advantages of locating to Martinsville-Henry County, Virginia, call
us at (276) 403-5942. Visit us today at www.YesMartinsville.com.

www.foodengineeringmag.com | Food Engineering | December 2011 53

BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS: Proven Strategies for Economic Development in North Carolina

Proven, comprehensive
economic development solutions
in North Carolina.
North Carolina’s Public Power communities are among
the best places in the country to live and do business.
ElectriCities’ seasoned, experienced Economic Development
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We partner with our member cities to provide customized

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Our comprehensive approach begins at project outset and continues through
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What can we do for you? From site selection to targeted

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800.768.7697, ext. 6325 800.768.7697, ext. 6363 800.768.7697, ext. 6303
chilliar@electricities.org bdaniels@electricities.org jstella@electricities.org

For more information, or to view available properties visit www.electricities.com.

SITE SELECTION

tion of the $34 million, 288,000-sq.-ft. build- Brad Lindquist, Deloitte Consulting, 312-486-3000, Bob West, A M King Construction, 704-365-3160,
ing. The project was finished late last year, blindquist@deloitte.com bwest@amkingconstruction.com
and several employees moved from San Jose Spencer Johnson, Martinsville-Henry County, VA Roger DeGood, SSOE, 419-255-3830,
(75 miles away) and bought homes in the EDC, 276-403-5940, sjohnson@yesmartinsville.com roger.degood@ssoe.com
area at $200,000 less than the cost of compa- Forrest McNabb, Big-D Construction, Chris Harmon, Hixson Architecture
rable homes in San Jose. 810-415-6000, fmcnabb@big-d.com & Engineering, 513-241-1230,
The right incentives combined with a Mark Redmond, Hendon & Redmond, charmon@hixson-inc.com
brownfield site proved worthwhile for Sara 513-641-0320, Charles Ching, City of Fairfield, CA,
Lee’s Kansas City plant, according to Hix- markredmond@hendonredmond.com 707-428-7039, cching@fairfield.ca.gov
son’s Harmon. Hixson helped the processor
by selecting the right brownfield location,
evaluating the sustainability of the building
for its intended use. The A&E firm then
provided a comparison of costs and schedule
as opposed to other options, and procured
incentives from the city. In the end, the Kan-
sas City plant received a 75 percent property
tax abatement from the improvements.

Labor concerns

SITE SELECTION
Harmon points out that workforce con-
cerns are always a major factor in site
selection. Processors need reliable work-
ers who are able to function in a team for food and beverage facilities
environment and are willing to do repeti-
tive jobs. Skilled workers must be able
There are a number of unique challenges when it comes to
to operate and maintain highly complex
equipment such as robots and packaging deciding where to locate a new food or beverage processing
systems and understand process control. facility. Let Austin help you make the right decision relating to:
Therefore, processors should consider
sites near colleges, technical schools and à Supply Chain Optimization à Site and Building Evaluation
technical training centers. After all, main- à Site Selection à Food Safety Considerations
tenance people need familiarity with
technology—the days of the “wrench à Labor Market Analysis à Due Diligence
turners” are over. à Utility Costs/Capacity à Incentive Negotiation
Labor is typically the largest recurring,
geographically variable cost for processing
facilities. Processors should know who is A company built on delivering “Results, Not ExcusesTM”
competing with them for employees when
they consider sites, says DeGood. This Please contact us at: INTEGRATED
competition is good for employees, but foodgroup@theaustin.com or
can push up the cost of labor.
www.theaustinconsulting.com PROJECT
Processors that automate more are less
likely to be concerned about filling some DELIVERY
jobs, says Redmond. However, locating CONSULTANTS DESIGNERS ENGINEERS CONSTRUCTORS
near urban areas can help in finding labor
across the board. In addition, areas where
jobs have been lost in skilled manufactur-
ing (e.g., autos, textiles, etc.) can be an
excellent opportunity for both the proces-
sor and the community, says Johnson. ❖

For more information:

Andy Mace, Cushman & Wakefield, 717-505-8046,
andy.mace@cushwake.com

www.foodengineeringmag.com | Food Engineering | December 2011 55

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 T E C H U P D A T E : PA C K A G I N G M A C H I N E C O N T R O L S
Wayne Labs, Senior Technical Editor

` Installed at
Luxco, a St. Louis,
MO distilled spirits
bottler, Standard-
Knapp’s Model
939 Versatron case
packer replaced a
17-year-old system,
cutting changeover
time from 20-30
minutes to 8-10
minutes. Inset
photo shows the
HMI, which has
all maintenance
procedures built
into it. Source:
Standard-Knapp.

