Food and Drink Business Europe

March 2012

PepsiCo targets Europe Food & Drink Business Website:

www.fdbusiness.com

C o n t e n t s

- 3 M ERGERS & A CQUISITIONS

- 29 B EVERAGES

Coverage of British and international deals.

HCC is new entrant in cider and contract packing.

P AGE 7

- 5 C OVER S TORY PepsiCo targets sustainable growth in Europe.

PAGE 3

Mark Allen, ceo, Dairy Crest.

R EGULARS

John Compton, president, PepsiCo.

RECRUITMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

PepsiCo unveils new global structure and leadership.

Logistics & Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Processing & Manufacturing. . . . 19, 35 & 41 Plate Freezing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35-37

- 11&15 D AIRY

PAGE 11

John Moloney, md, Glanbia.

Energy & Environment . . . . . . . . . 22 & 42

Strong financial performance by Glanbia.

FrieslandCampina pays record milk price.

PAGE 3

Materials & Ingredients . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Graham Mackay, ceo, SABMiller.

Quality & Safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

- 17 S EAFOOD The Scottish Salmon Company plans £40 million expansion.

Bottling & Packaging . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 & 43

PAGE 15

MAP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38-41

Cees ‘t Hart, ceo, Royal FrieslandCampina.

Control & Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . 44-48

Morrisons to move into seafood processing.

Managing Director: Colin Murphy Editor: Mike Rohan Sales Director: Ronan McGlade

PAGE 3

- 21 & 22 PALM O IL

Billy Keane, md, Robert Wiseman Dairies.

New Britain Palm Oil to double capacity of Liverpool refinery.

Advertising: Susan Doyle, Neela Desai, Kieran Kenny. Senior Sales Executive: Paul Lees Production Manager: Susan Doyle

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Palm oil in confectionery manufacturing.

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- 27 N EAUTRACEUTICALS & F UNCTIONAL F OODS

PAGE 5

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Zein Abdalla, ceo, PepsiCo Europe.

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1

M E E R R G G E E R R S S M Dairy Crest May Sell French Branded Spreads Business Dairy Crest is considering disposing of St Hubert, its French branded spreads business. The UK’s leading dairy foods company is conducting a strategic review of St Hubert which will evaluate all possible options available to maximise shareholder value, including a potential divestment.

Mark Allen, chief executive of Dairy Crest.

Since its acquisition in January 2007, St Hubert has been a successful part of the Dairy Crest group and has consistently increased its market share and profitability. However, Dairy Crest has been unable to make additional synergistic acquisitions in Continental Europe as it envisaged at the time of its acquisition of St Hubert and it believes that greater value may be generated for shareholders through the consideration of all the available options for St Hubert.

A disposal would reduce Dairy Crest's debt and provide it with a number of alternatives which include releasing some proceeds to shareholders, investing in its core business and making strategic acquisitions of branded businesses in the UK. This would further improve Dairy Crest's strong position in the consolidating UK dairy market. Any acquisitions would be synergistic and made within strict financial criteria, as will any decision over the future of St Hubert.

Whatever the results of the review, Dairy Crest will continue to develop its broadly based UK business including its strong portfolio of brands (Cathedral City, Country Life,

& &

A C C Q Q U U II S S II T T II O O N N S S A

Clover and Frijj). The Dairy Crest board also intends to continue with its progressive dividend policy.

FrieslandCampina Expands With $457 Million Acquisition Royal FrieslandCampina has purchased a controlling interest in Alaska Milk Corporation, one of the largest dairy companies in the Philippines.

FrieslandCampina is paying $302 million to increase its stake from about 8.1% to 68.9% by purchasing the shares held by the Uytengsu family, the founders and controlling shareholders of AMC. FrieslandCampina will launch a tender offer for the remaining outstanding publicly traded shares at an identical price, bringing the full value of the acquisition up to $457 million (Eur349 million). The acquisition adds a market of approximately 100 million consumers to FrieslandCampina’s existing consumer base.

SABMiller and Anadolu Efes Complete Strategic Alliance International brewers SABMiller and Anadolu Efes have completed their strategic alliance covering Turkey, Russia, the CIS, Central Asia and the Middle East, which was originally announced last October. SABMiller has transferred its Russian and Ukrainian beer businesses to Anadolu Efes in return for a 24% shareholding to be listed on the Istanbul Stock Exchange.

The combination of SABMiller’s and Anadolu Efes’ Russian operations will create a strong number two in value share terms within the country’s

Graham Mackay, chief executive of SABMiller.

beer market, with a highly attractive brand portfolio and is expected to yield significant cost synergies of at least $120 million per year, and provide additional revenue synergy opportunities.

Anadolu Efes and SABMiller will share best practice and Anadolu Efes will now develop SABMiller's international brands in Turkey, Russia, the CIS, Central Asia and the Middle East.

United Spirits Considering Disposal of Whyte & Mackay Stake United Spirits, which is part of Indian conglomerate UB Group, is considering disposing of a 49%

stake in its Scotch whisky subsidiary Whyte & Mackay to help reduce debt. Controlled by Indian billionaire Vijay Mallya UB Group, which owns the troubled Kingfisher Airlines business, has debts of $4 billion. United Spirits would retain its 51% stake in Whyte & Mackay, which it acquired for £595 million in 2007.

Lion Capital Decides Against Findus Nordic Disposal UK private equity firm Lion Capital is reported to have decided against disposing of the Nordic unit of its Findus frozen foods group. The Nordic business attracted a number of suitors, including Nestle and Norwegian group Orkla, but no agreement was reached on price. The sale was expected to raise between Eur700 million and Eur800 million with the proceeds being used to reduce Findus’ debt of £721 million. Lion Capital will now inject £75 million to £100 million in capital into Findus to ease the debt burden.

Findus is the leading branded frozen food manufacturer in the Nordic region, with market leadership in Sweden, Norway and Finland in each of the frozen ready meals, fish and vegetables

FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2012

segments in which it operates.

