It was a challenging year for all of us, but there are still things to be proud of as 2020 comes to an end.

There are many different foreign materials that could and actually have ended up in foods. The most insidious of these and the one most feared is glass.

It is imperative that food processors understand that innovation is an imperative, and a failure to innovate can mean that they will begin to fall behind their competitors.

A long list of concerns continues to keep businesses in the food processing industry on their toes. Inflation. Supply chain issues. Hiring challenges. The pandemic. However, a connective thread runs through these four: automation.

The 11th Annual Installation Awards celebrates skilled flooring installers in residential and commercial settings. This year’s winners showcased unique projects and challenges, and we welcomed several new faces to this year’s contest. 

Approximately 90% of metro markets (196 out of 226, or 87%) registered home price gains in the third quarter of 2024, as the 30-year fixed mortgage rate ranged from 6.08% to 6.95%, according to the National Association of Realtors’ latest quarterly report.

Following recent management changes, Bella Flooring Group reaffirms its market presence under new leadership, with plans for significant investment and product expansion in 2025. 

Big D Floor Covering Supplies in Phoenix, Arizona hosted the fourth and final 2025 TISE Regional Installation Competition. Cesar Haro-Pena with Mike's Custom Flooring won the luxury vinyl plank category, and Hugo Gutierrez with Golden State Contract Flooring won the carpet category.

Flooring choice is integral in defining a space, but what about open-concept spaces? Here, Anthony Espinoza, co-owner of Music City Improvements, shares a few tips to assist designers in preserving the flow of open-concept spaces.

Performance Accessories Treadbond is a fast-curing, 100%-solids, moisture-curing adhesive designed for installing wood, HDF, and vinyl stair treads, as well as vinyl and HDF stair noses.

AssurGrip Rx vinyl flooring provides support and safety for commercial surfaces. 

PerimeterSeal® Tape seals the perimeter of any room, safeguarding both the flooring’s surface at the perimeter and the subfloor against spills and moisture damage.

Infinity Drain now offers customization capabilities for its product lines, and it also offers Next Day Custom Linear Drains. 

The threats facing food processing facilities are already here, and there is no longer any time to delay implementing minimum protections for these sites.

Küberit USA will debut its new integrated process for profile selection, sample acquisiiton, and resources for specification support at this week’s TISE. 

In 2023, Performance Accessories further expands this promise by enhancing its stair tread program and emphasizing its waterproof accessories.  

Laticrete, a leading manufacturer of globally proven construction solutions for the building industry, is adding profiles and trim to its growing roster of tile, stone and flooring installation products, making it the industry’s first manufacturer to provide a complete tile installation system including trim options.

The company announced plans to launch an e-commerce platform in the second quarter of 2023. The new site will highlight Versatrim's high-end product offering and will offer improved functionality to streamline the online order-entry process.  

Attendees will be able to expand their knowledge, find solutions and connect with others in the flooring community with Performance Accessories from September 20 to September 22, 2023. 

Performance Accessories offers a total system of industry-leading flooring solutions — including trims and transitions, stair solutions, adhesives, underlayments and cleaners — designed to complement and complete any flooring installation. 

Versatrim adds Fittes flush and framed vent designs to complement residential flooring projects.

These stylish and functional vents complement your flooring projects, adding a touch of modern elegance to any space.

The company's new guarantee states that if an order is not shipped on time, the customer's next order will ship for free.

The PowerPak 1000 has been specially developed as an entry-level machine for the thermoforming segment and offers advanced functions previously reserved for machines in the higher performance range.

SÜDPACK and industrial printing specialist LEIBINGER have joined forces test the suitability of continuous inkjet (CIJ) inks for printing on recyclable films for packaging food that is sterilized following the packaging process.

The different types of flexible packaging paper cover a range of requirements — from good knurling and heat‐sealing properties with or without a barrier function, to teabag wrapping and flow packs.

UPM Specialty Papers has used coatings from Michelman to develop recyclable paper packaging designed for food applications.

Most people have likely never heard of The Hausbeck Pickle Co. in Saginaw, MI, but there’s a good chance they’ve had one of its pickles, banana peppers or jalapeños.

Ben & Jerry's company principles drive the operations and the floor workers at the company’s ice cream factory in St. Albans, Vt.

Producing more than 1.4 billion pounds of pork and turkey annually, the Prestage Farms family of companies employs more than 2,700 associates and is affiliated with more than 470 farm families across the U.S.

Plant of the Year entrants are automatically entered into the Sustainable Plant of the Year competition. All entries are due by December 29, 2023.

The JBS Principe facility is FOOD ENGINEERING’s 2024 Plant of the Year for its daring modern take on traditional Italian-style dried meat production.

Kaurina’s Kulfi could take shortcuts with its ‘Indian ice cream’ for more product and profit, but instead chooses a scaled up process first used in the family’s kitchen in order to stay true to the frozen treat’s heritage.

Pulsation dampeners are critical in ensuring smooth homogenizer operation in dairy and plant-based ultra-high temperature processing.

These extra-large, high-capacity conveyors can be engineered for grading, aligning, distributing and other specialized food handling functions.

This new odorless and non-staining food grade penetrating oil features the performance of Kroil’s original formula, with the added benefit of meeting NSF-H1 and Kosher food-safe standards.

The system includes cameras, AI software, a conveyor and automatic ejection mechanisms with dual drops (one for foreign material, one for culls) to ensure only ideal potatoes reach later process stages.

Control Station has launched System Health Monitoring (SHM), a tiered service offering that leverages intelligence captured by the company’s PlantESP Loop Performance Monitoring solution.

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.

Designed to meet the demands of challenging applications in packaged products, the X52’s proprietary software seamlessly transitions between single energy, dual energy or both modes.

This powered, two polymer-rail, vertical-rising gate is OSHA-compliant, meeting all standards for fall protection and walking-working surfaces.

Its axial movement facilitates precise dosing and metering, ensuring that delicate products are processed at optimal quality levels with minimal waste.

The conveyor’s lanes combine product, making a mixed variety of can or bottle flavors to create a multi-flavor case pack.

I'm going to start a nomadic life soon. I'll need to carry a lot of stuff with me unless I decide to get a storage unit and pick a home base city. I'm hoping to get down to 2x100L bags or preferably a single 130-160L bag that I don't need to...

In Brazil, the company will ocean-raise Forever Oceans Amberjack, known locally as ‘Olho de Boi’ or Remeiro. This versatile finfish is praised for its taste, protein, nutrition and is rich in Omega-3.

While we hope the COVID-19 pandemic is fading into the background, we still need to be concerned with labor shortages, transportation interruptions, political issues, weather extremes, and other peripheral circumstances that can still break critical links in the supply chain.

The USDA says 2022 will be a great year for agriculture, and climate-smart farming practices can help.

With this carbon dioxide chiller installed at a dairy, not only does it cool the milk better, it also provides heat for washing equipment.

Chances are, you’ve probably been using the same HMI, MES or SCADA program for some time in your operation, and you’ve been through several version upgrades too. Providers of these products work hard to make their software backward compatible with equipment and operating systems as well as create new features users want.

TCAA and IMI held the first of the six-event Ceramic Tile Seminar series in New Berlin, Wis.