Teaching packaging
machines to communicate
Thanks to open standards, packaging machine controls
` communicate up and down the line and with MES and ERP
systems to provide key performance data.

I
n addition to increased flexibility and perfor-
mance, food and beverage processors are seek-
ing packaging machines that foster food safety,
machine safety, reliability and lower energy
usage while providing data collection systems that
not only monitor line performance but also track
maintenance. And, because no system is an island,
the packaging machine’s control system has to com-
municate horizontally with other devices on the line
(e.g., robot controllers and motion/position con-
trollers) and vertically with MES and ERP software
systems. The good news is that communication is
markedly improving over what existed in the not-
so-distant past.
If you were an auto manufacturer 25 years ago
trying to automate an assembly line, you were faced
with several automation and robotics systems that
simply didn’t talk to one another, notably referred to
as “islands of automation.” Today, if you’re planning
a completely automated packaging line, you’ll find
the process a lot smoother—though not perfect—
due to 25 years of experience that machine builders,
system integrators, controls and robot manufactur-
ers and component suppliers have chalked up.
Some rules never hurt
While MAP (Manufacturers Automation Protocol)
tried to set hardware and communications network-

www.foodengineeringmag.com | Food Engineering | December 2011 57

 T E C H U P DAT E
` This lightweight ing standards for automation equipment in the auto
valve terminal industry, it met with limited success because most
(Festo Model users weren’t willing to invest $3,000 per network
VTUB-12) is node for hardware and software. MAP didn’t catch
capable of flowing on that well, but with the ubiquity of Ethernet today,
up to14 scfm networking is relatively inexpensive—at least at the
with a maximum hardware/communications level.
pressure of 120psi. “There certainly is something familiar about the
The valve terminal old ‘islands of automation’ and today’s challenges
is available as a on packaging lines,” says David Kaley, Mitsubishi
multi-pin electrical Electric industry market manager. He explains
connection, there is, however, one very significant difference:
handles up to In the ’80s, open networks still had to be cre-
35 valves and ated, and vendors were reluctant to adopt open
can be installed standards without trying to put their own twist
on a packaging on them. Today’s engineers don’t have to create
machine. Source: the network; they have Ethernet. Their task is to
Festo. define blocks of data that can be transferred from
one machine to the next.
It’s at this application level where a challenge
still exists in getting packaging machine, robot and
line controllers to speak the same language. Each
machine has its own unique addresses for I/O and
equipment functions, so a common language is
needed to get machines and application-level soft-
ware programs communicating.
PackML is a mark-up language in plain English dedi-
cated to removing the “bits and bytes” of machine con-
figuration for systems designers. The primary objective
of PackML is to bring a common “look and feel” and
operational consistency to all machines that make up a
packaging line. PackML provides:
• Standard defined machine states and opera-
tional flow
• Overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) data
• Root cause analysis (RCA) data, and
• Flexible recipe schemes and common SCADA
or MES inputs.
58 December 2011 | Food Engineering | www.foodengineeringmag.com
“We’re still struggling with the adoption of Pack-
ML,” says Leo Petrokonis, Rockwell Automation
business development manager for the packaging
industry. “I think one of the reasons is that the
standard costs money to be compliant, but there
are some machine builders who have fully invested
in PackML.” Machine builders that have adopted
PackML find real savings in startup costs because
all their machines are compliant and communica-
tive. Engineers find it easy to reuse code, creating
PackML macros that are easily editable in English.
“There are benefits for machine builders,” says
Brian Deal, Schneider Electric market segment
manager, packaging. “By implementing PackML,
OEMs can improve and shorten their machine
development cycles.” PackML lets machine builders
choose the automation platform best suited for their
machine, reduce creation of customized code and
improve their delivery times to processors.
“The OMAC Packaging Workgroup (OPW) has
been reenergized with the leadership from Bryan
Griffin of Nestlé,” says Jorge Izquierdo, PMMI vice
president. “Among the latest developments, OPW
has continued to update the PackML standard,
which continues to gain traction in the end-user
community.” Izquierdo reports that OPW sees con-
tinued support for PackML from all participants in
the supply chain—food processors, OEMs and con-
trol suppliers. Does PackML matter to processors?
