A packaging industry expert shares good practices lead to across-the-board benefits.

Attendees can vote on the awards during the packaging show, Sept. 11–13 in Las Vegas.

The right technology can help snack and bakery professionals avoid or minimize supply chain challenges.

Eaglestone Equipment, a custom manufacturer of industrial processing equipment, recently introduced the TrackIQ Sorting Conveyor.

Eaglestone Equipment, a custom manufacturer of industrial food processing equipment, offers the 1150 Fabric Constant Turn Conveyor to help food processors speed up production lines and keep products moving efficiently through manufacturing lines. 

As the largest British-owned potato chip manufacturer with the top-selling brand of chips in Northern Ireland, Tayto has a proven recipe for success.

Did you miss the following new products, ingredients and equipment in and for the baking and snack industries on www.snackandbakery.com this week? If so, check them out now.

A founder of the baked snack brand talks about its origins, growth, and future.

The snack and bakery industry continues to face a difficult road when it comes to staffing. Challenges related to filling open positions for skilled and unskilled production personnel have persisted for years. But the past several months have proven particularly trying as employers seek to fill available jobs with individuals from an increasingly wary, pandemic-weary America.

New Jersey bakery Hudson Bread counts on Koenig for its high-quality bread production, with a new dough sheeting line as the newest addition to its production line.

Maintaining sanitary conditions is at the top of the priority list in the food processing industry.

Equipment Briefs from various Suppliers. Check it out!

Snack manufacturers are looking to build in healthfulness through the use of raw materials, including vegetables and fruit, as well as cleaner ingredient profiles with more protein and fiber.

SNAXPO18, taking place March 12-14 in Atlanta at the Georgia World Congress Center, is a must-attend event for anyone working in today’s snack food industry.

Hygienic design, quicker changeovers, reduction of maintenance time, improved cooling ability and the modularity and flexibility to run more-diverse products-sometimes with exotic raw materials that need gentler processing-are the top-of-mind issues for customers of extrusion equipment.

Customers of machines that handle puffing and extruding of snack and bakery products are focused on accommodating protein- and plant-based inclusions, hygienic design and rapid cleaning, speed and quick changeovers, better integrated controls, easy data extraction, and smaller machines that can produce specialized batches.

The TheiaVu E-Series is a standalone vision inspection system that collects measurements of features of many types of baked goods, such as buns, rolls, English muffins, doughnuts, cookies, and more.

All Bradman Lake machinery has been specifically designed to meet today’s packaging challenges, improving flexibility and efficiency to increase profitability. 

On exhibit at PACK EXPO will be the company's Thiele UltraStar G2 Bagger, Hayssen R300 Flow Wrapper, and OpView HMI.

The item is suitable for snack and bakery manufacturing, as well as other production environments.

There was a time, not so long ago, when nutritional boundaries were more clear-cut. "Indulgent foods weren't healthy," says Mel Festejo, COO, American Key Food Products, Closter, NJ. "They either had a surfeit of nutrients that triggered health issues, or they contained ingredients whose names raised anxiety."

Snack food and wholesale bakery companies had been steadily adding automation to their plants and equipment contained therein for a number of years—and then the pandemic hit, accelerating the process due to both the difficulty in finding qualified people to hire, and the need for social distancing that accompanied at least the early stages of COVID-19. Ovens, proofers, and associated equipment have been among the candidates for automation.

Companies who make dough handling equipment like dividers, depositors and rounders say their customers want equipment that provides safety and sanitation, automation and the resulting labor savings, gentler handling of dough, and the flexibility to run a mix of high-throughput, and smaller, niche lines, depending on the job.

Sanitation, automation, efficiency, speed, ease of cleaning, the ability to handle larger capacities, and the ability to produce clean label-foods are among the top priorities for snack food and baked goods makers seeking to purchase dividers, depositors and rounders.

Snack food and wholesale bakery companies in the market for dough-handling equipment such as dividers, depositors, and rounders have been increasingly focused on machines that provide greater automation, along with the corollary efficiency and labor savings.

Customers of cutting, slicing and portioning equipment for snack and bakery products consider a wide range of parameters: They're hoping to find machinery that offers greater use of robots and automation, better sanitation, higher safety standards, faster speeds, wider and easier-to-clean blades, and reliable and flexible systems that can handle different sizes and shapes.