Findus has a strong presence in France, where it has the strongest brand recognition of any frozen food brand. In the UK, the Findus brand was brought back under direct control of the Findus Group in April 2009. Findus Group also owns Young's Seafood, the UK’s largest supplier of fish and seafood.

Robert Wiseman Dairies Delisted Robert Wiseman Dairies has been delistred from the London Stock Exchange following its £279.5 million acquisition by Muller Dairy (UK), the British subsidiary of German dairy group Muller.

Operating from six major processing dairies in Aberdeen, East Kilbride, Glasgow, Manchester, Droitwich Spa and Bridgwater, Robert Wiseman Dairies processes and delivers more than 30% of the fresh milk consumed in Britain, every day. Based at Market Drayton in Shropshire, Muller Dairy (UK) is the overall market leader in chilled yoghurts and potted desserts in the UK

Billy Keane, managing director of Robert Wiseman Dairies.

Sara Lee Moves Closer to Coffee and Tea Business Spin-off Sara Lee expects to complete the spin-off of its international Coffee & Tea business by the end of June 2012. Post spin-off, the Coffee & Tea business will be domiciled as a new publicly traded company incorporated in the Netherlands.

“With over 250 years of history, the Coffee & Tea business has solid market positions and deep roots in many European markets,” says Sara Lee executive chairman Jan Bennink. “Domiciling Coffee & Tea in the Netherlands allows management to be close to its key Western European markets and effectively manage its global portfolio.”

3

COVER STORY

PepsiCo Targets Sustainable Growth in Europe With the majority of its sales now generated in the fast growing emerging markets of Eastern Europe but with strong positions in the mature markets of Western Europe, PepsiCo is well placed for sustainable profitable growth throughout the region.

P

epsiCo Europe had revenues of over $13.5 billion in 2011 and employing more than 60,000 people, is one of the continent’s leading food and beverage companies, serving almost 900 million consumers in 45 countries. PepsiCo’s European business empire spans 11 time zones and stretches from Portugal eastward to Russia, and from Norway as far south as Turkey.

“Now clearly by any definition this is an incredibly large region,” points out Zein Abdalla, chief executive officer of PepsiCo Europe and president of the Union of European Beverages Associations (UNESD), which represents the non-alcoholic drinks industry in Europe.

“But it’s also very diverse from the volatility but higher growth rate of the east through to the lower growth Zein Abdalla, chief executive officer of PepsiCo rates but more stability Europe and president of the European Beverages of the west, and Association. tremendously diverse in terms of language, culture, ethnicity and of course in terms of the food and beverages that are consumed.” He adds: “What it takes to succeed and win is clearly the ability to leverage scale across its breadth but also a real understanding of how to operate locally because food and beverages are ultimately local categories.”

PepsiCo Europe ranks second in carbonated soft drinks but holds

PepsiCo Europe’s brands portfolio incorporates some of the world’s most respected household names including Pepsi-Cola beverages, Frito-Lay snacks, Tropicana juices and Quaker food products, as well as strong regional brands such as Walkers crisps.

European market leadership in savoury snacks, juices and ready to drink tea (through its Lipton joint venture with Unilever). PepsiCo Europe’s brands portfolio incorporates some of the world’s most respected household names including Pepsi-Cola beverages, Frito-Lay snacks, Tropicana juices and Quaker food products, PepsiCo has become the largest food and as well as strong region- beverage business in Russia following its $5.4 al brands such as billion purchase of dairy and juice company WimmWalkers crisps, Copella, Bill-Dann.

Paw Ridge, Snack-aJack, Duyvis, Tasty, Matutano, Sandora, Yedigun and Lebedyansky juices.

Well Balanced PepsiCo Europe is well balanced between developed markets in the west, where about 43% of 2010 revenues were generated, and the emerging markets of Eastern Europe which accounted for 57%. It has scale in both snacks and beverages. Snacks account for 35% of sales, carbonated soft drinks 20%, non carbonated beverages 28% and dairy 17%.

“We are incredibly balanced in terms of this geographic split with a slightly higher weighting towards the emerging markets of Europe. That is fundamentally what positions our portfolio for growth but we have very scaled businesses in Western Europe and that’s what gives us stability,” says Zein Abdalla.

The European business has benefited significantly from the $7.8 billion strategic acquisitions of PepsiCo’s two largest bottlers - Pepsi Bottling Group and Pepsi Americas - in 2010. The deal has given PepsiCo direct control over 80% of its bottling network.

The European operations of the two bottlers have now been consolidated into PepsiCo Europe, providing more integrated operating systems, with the ability to more quickly implement and execute marketplace programmes. The combined company is particularly well positioned to capture the clear growth opportunity in the dynamic non-carbonated beverage segment. The integrated operation also offers PepsiCo the opportunity to implement its ‘Power of One’ business strategy that tries to market its

FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2012

5

multiple food and beverage brands together.

Sustainable Growth PepsiCo Europe is focused on sustainable growth in the region. It is investing heavily in Eastern Europe in order to reach around 350 million consumers in Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian markets. It is also concentrating on improving efficiency and competitiveness in its developed market in Western Europe to maintain market share and profitability. The productivity programmes are designed to enhance cost competitiveness as well as generate funding for future brand building and innovation initiatives.

PepsiCo

Europe

currently

in Russia, Ukraine and CIS.

Transformational Acquisition PepsiCo has significantly expanded its European presence with the $5.4 acquisition of Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods, Russia’s leading branded food and beverage company with leading positions in dairy products, baby food and juice, in December 2010, following the earlier acquisitions of Lebedyanasky, a popular juice company in Russia, and Sandora, a Ukrainian juice company.

The Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods deal has been transformational for PepsiCo, marking its largest ever international acquisition and making Russia its second largest market behind the US. Russian Market Generating revenues of about $5 billion in Russia, PepsiCo is approximately twice the size of its nearest food and beverage competitor in the country. Russia, with GDP of $22.2 trillion in 2010 and a population of 140 million, is expected to become the second largest economy in Europe, behind Germany, by 2013. Russia is an attractive marketplace for investment. It is the seventh largest global economy on a purchasing power parity basis and consumer spending is rising due The Wimm-Bill-Dann acquisition has increased to a growing middle PepsiCo’s exposure to the dairy market. class and an increasingly affluent population.