The short answer is yes, because communications
with both legacy and new equipment will mean
processors have the data they need to continuously
improve their operations.
The data you need to improve
Processors want data they can turn into KPIs and
OEE, and they want it as a plug-and-play system.
“OMAC is actively continuing to drive out stan-
dards for OEE and S88.5 (batch control),” says
Martino Caranti, GE Intelligent Platforms global
segment leader for advanced packaging and assem-
bly. “We see these standards as a method of reduc-
ing cost by simplifying line integration for both
OEMs and end-users. Food and beverage end-user
adoption of OMAC standards will drive more open
communication requirements, pushing OEMs to
supply this functionality going forward. Driving the
OMAC standards back into the OEMs will enable
end-users to ‘plug-and-play’ their multi-vendor pro-
duction equipment more easily, allowing reduced
costs and better asset utilization.”
Integrating horizontally, machine-to-machine, is
not the chore it used to be. The platforms are open
and no longer proprietary, thus enabling systems
to communicate. “Some plants are taking this inte-
gration to the next level by layering MES and ERP
systems,” says Mitch Vanover, Hixson Architecture
& Engineering manager, automation. “This not only
integrates equipment horizontally, but also verti-
cally as well by tying the factory floor to upper-level
enterprise zones for better coordination of people
and resources, while improving quality.”
While data collection and reporting systems obvi-
ously help the processor, they still need a fair degree of
improvement. “It’s a huge task for machine builders to
develop data collection/efficiency/reporting systems,”
says Khalid Ikram, Evergreen Packaging engineering
controls manager. “It would be beneficial if someone in
the industry could provide already developed systems
that can be easily interfaced with any machine.”
The vertical integration to MES and ERP is a
work in progress, and tools are available to make
it happen. Processors need to download informa-
tion from the MES layer to machines for setup and
product management. Machine builders need to
aggregate the machine data to the MES layer for
analysis of production runs, product quality and
capacity utilization. “This entails increased LAN or
WAN connectivity, ERP connectivity, local and I/O
motion connectivity, and some programming with
powerful integration tools,” says Caranti.

Improving machine performance

As packaging lines collect more data, new chal-
lenges occur and are being met by machine develop-
ers. “[Processors] are asking for more diagnostics
and access to more performance data,” says Kim matically, preventing possible damage to the jaw ` Triangle’s X Series
Magon, Triangle Package Machinery Co. market- that could lead to significant downtime. VFFS baggers meet
ing manager. “As a result, programs are getting very Machine builders are also taking advantage of strict USDA/3-A
large, slowing down processor speeds. We need to I/O devices like sensors and drives that can be sanitation
see faster processors to be able to provide better mounted directly on the machine, avoiding long standards. Bottom
diagnostics while at the same time, controlling our cable runs and potential signal loss. With many of left: The control
machine devices.” the high-performance sensor buses available, wir- box is UL listed
One way to offload PLC processors of heavy data ing is also simplified on the machine as sensors and and available in
I/O transactions is to dedicate a module to com- other devices can be daisy chained together. NEMA12, 4, 4X
municate directly to an external database. However, and 6 versions.
it’s important that machine builders make sure these Flexibility and changeovers Communication and
modules can talk to all PLCs in the system and use While machine performance/throughput is impor- integration needs
any database protocol that is used in the MES and/ tant, changeover time can have a major impact are simplified by
or ERP systems, according to Kaley. on production costs if the packaging machine using one control
Faster processors are not the only way to improve isn’t flexible enough to adapt to various package box and HMI for
performance. “Faster sensors are allowing us to sizes and shapes. Ideally, all an operator would both bagger and
get data measurement instantly and make quicker have to do is key in a new SKU and select it when scale. Bottom
changes to the machine,” adds Magon. For example, changeover is required. The way Evergreen accom- right: The forming
Triangle Package Machinery’s bagger can make plishes efficient and quick SKU-based changeover tube is USDA/3-A
automatic adjustments as necessary. If the jaw closes is through the use of servo technology, which approved. Source:
on a frozen chicken nugget, the sensor will detect allows running various motion profiles without Triangle Package
a product is in the way, and the jaw will open auto- any mechanical changes. Machinery.