Cost, safety, efficiency, footprint, operator familiarity, and the ability to meet regulations are among the key factors that snack and bakery facilities need to consider when deciding whether to keep and refurbish an old piece of equipment, or send it to the scrap heap and buy new.

Higher capacities, new shapes, longer blade life, automation, flexibility, sanitary design, quick changeover, and gentler handling of fragile ingredients are among the top features and benefits that snack and bakery companies want from their slicing, cutting and portioning machinery.

Founded in 1945, JC Ford is based in Columbia, TN, and has $70 million in annual revenues.

The foundation is honoring six students with $5,000 PACK EXPO scholarships.

KPM Analytics has announced three new instrument configurations for its Unity Scientific SpectraStar product line.

KPM Analytics, Inc., a Union Park Capital portfolio company, announced it has acquired Bruins Instruments, a German-based manufacturer of high-resolution near-infrared reflectance and transmission analyzers.

The Swedish agritech company BoMill AB unveils BoMill InSight, the next generation of industrial grain sorting equipment able to sort grain lots, kernel by kernel, at industrial speed, up to 15mt/h, based on each single kernel’s internal properties.

Fryers continue to see ongoing improvements related to hygienic design, oil management and energy efficiency. Equipment suppliers are also offering models that occupy a smaller physical and carbon footprint, and that include adaptability to handle a diverse array of products.

PPM Technologies has updated its Snack Frying System.

Bakeries and snack makers in the market for ovens, proofers, fryers, and dryers have a healthy list of features and benefits in mind. These include capabilities for customization and flexibility, reliability and consistency, temperature control, faster processing times and continuous production, and automation that operators can control and monitor remotely.

Automation has begun to take over the world of sorting and ingredient handling among snack and bakery products, especially in the area of continuous batching and delivery systems.

This past year has been an exciting one for the baking industry, especially in terms of the progress made on revising the ANSI/ASB Z50.2 Bakery Equipment Sanitation Standard (formerly known as the “BISSC Standard”). Representatives from across the baking industry, including bakers, bakery engineers, bakery equipment manufacturers and academics have come together to give their input on updating this standard.

Every year on March 11, the international plumbing community comes together to celebrate World Plumbing Day. The day aims to spread awareness of the importance of plumbing and plumbers in protecting public health and improving access to clean water and sanitation facilities. 

BNP Media Plumbing Group Multimedia Editor Nadia Askar recently sat down with Michael Whiteside, president and owner of Chicago-based MIFAB.

Plumbing & Mechanical Chief Editor Nicole Krawcke had a chance to sit down with Billy Stevens, founder and CEO of Sera Systems, a subscription software provider for the home service industry, to discuss current trends with contractor software.

Resideo announced the launch of the Resideo Home app, which will make whole-home monitoring possible for the four critical networks of the home – water, air, energy and security – during its Resideo Live event, held in Austin, Texas, this past December. 

From celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2018 to investing another $6 million to its joint venture company, Phyn, in 2019 to the release of the Phyn Plus Pro Edition at the 2020 International Builders Show, Uponor has certainly been busy the past few years.

MarginPoint, a provider of mobile-enabled, collaborative inventory management and field management solutions, is focused on helping plumbing industry pros to manage inventory replenishment, optimize business processes and drive revenue. 

MCAA’s spring meeting and conference schedule screeched to a halt this year, much like many other contractor organizations in the industry, with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

After a stint as a top producer at Morgan Stanley, Andrew Ettinger was faced with years of struggling with business initiatives and eventually filed for bankruptcy. 

Founded in 2017, Schedule Engine is a customer service support solution for home service contractors.

Plumbing & Mechanical Chief Editor Nicole Krawcke recently chatted with PHCC—National Association’s newly elected President Hunter Botto regarding his goals for the coming year as well as the organization’s legislative agenda and areas of focus for its members. 

In August, Nexstar Network announced Julian Scadden would replace Jack Tester as president and CEO, effective Nov. 1. Plumbing & Mechanical Chief Editor Nicole Krawcke recently chatted with Scadden about his background and leadership goals for the organization.

While 2020 has been a year of uncertainty for most businesses, Mr. Rooter Plumbing is celebrating its 50th anniversary by adding more franchises to its lineup.