Despite a slowdown in Q3 2024 construction sector activity, home renovation professionals express optimism for Q4, according to Houzz's latest Renovation Barometer. 

USA Flooring announced the launch of a Partner Rewards Loyalty program, designed by The Incentive Group for Pro Customers, with support from Shaw Industries. 

Bona’s Matt Casey, director of professional marketing and the Bona Certified Craftsman Program, has been with the company for nearly two decades. During that time, he has witnessed a multitude of contractor challenges as well as the evolution of new product solutions. He details the current state of sustainability in the wood products industry, offering a few tips on how to work smarter not harder. 

The INSTALL Warranty Contractor designation is a unique offering in the flooring industry because it guarantees that the installation work is of the highest quality and stands behind that guarantee with a free extended warranty on labor.

This new requirement was established following a months-long infant formula shortage sparked by insanitary conditions at one of the nation’s largest infant formula facilities. 

D-tagatose must be declared as an added sugar on the Nutrition Facts label, but it contains fewer calories than sucrose or table sugar.

The California-based company is adding equipment, resources and production space to accommodate production of USDA-certified meat and poultry-based products.

Developments funded by the investment include upgrading existing production lines, revamping facilities for the factory’s 600 workers, and initiatives to improve energy efficiency and to help reduce carbon emissions.

In instant coffee production, the goal of separation technology is to produce optimum particle separation and yield, increasing the quality and purity of the finished product.

While we've looked at the key issues - including COVID-19 - facing food processors and A&E/Cs this year in FE's 2020 Annual Plant Construction Survey, there's a lot more to discuss.

For locating facilities, operators look for geographical areas with an employable workforce and adequate logistics.

Unlike the residential market, which is essentially single family housing and most often dealing with remodels, the commercial sector is a vast sea of segments, ranging anywhere from corporate offices to healthcare to education to hospitality to retail to government/military and technically anything else not handled by the typical neighborhood retailer.

While wood floors are built to withstand the abuse of foot traffic and furniture, humidity is an invisible enemy that can quickly wreak havoc on even the best surfaces.

The 2021 CTDA-NAFCD Financial Benchmarking Program will collect 2020 data to get a clear picture of how the channel performed during the last year.

The integration of Foundation Earth into EIT Food will provide the expertise needed for advocacy work to develop internationally-recognized standards surrounding the use of data to assess the environmental impact of food.

The report demonstrates the company's ongoing commitment to corporate responsibility and progress toward its environmental, social and governance goals in fiscal 2023.

Food and beverage manufacturers are focusing on reducing energy and materials by leveraging automation, capturing more data, sourcing modern processing equipment, and concentrating on quick “digital wins.”

The company will close its Warren, Arkansas, solid hardwood flooring manufacturing facility. Production will be moved to the AHF Beverly, West Virginia, facility, the largest solid hardwood flooring plant in North America, and the AHF West Plains, Missouri. 

Shaw Industries is further enhancing its domestic resilient flooring manufacturing capabilities with a $90 million investment in Plant RP in Ringgold, Georgia, which makes SPC and LVT resilient flooring. This latest phase of investment will more than double the facility’s resilient flooring production capacity by 2026. 

After the mad dash to end one year, January seems like a chance to get your feet back under you as you start the next.

This new SVT collection offers durability with a terrazzo style look to commercial spaces.

TractionSafety is a collection of slip-resistant flooring products created for spaces that require additional slip resistance.

Versatrim President and CEO Keith Medick shares how the floor moldings manufacturer is adding new products and new services. 

Mannington’s SimpleStairs stair treads offer a seamless look for luxury vinyl flooring installations with treads that exactly match Mannington's AduraMax, AduraRigid, AduraFlex and Realta wood-look floors. 

Already utilized by major retailers across the U.S., the active packaging solution has now been adopted for direct-to-consumer shipping of various seafood items.