www.foodengineeringmag.com | Food Engineering | December 2011 59

 T E C H U P DAT E
` Servo-driven For machine builders, the use of soft PLCs (IEC
technology 61131-3) and motion controllers that provide
provides repeatable graphical cam and gearing design lets them design
package machines for quick changeovers, according to
performance and Andy Hansbrough, Kollmorgen vertical market
makes it easy to manager, packaging.
set up the machine System designers can run into performance
for several product limitations with traditional PLCs. Many PLC sup-
shapes and sizes. pliers offer combined motion and PLC systems in
Source: Evergreen the same box, and in many cases, programmable
Packaging. automation controllers may be PC-based—so
the trend is to provide integrated motion systems
regardless of what label is attached to the box.
With hardware, the use of servo motors provides
the flexibility of a machine to make quick change-
overs between products. “The latest developments
in servo-based motion and position control are
being used to automate guide rail position and
other changeover settings, not only reducing the
changeover time but also improving the reliability
of the adjustment,” says Doug Ferguson, Hixson
manager, manufacturing engineering.
According to Petrokonis, machine builders are
trying to phase out pneumatics wherever pos-
sible because pneumatic devices typically are
inefficient. While electrical equivalents have been
prohibitively expensive in the past, their costs are
coming down, and machine builders, with the aid
60 December 2011 | Food Engineering | www.foodengineeringmag.com
of powerful design tools, are no longer specifying
oversized components (such as a 2hp servo when a
1hp device is sufficient) to make sure the machine
can handle the job.
Closed-loop pneumatic positioning control
systems go a long way in extending the overall
potential of pneumatic systems. “These systems
combine an internal or external position sensor—
calibrated to the cylinder’s stroke length—that
provides a continuous feedback signal to a pneu-
matic ‘valve bank’ that increases or decreases the
pneumatic flow to extend or retract the cylinder
position,” says Tom Wood, Bimba Manufacturing
marketing manager. “These systems are easily pro-
grammable to allow position flexibility and accu-
racy, allowing a single machine to service different
packaging applications.”
Electric actuators have become a more attractive
solution. “These actuators, with either a ball or
lead screw in combination with a servo or stepper
motor, provide greater accuracy and speed than
pneumatic systems,” adds Wood. Although electri-
cal drive systems have been historically higher in
price than pneumatics, recent technology advanc-
es have made electrical systems more affordable to
use in packaging machines, also increasing packag-
ing machinery flexibility. Responding to line varia-
tions might have been the operator’s responsibility
some time ago—e.g., to shut down the packaging
machine gracefully when there were no products
to be packaged. Under servo-based control and
with connection to fillers, conveyors and robots
on the line, this is no longer true. “We are now
able to improve machine flexibility by providing
an option that can automatically change the speed
of our bagger based on upstream or downstream
signals without operator intervention,” says Steve
Bergholt, Triangle control system development
manager. In other words, the bagger can speed up
or slow down without stopping, which improves
efficiency and reduces rejects.
Tools for machine builders and processors
Many automation suppliers offer simulation soft-
ware products that speed packaging machine design.
“Built-in machine simulators allow designers and
users a low-risk way to iterate machine designs
quickly and easily as machine and motion elements
are developed to meet production requirements,”
says Hansbrough.
This iterating or tuning can be used to size
the servos and all the motion and position com-
ponents based on loads, inertias, etc. Rockwell
worked with SolidWorks to create a system called
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 T E C H U P DAT E