Russia with its neighbouring countries represents a market of almost 300 million consumers. The positive long-term macroeconomic trends in Russia, including rising GDP and increasing consumer spending, has created an attractive operating climate and a marketplace that offers healthy, sustainable profit margins.

PepsiCo has a long established presence in Russia. Pepsi Cola was the first Western branded consumer product manufactured in Russia and PepsiCo opened its first bottling plant in Novorossiysk in 1974.

PepsiCo Europe currently operates 11 manufacturing plants and employs 15,000 people in Russia, Ukraine and CIS. PepsiCo Europe has also been developing its infrastructure elsewhere in Eastern Europe. PepsiCo Europe is curently investing Eur50 million at its Polish plants in Grodzisk Mazowiecki and Tomaszow Mazowiecki.

The PepsiCo brand Marbo recently opened a Eur20 million state-ofthe-art potato chip production line at its plant in Backi Maglic in Serbia.

Healthier Products In addition to establishing PepsiCo as the largest food and beverages business in Russia, while enhancing its standing in key markets in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the Wimm-Bill-Dann deal has also broadened and improved the ‘healthier’ products aspect of PepsiCo’s portfolio, which was traditionally dominated by fizzy, sugary drinks and salty snacks.

The integration of Wimm-Bill-Dann’s value-added dairy business has significantly advanced PepsiCo’s strategy to improve its ‘health and well6

operates

11

manufacturing plants and employs 15,000 people

ness’ credentials. It has raised PepsiCo’s annual global revenues from nutritious and functional foods from about $10 billion to nearly $13 billion, taking it closer to the goal of building a $30 billion nutrition business by 2020.

In response to growing consumer demand for ‘healthy’ products, PepsiCo is committed to reducing the sodium content of its key global snacks brands by 25% by 2015, reducing the average amount of saturated fat per serving by 15% by 2020, while reducing the average amount of added sugar per serving by 25% by 2020. Indeed, PepsiCo is increasing the amount of whole grains, fruits and vegetables

in its products.

For example, PepsiCo Europe has invested more than Eur20 million in a flagship European R&D centre at Leicester in the UK, which employs 100 scientists and is dedicated to creating new, healthier snacks for the European market. Last year, PepsiCo Europe opened a Eur15 million fruit and vegetable R&D innovation centre in Hamburg in Germany.

Similarly, on the environmental front, PepsiCo Europe is committed to improving water use efficiency by 20% per unit of production and energy use by 25% by 2015 against a 2006 baseline. In the UK for instance, in partnership with its British farmers, PepsiCo Europe aims to reduce the carbon and water impact of its British core crops by 50% over the next five years.

Move into Dairy The Wimm-Bill-Dann acquisition has increased PepsiCo’s exposure to the dairy market. Dairy products offer a range of health and nutrition benefits, which PepsiCo plans to exploit. The world’s largest snacks and second biggest beverages company recently formed a joint venture in the US with Theo Muller, Germany’s largest privately owned dairy business, and will invest $206 million in a new state-of-the-art yoghurt production facility in New York. PepsiCo also established a joint venture with Almarai, the leading dairy company in the Middle East, in 2009 The European business is the third biggest of PepsiCo’s four major divisions. The other divisions are PepsiCo Americas Beverages, which has sales of $22.42 billion, PepsiCo Americas Foods with sales of $23.13 billion and PepsiCo Middle East and Africa with sales of $7.39 billion.

Financial Performance Reflecting the benefit of the Wimm-Bill-Dann acquisition as well as effective net pricing to offset high levels of commodity and cost inflation, PepsiCo Europe increased net revenue by 41% to $ 13.56 billion in 2011 – a rise of 12% excluding the impact of the Wimm-Bill-Dann acquisition. Volume rose by double-digits in both snacks and beverages, including the impact of the WimmBill-Dann acquisition.

Full-year operating profit inc-reased by 15% to $1.21 billion.

Framework For Growth PepsCo Europe’s strategy for growth is built on five planks - build and extend the macrosnacks portfolio; sustainably and profitably grow the beverage business; build and expand the nutrition businesses; unleash the power of the Power of One strat-

FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2012

The integration of Wimm-Bill-Dann’s value-added dairy business has significantly advanced PepsiCo’s strategy to improve its ‘health and wellness’ credentials. It has raised PepsiCo’s annual global revenues from nutritious and functional foods from about $10 billion to nearly $13 billion, taking it closer to the goal of building a $30 billion nutrition business by 2020.

Within carbonated soft drinks, Eastern Europe is the focus while in Western Europe the business is weighted towards no sugar.

egy; and ensure prudent, responsible financial management. “These five focus areas have been kind to us across the last few years and they are clearly the drivers for our business as we go forward,” says Zein Abdalla.

PepsiCo Europe identifies further growth opportunities in snacks by increasing local relevance, improving health and wellness proposition and capturing indulgence and new eating occasions. The group is also expanding into oven baked snacks, nuts and seeds, grain-based snacks, and bread snacks and crackers.

The snacks business has the potential to deliver strong top line growth, through innovation to capture new occasions and cohort groups, and by capitalizing on growing per capita consumption in Eastern Europe. There is also major potential for margin expansion through strong revenue management, and leveraging scale and transformational productivity.

About two-thirds of PepsiCo Europe’s beverages revenue is now generated in Eastern Europe and non-carbonated beverages are growing twice as fast as carbonated soft drinks. Indeed, non-carbonated beverages, comprising juice (34%), tea/other (13%), dairy (19%) account for 66% of beverages revenues with carbonated soft drinks contributing 34%.

Within carbonated soft drinks, “Eastern Europe is our focus and then in Western Europe our business is weighted towards no sugar. That is where we see the growth going forward and we have tremendous properties in brands like Pepsi Max,” he remarks. The PBG and PAS acquisition in the US has given PepsiCo Europe the scale to realise synergies across the bottling system, which is now bigger, leaner and more agile.