The ADVANTEC Narrow brings all of the capacity and functionality benefits of the original ADVANTEC Impingement Freeze, but with innovations aimed at reducing its footprint and alleviating the pressures of high cryogenic gas prices on companies.

This device combines a built-in full function controller, both onboard and expandable I/O, and a 4.3” touchscreen display, in a compact all-in-one form factor.

FoodTech start-up, BioBetter, Ltd., has assigned a new role for the much-maligned Nicotiana tabacum plant upon discovering it can overcome the greatest hurdle in cultured meat—that of scaled production. 

When completed in 2027, Lactalis USA will have increased its U.S. feta production capacity to address current and future customer and consumer demand.

The requirements include those set by organizations such as the Food & Drug Administration (FDA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) and even state and local agencies.

While laboratory and other manual methods have been used for years, new automated moisture measurement and control systems can play an important role in improving product quality monitoring, increasing plant efficiency, and lowering energy costs.

With more canine and feline mouths to feed than ever before, robust pet food safety and detail-oriented inspection has never been more paramount.

Connectivity provides manufacturing plant operations many advantages like increased productivity, faster identification and remediation of quality defects, and better collaboration across functional areas. However, this connectivity is dramatically increasing smart factories’ vulnerabilities and leaving them exposed to cybersecurity threats.

A new cleaning tool has been under development at Cornell University, which uses superheated steam to kill bacteria on production surfaces.

The Perceptiv ecosystem is designed to offer customers a unified platform to meet the growing reliability needs industrial manufacturers face.

AI, machine learning and robotics not only improve product flow, but also can attract young talent that’s grown up with computers and easily adapts to new technologies.

Ahmik Hindman, senior networks and security consultant at Rockwell Automation, recently spoke about how food manufacturers can assess cybersecurity risks, implement security patches and build a cybersecurity risk management system.

As the regulatory landscape becomes increasingly complex, forward-thinking organizations are turning to Internet of Things (IoT) technology to ensure adherence to evolving standards throughout the production process.

While you can measure and chart OEE manually, today’s AI and ML-based technologies with smart sensors can help processors find the little things that can improve availability, performance and quality — leading to autonomous manufacturing.

Phrases such as “artificial intelligence” and “machine learning” are dominating headlines – and boardroom discussions – but what do they really mean? And more importantly, what can they do for food and beverage manufacturers?

While previous industrial revolutions were primarily driven by technological advancements, the emergence of Industry 5.0 is much more people focused. It's not defined by a single technological advancement but by a renewed focus on the human element. This era marks a crucial and overdue transition toward human-centric manufacturing operations, processes and businesses as a whole.

Located in Conway, Arkansas, the 570,000-sq.-ft. facility represents a $315 million investment in manufacturing capability and includes a comprehensive beverage development laboratory.

The expanded facility includes the addition of a new single-serve aseptic juice production line and a 104,000-sq.-ft. distribution center.

The new facility will be one of the largest manufacturing sites for the Chomps brand and is expected to create approximately 250 full-time jobs, with potential for future expansion.

Since its introduction in late 2019, Kinder Bueno has reached No. 17 in sales among mainstream chocolate brands, hitting more than $214 million in retail sales in the past year.

Shamrock Farms is investing $59 million into the project, which includes adding additional equipment, cold storage space and a new production filling line.

Once operational, the 284,000-sq.-ft. plant will produce cocoa-free chocolate, nut-free spreads and bean-free coffee, and it will have the capacity to make 10,000 metric tons of cocoa-free chocolate annually.

The food manufacturing industry faces any number of challenges, both great and small, but according to Food Engineering readers, the future is bright.

Since 2014, respondents to Food Engineering’s annual State of Food Manufacturing survey have ranked automation as the No. 1 trend affecting the industry—until this year.

Constant changes, huge swings in demand or shifts in consumer behavior, employee safety, and a general uncertainty about what comes next are all present in the 2020 State of Food Manufacturing Survey.