Motion Analy zer, which not only Processors benefit from these tools number one refers to and just what is at
can tune the system but also suggest indirectly; they also benefit from fault. “Why not,” suggests Petrokonis,
changes in structural design and cre- improvements to HMIs. Like some “tell them ‘The pusher arm is jammed?’”
ate prints and bills-of-material as well. infamous Windows error messages that Machine designers are responding
In addition, these tools prevent the needed translation into plain English through the use of pictures, graphics and
gross over-specif ying of equipment to be useful, packaging machine error international symbols that transcend an
that wastes energy and also makes sure messages like “AXIS 1 SERVO FAULT” operator’s native language. Operators
equipment is only energized when it are becoming a thing of the past. Opera- often have a selection of half a dozen
needs to move or work. tors may not know what an axis is, what languages, and there are often pictures,
canned videos and PDF files to help them
fix a problem—much like today’s office
copy machine that explains where and
how to fix a jam, says Deal.
Washdowns without washing out. “In 2012, we’ll be introducing a new
feature that allows us to include a PDF
parts manual as well as the operations
and maintenance manual right on the
HMI screen,” says Triangle’s Bergholt.
Processors already have the option of
bilingual displays and enhanced graphics
and videos to show and explain proper
procedures, he adds.
Control suppliers like Rockwell Auto-
mation have been partnering with robot-
ics and motion manufacturers to try to
consolidate various control screens from
different components on the machine to
a single interface, with the goal of com-
bining as many as possible machine con-
trol screens on a single packaging line
interface, according to Petrokonis. “We’re
trying to make that integration a lot easier
and cleaner,” he explains.
Touch screen technology with inte-
grated safety, smarter menus driven by a
bigger screen and the ability to host mul-
tiple software interfaces as a single inter-
face are ways to provide operators with a
single, unified system, says Caranti. This
Our flooring is designed to stand up to caustic cleaning agents, tolerates will simplify the experience for opera-
temperatures from -100° F to 220° F and provides the best defense against tors, improve productivity and reduce the
chance of human error.
microbes that can take a bite out of your business. Keep your production line
rolling with less maintenance, better compliance and less downtime – choose Stoppages and machine safety
flooring designed specifically for the food manufacturing industry. For more Integrated safety systems are becom-
information, call us or visit our website. ing a more important part of machine
control. With many older machines, if an
operator needs to take a break, the only
Dur-A-Flex, Inc. way to do that is to hit the combined
95 Goodwin Street
East Hartford, CT 06108 E-stop/off switch, says Petrokonis. This
raises several issues: Did the machine
800-253-3539
shut down without jamming? What hap-
DurableFoodProcessingFloors.com
pens to OEE data if it’s being recorded?
Are any food safety issues involved with