“So all in all on beverages, like with snacks, we feel we’re very well positioned for growth as a result of our non-cal portfolio balancing carbs, as a result of our no sugar balancing sugar and as a result of our East Europe balancing west,” he points out.

In terms of building and expanding its nutrition business, PepisCo is well positioned in Europe to leverage opportunities in three key segments – fruits and vegetables through the Tropicana brand, whole grains through the Quaker brand, and dairy with Wimm-Bill-Dann, according to Zein Abdalla, Now PepsiCo’s largest market outside the US, Russia will play a key role in the continued development of the European business. “Russia has good margins relative to many Western European countries and that is because of a number of things but Russians truly appreciate brands. They have a lifestyle that is also evolving so they increasingly see value in convenience and will pay the premium for convenience,” the PepsiCo Europe chief executive explains. “So there’s many aspects of Russian lifestyle and the evolution of Russian lifestyle that plays very well to our business so it starts on a profitable base and we do see opportunity to expand but the thing that gives us a lot of confidence in the margin structure of Russia going forward is the return you get on scale in Russia.” J

PepsiCo Unveils New Global Structure and Leadership to Drive Continued Growth

I

n its quest to become a fully integrated, global food and beverage company, PepsiCo has announced a new global structure and strengthened its management team. In the new structure, while the regions – PepsiCo Americas Beverages, PepsiCo Americas Foods, PepsiCo Middle East and Africa, and PepsiCo Europe - retain ownership of the P&L, PepsiCo's global groups will work across the regions to fully leverage the power and scale of the company. Consistent with this shift, PepsiCo has made two leadership changes.

Former PepsiCo executive Brian Cornell has rejoined the company as chief executive of PepsiCo Americas Foods. He most recently was president and chief executive of Sam’s Club, a division of WalMart Stores. Current PepsiCo Americas Foods chief executive John Compton has been promoted to the newly created position of president of PepsiCo. As chief executive of PepsiCo Americas Foods, Brian Cornell will report to PepsiCo chairman and John Compton has been promoted to the newly Brian Cornell has rejoined the company as chief executive of PepsiCo Americas Foods. chief executive Indra Nooyi and be responsible for created position of president of PepsiCo. Frito-Lay North America, Quaker Foods & Snacks North America, PepsiCo Mexico, South America Foods, PepsiCo sible for driving breakcustomer teams and all Power of One activities within the Americas. through innovation, and brand building while looking for ways to As president of PepsiCo, John Compton will continue to report significantly reduce the overall cost structure of the company. to Indra Nooyi and assume responsibility for all of PepsiCo's exist“This executive position will serve as a key driver for our longing global category groups (Global Beverages, Global Snacks and term growth strategy,” says Indra Nooyi. “A 28-year PepsiCo veterGlobal Nutrition), Global Operations (IT, Global Procurement, an, John brings a unique insight to this critical role. I have absolute Supply Chain and Productivity), Global Marketing Services and confidence in John's ability to work productively with the sector Corporate Strategy.

CEOs to bring about a step-change for PepsiCo's growth and profWorking with the regional sectors, John Compton will be respon- itability.” J FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2012

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Strong Financial Performance

By Glanbia Reflecting strong performances from both its Irish and US operations, Glanbia, the global nutritional solutions and cheese group, has reported a 17.9% rise in operating profit to €161 million on revenue up 23.3% to €2.67 billion for the year ended December 31st 2011. perating margin dropped 30 bps to 6% due largely to input cost pressures in performance nutrition. On a constant currency basis, Glanbia’s US Cheese & Global Nutritionals division increased revenue by 35% to Eur1.38 billion and operating profit pre exceptional increased 21.3% to Eur113.8 million.

Glanbia has invested significant resources in recent years to develop and enhance its US Cheese & Global Nutritionals division. The acquisition and successful integration of BSN into Performance Nutrition complemented strong organic revenue growth during 2011.

Glanbia’s US Cheese business benefited from strong, yet somewhat volatile, cheese prices for most of the year, compared with 2010. However, higher prices for competing dairy products reduced milk volumes processed into cheese, thereby increasing prices.

US retail cheese sales were down overall, mainly as a result of consumer resistance to retail price increases. This was more than offset by relatively strong demand from the food service sector and export sales of Americanstyle cheddar cheese which were very strong, increasing over 30% in 2011, following a 60% increase in 2010.

O

The performance of global dairy markets is key to Glanbia’s Dairy Ingredients Ireland business, as substantially all of Irish dairy output is exported.

Within Glanbia’s Global Nutritionals business, 2011 was a significant year for whey proteins as strong demand and tight supply lead to unprecedented high whey pricing. Demand was fuelled by strong growth in key nutritional markets, which continued throughout the year.

Market growth estimates for 2011 for key global nutritional segments included 15%

growth in the nutritional bar market, 7% growth in sports nutrition and 18% growth in nutritional beverages. In 2011, the market for customised premix solutions continued to be strong driven by double digit growth in demand from beverages, breakfast cereals, product fortification requirements in infant formula, supplements and nutrition bars.

Favourable market demand conditions in key nutritional segments are expected to continue in 2012, although with tight supply in key raw materials.

Irish Business Positive global dairy markets underpinned a solid performance by Dairy Ireland despite the challenges of the Consumer Products business. The Dairy Ireland business grew revenue by 19% to Eur1.35 billion and operating profit pre exceptional increased 23.2% to Eur53.6 million.

The performance of global dairy markets is key to Glanbia’s Dairy Ingredients Ireland business, as substantially all of Irish dairy output is exported. The trading environment for Dairy Ingredients Ireland was positive in 2011 although some weakness is anticipated for 2012. Positive global dairy markets also underpinned the demand for farm inputs and benefited Glanbia’s Agribusiness.

The trading environment for the Consumer Products business is dictated by both the domestic Irish economy and the indirect impact of global dairy markets on input costs. 2011 was another difficult year for the food retail market in Ireland as consumer sentiment remained weak. Higher global dairy markets during the year resulted in increased milk costs for Consumer Products and while some modest price increases were implemented margins were still lower year-on-year. The Irish economic and fiscal backdrop offers little respite at present to consumers. As a result these market conditions are expected to persist in 2012.