62 December 2011 | Food Engineering | www.foodengineeringmag.com

an idle machine? These issues and oth- Jorge Izquierdo, PMMI, 703-243-8555, Doug Ferguson, Hixson Architecture & Engineering,
jizquierdo@pmmi.org 513-241-1230, dferguson@hixson-inc.com
ers also apply to whether a jam occurs in
David Kaley, Mitsubishi Electric, 847-478-2213, Kim Magon, Triangle Package Machinery Co.,
the machine: Does the whole machine
david.kaley@meau.com 800-621-4170, kmagon@trianglepackage.com
need to be stopped? Does the machine
Martino Caranti, GE Intelligent Platforms, Andy Hansbrough, Kollmorgen, 540-633-3545,
have to be cleaned before it’s placed back support@kollmorgen.com
39 02 4888001, martino.caranti@ge.com
in operation? Tom Wood, Bimba Manufacturing, 708-534-7549,
Khalid Ikram, Evergreen Packaging Inc.,
As more safety systems get designed 319-399-3200, khalid.ikram@everpack.com woodt@bimba.com
into the control of a packaging machine, Mitch Vanover, Hixson Architecture & Engineering, Steve Bergholt, Triangle Package Machinery Co.,
it may not have to be shut down when a 513-241-1230, mvanover@hixson-inc.com 800-621-4170, sbergholt@trianglepackage.com
small door is opened to remove a jam,
says Petrokonis. Rather, the machine
can be slowed down safely to prevent
injury and avoid a complete stoppage,
which might result in a total clean-up. When it comes to food safety, we’re listening.
Bühler Aeroglide has a long history partnering closely with food
Machine builders are beginning to get
processors. Today is no different. As an integral player in the Safe
some standards with which to design Food Engineering Round Table (SFERT), we’re listening closely
safety systems, and automation suppliers to major suppliers in the food industry. While Aeroglide dryers
are providing the tools to integrate safety already lead the industry in sanitary design, we’re about to raise
and machine control. the bar. Stay tuned...
Continuing advancements in opera-
tional productivity require tight inte-
gration w ith machine safety, thus
Bühler Aeroglide
requiring machine designers to keep 100 Aeroglide Drive, Cary NC 27511 USA
abreast of international machine safety Tel +1 919 851 2000, Fax +1 919 851 6029
aeroglide.sales@buhlergroup.com, www.aeroglide.com
requirements and regulations, accord-
ing to Hansbrough. “PMMI has been
instrumental in including international
requirements and regulations while
developing the new ANSI/PMMI
B155.1-2011 Safety Requirements for
Packaging Machinery and Packaging
Related Converting Machinery stan-
dard, which became effective in Sep-
tember 2011. The B155.1 standard
provides design safety guidelines for
industrial and commercial machinery
and contains several control design
options. The standard is available to
purchase from the American National
Standards Institute (ANSI).”
Machine builders have a lot on their
plate as they create new generations of
smart packaging machines, which make
a processor’s job a lot easier. The brains
they build into the controls will provide
more throughput, efficiency and safety,
giving operators new tools to monitor
quality and performance. ❖

For more information:

Leo Petrokonis, Rockwell Automation,
414-382-2000, lfpetrokonis@ra.rockwell.com Innovations for a better world.
Brian Deal, Schneider Electric, 610-662-3533,
brian.deal@schneider-electric.com
See Food Master, p. 24

www.foodengineeringmag.com | Food Engineering | December 2011 63

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 AD INDEX

April 22-25, 2012

Sanibel Harbour Marriott • Fort Myers, FL

COMPANY PHONE NUMBER PAGE COMPANY PHONE NUMBER PAGE

AAF Innternational 800-477-1214 4 Fristam Pumps 800-841-5001 7

Admix, Inc. 800-466-2369 41 Graco 877-844-7226 6

Arizona Instrument LLC 800-528-7411 4 JAX 800-782-8850 46

Austin Company www.theaustinconsulting.com 55 Lubriplate Lubricants Co. 800-733-4755 56

Bel-Ray www.-bel-ray.com 39 Marchant Schmidt Inc. 920-921-4760 14-17

Belt Technologies 800-832-2358 59 Martinsville Henry Co. Va. Eco. Dev. 276-403-5942 53

Bimba 800-44-BIMBA 12 Material Transfer & Storage 800-836-7068 27

Breddo Likwifier 800-669-4092 IBC Nord Drive Systems www.nord.com 26-27

Bühler Aeroglide 919-851-2000 63 Omega Engineering Inc. 888-82-OMEGA 2

Bunting Magnetics, Co. 800-835-2526 40 Reid Supply Company 800-253-0421 47

Burns & McDonnell 816-822-3831 37 Reiser 781-821-1290 21

Clarion White Oils 855-MY-CLARION 24-25 Ross, Charles & Son Company 800-243-ROSS 42

Demaco 321-952-6600 33 SEW Eurodrive www.seweurodrive.com 11

Douglas Machine 800-331-6870 20 SlipNOT Metal Safe Flooring 800-SLIPNOT 31

Dur-A-Flex 800-253-3539 62 SPX www.spx.com IFC

Electricites of North Carolina 800-768-7697 54 Summit Industrial Products 800-749-5823 32

Eriez Magnetics 888-300-ERIEZ 18 Terlet USA 800-965-6065 10

Flexicon Coporation 888-353-9426 BC Triple S Dynamics, Inc. 877-542-8010 9

Fluke www.fluke.com/answersnow 5 Urschel Laboratories, Inc. 219-464-4811 1

Further information on these companies can be found in the 2011-2012 FOOD MASTER CATALOG. This index is published as a convenience. No liability is assumed for errors or omissions.

70 December 2011 | Food Engineering | www.foodengineeringmag.com

 ENGINEERING R&D
Kevin T. Higgins, Senior Editor

Talent pool development

With a large cadre of American workers ready to retire, training
` and educating the next generation of technicians and engineers
is a critical need in manufacturing.
Development of new systems and technology is essential for economic survival. Of equal or greater
importance is cultivation of the human talent necessary to operate those systems and build the
machinery that supports them. Higher education needs all the champions it can get. One of edu-
cation’s biggest supporters from the packaging machinery industry is Nick L. Wilson, founder and
president of Morrison Material Handling Solutions in suburban Chicago.
Wilson’s company produces changeover parts and systems for packaging machines and a variety
of material-handling equipment, but its core product is part of its former name: Morrison Timing
Screw, established in 1971. Feed and timing screws orient and position fast-moving packages
entering filling machines and other equipment. They are ubiquitous in packaging halls, notably
those of food and beverage companies.
An advocate for better training and education for the people who design and build packaging
machinery, Wilson serves on the board of directors of the Packaging Machinery Manufacturers
` Nick L. Wilson, Institute (PMMI) and is currently board chairman. Wilson also serves on the advisory council of the
president and CEO, Purdue Technology Center of Northwest Indiana, a business incubator, and the Dean’s Technology
Morrison Material Advisory Board at Purdue University Calumet, Hammond, IN, where he played a seminal role in the
Handling Solutions, establishment of the nation’s first four-year degree program in electro-mechanical engineering for
Glenwood, IL.
packaging, also known as mechatronics, in 2008.
A native of Edgewood, IA, Wilson earned a BS degree in chemical engineering from Iowa State
University and an MBA in accounting from Chicago’s Loyola University.

FE: What are the most striking changes you’ve bring their line speeds up considerably. I don’t see that
seen over 40 years? kind of collaboration anymore. The nearest thing is
Wilson: Tremendous consolidation and change have when engineers from multiple industries get together
occurred. When we started, 120 bottles per minute and share concerns. People like to know that others
was the typical infeed speed. Now, you’re looking at are dealing with the same problems and that their
300-500 containers in most industries and 800-2,000 problems are not unique.
in beverage. The issues change tremendously when
you’re handling those speeds. FE: Is it fair to characterize timing screws as
The transition from mechanical systems to servos niche products?
was a huge change. It requires people with knowledge Wilson: Container handling often is seen as a minor
of electro-mechanical systems, and that kind of skill component, but if you can’t get the containers in the
set wasn’t being taught 15 years ago. It’s hard to find machine, automation will fail. That’s why a lot of filler
hands-on people who understand electronic controls OEMs and others will outsource the design work.
and the logic involved to use them in a machine.
When I started, the engineering groups in the FE: What types of projects do you get involved in?
liquor industry regularly shared knowledge on the Wilson: We did some work for a munitions company
production side. Companies fought on the market- in Kansas City. There was equipment literally from
ing side and cooperated on the production side. All the 1940s in the plant. They were moving bullets in
of them benefited, and cooperation allowed them to totes from station to station, throughout the process.