Excellent Results “Glanbia achieved excellent results in 2011 delivering 26.7% growth in adjusted earnings per share, on a constant currency basis,” says John Moloney, group managing director of Glanbia. “The acquisition and successful integration of BSN into Performance FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2012

John Moloney, group managing director of Glanbia.

Nutrition complemented strong organic revenue growth in our three nutritional businesses. These businesses continue to outpace market growth rates, driven by strong market positions and science based, customer focused innovation.”

He continues: “We expect the operating environment in 2012 to be more challenging than in recent years. Current global economic uncertainty has the potential to impact global dairy markets and fragile consumer confidence. The group’s focus on driving growth in nutritionals, combined with deep dairy market expertise and strong execution capability, position us well for the future.

Our guidance for 2012 is for 5-7% growth in adjusted earnings per share, on a constant currency basis.”

Expansion in Ireland Glanbia is in the process of reviewing the implications of the potential expansion of its supply base post the abolition of EU milk quotas in 2015. Ireland has a range of competitive characteristics that facilitates growth in milk supply post 2015.

The longer-term outlook for global dairy markets is also positive, driven by rising income levels in developing economies.

Glanbia is evaluating possible options for expansion of dairy processing in Ireland.

Indeed, Glanbia is reported to be considering investing more than Eur50 million to establish a new greenfield dairy manufacturing site in Ireland. J 11

Waste-to-Energy CHP Lessons For Ireland everal European countries are well S ahead of Ireland in terms of developing waste and bio-fuelled CHP plants for onsite energy generation. Dalkia’s Alan Fairman and Damian Shevloff from Dalkia’s CHP specialist subsidiary Cogenco state how the proven track record of wasteto-energy CHP in Europe is beginning to set an example for Ireland.

The use of alternative fuels is growing.

With take-up in Europe demonstrating what can be achieved, and driven by developments in carbon-neutral technology, more Irish organizations are recognising the value of bio-fuelled, cogenerated on-site power.

Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plants are often fuelled by natural gas, which is clean, consistent in quality, and often cheaper than alternative fuels.

However, a CHP plant can also operate on biogas, landfill gas, liquid gas, propane, biomass, diesel and bio-diesel. The commitment of countries such as France, Germany and Italy to reduce carbon emissions and improve energy efficiency levels has led to the growing use of ‘waste’ and biomass fuels. On-site CHP and waste-toenergy CHP, in particular, are viable routes to similar energy efficiency, cost reduction and environmental improvement for Ireland too, because natural energy and carbon efficiencies embodied in gas or oil-fired CHP are enhanced with the use of a carbon-neutral fuel.

The growth of waste-to-energy and biofuelled CHP in Europe are being driven by the escalating price of fossil fuels, the need to recycle and the need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. The ‘spark gap’ (between gas and electricity prices) has driven more organizations to turn to more efficient and cost-effective means of on-site energy generation. Coupled with this is a growing awareness of waste management as a key business operation, fundamental to cost efficiency. Minimizing waste to landfill 12

by utilizing on-site by-products to fuel cogeneration plants provides a solution that reduces reliance on carbon fuels and simultaneously diverts a waste stream from landfill.

Irish Drivers For Waste-to-Energy On-site Cogeneration The Irish Refit program will come into force in April 2012. A key feature of the Refit programme is the provision of power from CHP plants. Sites where CHP is used to deliver heat and power directly to its point of use thereby reducing exposure to direct or indirect carbon taxes. Meanwhile, organisations are increasingly looking to improve their carbon footprint in order to gain better energy performance and display energy ratings.

Most buildings are obliged to show DECs. Since October 2008, all public buildings over 10,000 sq m in the Ireland have been required to show a DEC outlining the structure’s previous 3 years’ energy use. The sale, rent or construction of new buildings will equally trigger the requirement for an EPC.

Modern CHP plants can be monitored and controlled remotely, allowing flexibility for the employees and employers.

FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2012

Now the environmental performance of on-site generation through CHP plants is being enhanced by technologies that enable the use of discarded materials to be burnt in the process of generating electricity. This is providing a viable option for organizations in considering on-site cogeneration to improve environmental performance and deliver energy cost efficiencies.

While CHP has been widely recognized by the large scale industrial and healthcare sectors in Ireland for some time; the market is now evolving to generate heat and power on-site not only from biogas created through Anaerobic Digestion, but also from landfill gas, bio-liquid and biomass too.

A major drink manufacturer is building an advanced bioenergy plant on-site at its new state-of-the art distillery in the UK. This is planned to produce around 12.6 million litres of malt whiskey each year.

Dalkia is designing, installing and operating the plant, which will utilize a by-product, from the production process as biofuels to generate steam and recover water.

The draff consists of spent grain and potale, the wash and steep water from the distillery. It is planned that the plant will dry and burn around 33,800 tons of draff in the biomass boiler, while 338,000 tons of potale will be fed through an AD to produce biogas for the boilers. The plant will also recover some 300,000 m3 of water for use in non-process related activities. This site represents a genuine green energy solution that will reduce reliance on carbon fuels and cut emissions by 22,000 tons per year.

Damien Shevloff is Head of Sales at Cogenco, a Dalkia company, based in Horsham, West Sussex, UK. Alan Fairman is South East Regional Director with Dalkia Ireland. J

Glanbia Consumer Products Boosts Warehouse Productivity and Customer Service With Heavey RF Mobile Voice Technology lanbia Consumer Products, G the largest branded food supplier into the Irish grocery sector, and part of Glanbia, has transformed its warehouse distribution following the implementation of a Heavey RF Group automated mobile voice technology €1 million contract.