www.foodengineeringmag.com | Food Engineering | December 2011 71

 ENGINEERING R&D
We came up with a number of solutions for
them that made the process continuous.
FE: How did your education in
chemical engineering prepare you
for this work?
Wilson: I thought there was more oppor-
tunity in chemical when I went to college,
but I ended up working in mechanical engi-
neering. After graduating, I was a research
engineer for Standard Oil in Whiting, IN,
which is only 16 miles away. After five years
in the corporate world, I decided to be an
entrepreneur, like my father.
I grew up in a rural community in North-
east Iowa. My dad had an implement and
propane business. We always built things
and fixed things. Material handling is about
solving problems, and solving problems
tickles my mind. Personally, I’m not inter-
ested in cookie cutter solutions; once you
get the cookie cut, there’s no challenge. My
team comes to me when there are unique
problems to solve.
FE: Your alma mater recently
honored you with the Professional
Achievement Citation in Engineering
(PACE) award in recognition of your
work. What accomplishments most
appealed to the award committee?
Wilson: I’ve worked with Purdue Univer-
sity Calumet’s (PUC) School of Technol-
ogy to establish the first four-year degree in
mechatronics, which combines mechani-
cal and electrical engineering disciplines
necessary in the design and construction
of today’s packaging machinery. This is
a degree for people who get their hands
72 December 2011 | Food Engineering | www.foodengineeringmag.com
` Armando Garza sets up a prototype timing screw for a particular
bottle-handling solution in the Morrison Container shop. Source:
Esmeralda Torres/Morrison Container Handling Solutions.
on equipment and
make it work.
Finding qualified
people is one of the
most challenging
issues facing the
packaging industry,
and mechatronics
is one of the most
severely limited skill
areas. You can’t sur-
vive and grow without educated workers.
The PUC program is important, but we’re
not even touching the demand.
FE: When did your involvement with
PUC begin?
Wilson: Some of the engineering pro-
fessors were looking for ways to adapt
the curriculum to meet contemporary
needs, and I suggested that the school get
involved in packaging and take advantage
of scholarships available from PMMI and
others. It was hard to get traction, though,
so I paid for two professors to visit PACK
EXPO Las Vegas in 2007. They had no
idea of the possibilities. They were like
kids in a candy store when they walked
the aisles. They wrote a first draft of the
curriculum on the flight back.
I arranged for the professors to visit
several OEMs so they could see firsthand
the engineering and manufacturing pro-
cess. When the OEMs saw how enthu-
siastic the professors were, they became
excited, too, and the effort snowballed.
OEMs have contributed almost $1 mil-
lion worth of machinery and equipment
to the school’s engineering lab.
I worked with the school on adjusting
the curriculum and met with the state cer-
tification board to get mechatronics rec-
ognized. Approval was granted in a year,
which was considered lightning speed.
Early in the process, Niaz Latif joined
the school as the dean of technology. He
saw the possibilities of this program and
has been a major supporter. This is inter-
esting work, and the jobs are not export-
able; they stay here.
Thirty percent of PMMI’s member-
ship is based within 100 miles of the
school, which has helped in arranging
internships for the students so they
can gain hands-on experience. Since
the degree program started, the Center
for Packaging Machinery Industry has
been established to bring the school and
industry together to address needs. But
the need for more training is global.
FE: Are you involved in other efforts
to recruit and train young engineers
and technicians?
Wilson: I’ve been active on PMMI’s
education committee, where we’re devel-
oping mechanical certifications at mul-
tiple levels of skill competencies in PLC
programming, mechanical drive compo-
nents and other competencies. Training
is done online. And PMMI supports
student visits to PACK EXPO.
We have at least a dozen PMMI certi-
fied trainers on the Morrison staff. We
use them both to train people inside
our company and out, teaching end-
users’ workers not only how to main-
tain the equipment but to continuously
improve changeover performance.
Education is critically important to
our country, and we actively encourage
and pay for our employees to pursue a
course of study, regardless [of wheth-
er] it is related to their jobs. It changes
the way they see things.
FE: Given your commitment to
education, why didn’t you pursue an
advanced engineering degree?
Wilson: I needed to go to work. Back
then, you could earn as you go, and I could
just keep ahead of the bill collector.
W hi le in school, I worked as a
research assistant at the Iowa State
atomic energy lab, now known as the
US Department of Energy Ames Labo-
ratory. Those kinds of jobs, as well as
the lab itself, could likely go unfunded
in the current federal debt-reduction
climate. I think it’s a mistake. ❖
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