Glanbia Consumer Products produces household brands such as 'Avonmore', 'Premier', 'Yoplait', 'Kilmeaden', 'Snowcream', 'Petits Filous', and 'CMP', currently employs just under 650 people at eight locations throughout Ireland and processes almost 300 million Ronan Clinton, chief executive of Heavey RF Group, and John litres of milk annually. The busichain manager of Glanbia Consumer Products. ness unit supplies over 4,000 customers with almost two million consumer packs each day. face to Glanbia’s SAP ERP (Enterprise Glanbia has implemented the Heavey RF Resource Planning) software.

VocalPoint™ automated voice solution across five of its Consumer Products sites Benefits including two milk manufacturing facilities The installation has boosted productivity in and three food and milk/cream warehouses. one warehouse by up to 95%. Stock pickHeavey RF also worked closely with ing accuracy improved in that same wareGlanbia’s IT team to implement an inter- house by 600%, resulting in a reduction of credit claims by 45%. Pick speed improved from 160 to 260 cases per hour.

“The Heavey RF VocalPoint™ voice “The Heavey RF implementation has had a direct impact on VocalPoint™ voice our bottom line,” comments John Mee, supply chain manager of Glanbia implementation has had a Consumer Products. “In addition, we direct always had good customer service levels, but with the improved traceability voice impact on our bottom line. provides, our customer approval ratings In addition, we always had have soared.”

He adds: “Heavey RF took the time to good customer walk through the operation and helped us service levels, but with the create a bespoke solution in what is a complex and demanding environment.” improved traceability voice

provides, our customer approval ratings have soared.”

Mee, supply

Improving Accuracy “Improving the accuracy of warehouse stock selection and delivery is vital for all distributors and manufacturers but especially in the case of perishable goods with FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2012

sell by dates as in the case of Glanbia,” comments Ronan Clinton, chief executive of Heavey RF Group.

The Heavey RF VocalPoint™ solution replaced a paper based manual system with resulting benefits in accuracy and productivity. Instead of managing and processing unwieldy paper, the warehouse and manufacturing solution provides automated voice directions to users leaving their hands and eyes free to concentrate on the task at hand, and ultimately maintaining high standards of satisfaction amongst their customers.

Solutions Provider Irish owned Heavey RF Group is an international total solutions provider delivering mobile data technology and integration software for industrial clients in a wide range of markets. It manages the supply, installation, integration and complete 24/7 support of handheld and vehicle mounted mobile terminals, wireless infrastructure, wireless security and voice directed applications. Heavey RF has been working with mobile solutions for over 12 years and employs 25 people in Dublin and London. J

Glanbia has implemented the Heavey RF VocalPoint™ automated voice solution across five of its Consumer Products sites including two milk manufacturing facilities and three food and milk/cream warehouses.

13

I DAIRY

FrieslandCampina Pays Record Milk Price Dairy co-operative Royal FrieslandCampina increased net revenue by 7% to Eur9.6 billion and paid a record milk price to members in 2011. ilk price for co-operative members rose by 13% to Eur38.77 per 100 kilos. However, operating profit declined by 7% to Eur403 million due to difficult economic conditions in Europe, negative currency effects and investments in route2020 - FrieslandCampina’s ten years development strategy for improving financial performance and the returns paid to farmer members.

M

Consumer Products Operating profit at FrieslandCampina’s Consumer Products Europe business fell from Eur126 million in 2010 to Eur55 million in 2011 as a result of difficult economic conditions in Europe and pressure on volume due to higher prices. Margins were under pressure during the first half of 2011 because there was a delay before the higher guaranteed price of raw milk and other raw materials could be passed on. The margins recovered in the second half of the year. In Germany price competition resulted in profit development lagging behind throughout the year. In Hungary profit was negatively influenced by the economic conditions and incidental higher tax liabilities.

Consumer Products International’s operating profit remained stable at Eur353 million. Infant & toddler nutrition did particularly well. However, not all the higher dairy product prices could be passed on in full.

Measures to offset the pressure on margins included implementing cost savings. At the same time, revenue and volume development were stimulated by investments in advertising and promotion.

Cheese, Butter and Milkpowder The Cheese, Butter & Milkpowder business group achieved an operating loss of Eur97

Cees

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Hart,

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Royal

FrieslandCampina.

million, compared to a loss of Eur92 million in 2010. This business group in particular suffered from the costs of the performance premium and the distribution of member bonds being charged to the business groups in proportion to the amount of member milk received. The Cheese, Butter & Milkpowder business group processed 56% of members’ milk. Although the results from commodities such as basic cheese and milk powder improved slightly, the price development and sale of branded cheese were under pressure due to declining consumer confidence and the economic developments in a number of countries.

The Ingredients business group improved its operating profit by 48% to Eur189 million. Maximum production capacity utilisation resulting from the growth and the higher revenue prices contributed towards the higher profit. At Eur13 million the profit from joint ventures and associates remained the same as in 2010.

vation policy led to a lower profit and a higher pay-out to the member dairy farmers.

Cees ’t Hart, chief executive of Royal FrieslandCampina, comments: “In 2011 the member dairy farmers received a high milk price. 2011 was an exceptionally good year for Ingredients. Consumer Products International achieved a good result with infant & toddler nutrition, especially in Asia and Africa. This meant that, despite the difficult European market, FrieslandCampina was still able to achieve a relatively good result.”

He continues: “FrieslandCampina’s financial basis is solid and provides a good foundation for the achievement of its plans in the context of the route2020 strategy.

During 2011 over Eur376 million was invested, primarily in the capacity expansion needed to make future growth possible.

Overall within FrieslandCampina the focus was on working hard towards the FrieslandCampina of the future.”

Outlook FrieslandCampina aims to make further progress in its route2020 strategy during 2012, striving to achieve growth in dairybased beverages, infant & toddler nutrition, branded cheese and specialised ingredients.

Investments are planned in the areas of production capacity expansion, machinery replacement, efficiency improvement and innovation in the company’s strategic growth categories. Research & Development expenses are expected to increase slightly.

FrieslandCampina’s solid financial base means the company is well prepared to achieve its plans in the context of the route2020 strategy. FrieslandCampina has Eur715 million available from its current credit facility. J

Profit Fall FrieslandCampina’s annual profit dropped by 24% to Eur216 million due to lower operating profit and incidental higher tax charges. The chief reasons behind the reduced profit were higher investments in the context of the route2020 strategy, higher taxes and negative currency effects. The changes to the milk price system and reserFOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2012

15

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I SEAFOOD

The Scottish Salmon Company Plans £40 Million Expansion he Scottish Salmon Company has unveiled plans to invest over £40 million to expand its business over the next five years, resulting in the creation of over 100 jobs across the West Coast and islands of Scotland. The Scottish based and operated salmon farming company’s five-year development plan envisages establishing ten new farm sites, increasing farming capacity and developing its harvesting, processing and freshwater operations.

The fully-integrated seafood company currently operates from over 50 sites and in 2010 it reported an annual turnover of £92.4 million. In the past two years, the company has more than doubled staff numbers from 160 to 380 and invested £30 million on developments such as refurbish-

T

ing the Marybank processing facility, acquiring West Minch Salmon, developing new sites and upgrading existing sites. Last year, the company reported it had produced 24,000 tonnes of salmon. Its ambition is to increase this number to 40,000 tonnes in 2016.

“The Scottish Salmon Company produces premium, fresh Scottish salmon with strong and growing demand in the marketplace. To satisfy this, we require to develop our farming and processing capability,” comments Stewart McLelland, chief executive of The Scottish Salmon Company. “People are key to our vision for expansion. We are keen to bring talent into our business, developing skills, and experience to support our growth plans and that of the overall industry.”

He continues: “We are committed to the communities and economies in which we work and understand the real benefit that developing business and providing employment has in these rural locations.”

Around half the jobs are planned for the Western Isles, with the others in the company’s operational areas throughout the Highlands and Argyll and Bute. The Scottish Salmon Company is currently in the process of scoping, consulting on and lodging planning applications for new fish farming sites.

An infrastructure investment of between £1.5 million and £2 million would be required to develop each of the sites. All sites will be developed to the RSPCA’s ‘Freedom Food’ standard, which governs farming principles such as the stocking density, fish welfare and harvest. J

Morrisons to Move into Seafood Processing K grocery chain Morrisons plans to launch its own seafood processing business to deliver quality fish into its stores. The company will be acquiring an empty factory in Grimsby and equipping it for seafood production by the end of 2012. As a result, Morrisons will be the only major food retailer to source fish direct from the quayside and process it for sale across the country.

The move represents a further step in Morrisons’ strategy of manufacturing more of the fresh food that is sold in its stores. By developing this business, the company will be in an enhanced position to deliver quality fresh and frozen seafood more quickly into store – and at an affordable price for shoppers. Around 200 jobs will be created

U

at the Europa Business Park factory in Grimsby which will fillet and portion a wide variety of seafood.

Dalton Philips, chief executive of Morrisons, comments: “Nobody else is buying direct from the quayside but we’re doing it. Building this seafood business will allow us to move our fish from ‘catch to kitchen’ even more quickly, giving our customers fantastic quality seafood products at stunning prices.”

Morrisons has recruited industry experts to lead the business such as Frank Green, who was appointed head of seafood trading for Morrisons in January and was previously at Young’s. The factory in Grimsby will be FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2012

run by Howard Sims, as managing director, and Rob Smith as head of operations.

Morrisons will also shortly appoint a fisheries and aquaculture specialist to further develop their credentials in sourcing and sustainability. J 17

I FROZEN FOODS

Paramount 21 Overcomes Chilly Economic Climate Despite the harsh trading climate, UK frozen foods manufacturer Paramount 21, which specialises in value added vegetarian and seafood products for the food service market, is continuing to prosper. ased in Heathfield, Devon, and surrounded by some of the best fishing ports and agricultural land in Britain, Paramount 21 produces some of the finest frozen seafood and vegetarian products available to the food service trade, supplying independent wholesalers, large distribution chains and major operators in the restaurant, pub and hotel sector.

The frozen food producer recently completed a £1 million factory extension following support and grant funding from the European Fisheries Fund. The company is continuing to see steady growth and the new manufacturing capabilities are opening up new markets for the business. The new facility houses a new frying line which has enabled Paramount 21 to extend its range of added value seafood products such as fishcakes, goujons, and West Country Whitebait Fillets.

Founded in 1988 by Ali Hannaford, the business started out with a kitchen table and a telephone and has since grown to employ about 60 staff and won multiple industry awards. The company has recently invested further resource towards its NPD and sales & marketing departments ensuring a strategic structured approach to its brand, product development and continued success.

B

Determination The history of Paramount 21 is a story of determination and faith in the future. In

Paramount 21’s Ultimate Fish Pie.

1988 a seafood processing business, owned

by Ali Hannaford’s father, was bought by Hillsdown Holdings. Five months later it was closed - putting all the staff out of work, including a 27-year-old Ali Hannaford.

She was determined to bring the business back to life and with just £3,500, some second-hand machinery and the loyalty of 16 of the former staff that is exactly what she did. The company quickly moved on from packing prawns into developing a range of fishcakes and ‘value added’ seafood products, such as Whitebait, specifically for the catering industry.

Just two years after the company was founded, Paramount won its first British Frozen Food Federation award - and has gone on to win many more as the range of products has expanded. When launching

the company Ali Hannaford had a vision of providing the food service industry with innovative, quality products at the right price. The company has been true to this vision and concentrates on supplying unique products for the caterer, many of them hand-finished and all conspicuous for their style and flair.

Paramount has quickly made its name by being innovative and flexible - and providing an excellent service. Paramount has Beacon Company status, which recognises its successful working practices and offers a template for other companies to follow.

Great Taste Awards Paramount 21 recently won two prestigious 2011 Great Taste Awards. The company was presented with two coveted Gold Awards for its Ultimate Fish Pie and Ultimate Fishcake products.

The Ultimate Fish Pie is the largest single fish pie in the market and is made with a mix of Hake, Vannamei Prawns, Salmon and West Country Smoked Haddock (which Paramount smokes) in a creamy leek sauce, topped with Paramount’s signature mashed potato.

The Ultimate Fishcake is made with a mixture of Smoked Haddock and Salmon, and complements the new ‘Ultimate Range’ launched in April 2011, which also includes the Ultimate Crab Cake and the Ultimate Seafood Chowder. J

Stevens Group Implements Paperless Traceability System at Paramount 21 aramount 21, the family owned frozen P food manufacturing company, has chosen Stevens Group to implement a factory wide paperless traceability system delivering substantial material efficiencies and cost savings.

Paramount 21, located in Heathfield, South Devon, has developed to become a leading name in the seafood market and a respected brand in the foodservice and retail industries. The company has rapidly expanded from its early days of packing FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2012

prawns, and has developed an extensive value added range of fishcakes and seafood products, such as Blanchbait and Whitebait, specifically for the food service market.

Paramount is known for creating quality 19

Paramount 21 has developed an extensive value added range of fishcakes and seafood products.

recipes, which are hand-made in Devon using only the finest natural ingredients.

This has been demonstrated through the many awards they have won, including Great Taste Awards, British Frozen Food Federation Awards and Sea Fish Awards.

Through its dedication to quality and testing, Paramount has held its BRC (British Retail Consortium) Certification for over 10 years.

The management team at Paramount 21 approached Stevens with a vision of developing a complete factory process control system that would control and manage the food manufacturing process – from raw material received to finished product. The Paramount 21 solution required the scheduling of works orders to each line in the factory, and then recording the use of recipes and raw ingredients in the creation of each product to provide visibility of production quantities, along with traceability information to meet various quality standards. The Management Team also required an interface with Paramount 21’s MRP system (Pegasus Opera) for the received ingredient costing and complete and detailed costing for each completed works order.

Ingredient Receiving & Labelling Process Stevens Receiving Software is installed on a PC and connected to a label printer, removing the need for a paper based booking in system. The integration with Pegasus Opera allows cross referencing with purchase orders to ensure supplier compliance while providing price information for later job costing analysis.

Labels are generated for received ingredients before being located in frozen or ambient storage.

Receipt of the stock is confirmed to Opera – which returns a confirmed ingredient cost once an invoice relating to the

purchase order and delivery is received.

Stevens receiving software allows Paramount 21 to control use of ingredients throughout the factory process, saving money through ingredient rotation.

Complete visibility of ingredients held on site and its location along with verifiable traceability.

Once work orders are entered into the Stevens software, a consolidated ingredient pick list is available – eliminating ingredient shortages by providing adequate notice of shortfalls in ingredients.

Weigh Up and Ingredient Mixing Paramount 21 installed the Stevens Vantage RFS (Recipe Formulation System) to control the weighing accuracy of ingredients used to make up processed mixes. The mixes (sauces, spices and other processed ingredients) are weighed up on scales connected to the Vantage Terminals. Work orders are downloaded to the terminals and each ingredient is called for, one at a time. The easy to follow screens utilise simple dial displays and guarantees the elimination situations of ‘too much or too little’.

The system allows the weighed mixes to be combined with bulk fed ingredients at the mixing stage, providing complete traceability for the mixed ingredients prior to the assembly line process.

Toby Hawkins, Stevens Commercial Manager, comments:“Studies have shown that material savings through improved ingredient control are estimated at between 2 and 6%. This puts the return on investment for nearly every system significantly under the 12 month mark.

Removing paperwork from the shop floor and greatly easing the burden associated with legislative and client traceability requirements, in effect, becomes an added bonus to improving the bottom line.”

Assembly Lines Two ‘multi line’ Vantage terminals are located at the production lines to display line specific production orders. The terminals allow completed batches to be combined with other ingredients used during the assembly process, providing complete costing for the jobs and 100% traceability. At this point the ERP System is provided with accurate job costing which in turn can be used for

20

FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS, MARCH 2012

accurate P & L accounting.

Reporting The ‘drill down’ reports allow easy navigation through the newly developed reports suite. The reports allow production summary information, batch specific data and even lot number reports to enable the viewer to see ‘where, when and how’ for all of the ingredients used through the production process. The reports make a significant contribution towards BRC and Paramount 21 are working towards a completely paperless environment.

Paramount 21’s Financial Director Jon Phillips comments on the Stevens Solution: “We compiled a detailed project requirement to enable us to streamline our processes, expand our ERP to the production floor and achieve complete factory floor traceability. Stevens demonstrated their proven solution and modified their existing software to work with and meet our needs 100%. Their attitude and support is second to none and we are delighted with the implemented solution. Above all, we know that the solution will take us forward and improve us as a company.”

Stevens manufacture a range of weighing solutions which include Recipe Formulation, Average Weight and In-Line Product Inspection Systems. Visit www.stevensgroupltd.com for further details. J

Paella Fishcake.

I PALM OIL

New Britain Palm Oil to Double Capacity of Liverpool Refinery ew Britain Palm Oil, one of the largest N fully integrated industrial producers of sustainable palm oil, and its subsidiary New Britain Oils, which runs its UK palm oil refinery in Liverpool, is running ahead of utilisation targets in Liverpool and will achieve 100% utilisation by May 2012.

New Britain Oils is continuing to invest further in downstream processing in 2012/13 as NBPO plans to double the refining capacity of the Liverpool site to over 300,000 tonnes per annum – this means that it will be able to supply over 50% of the UK’s palm oil needs for food and it will all be from certified sustainable sources and fully traceable from seed to refinery gate.

Liverpool is Europe’s first palm oil refinery to have a fully segregated and sustainable supply chain (capacity 150-170,000 tonnes pa), with the world’s first dedicated sustain-

able bakery foodstuffs production facility dedicated to sustainable bakery foodstuffs production facility, which is in the final stages of commissioning. The bakery margarines and fats plant is near completion and will initially add a further 30,000 tonnes pa of product, including a whole range of bakery and pastry margarines together with packed food service products, all of which are traceable and certified sustainable by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil. The customers of New Britain Oils

include United Biscuits, Ferrero Rocher, Jordans Cereals, Wilmar and Stephenson soaps and other blue chip food manufacturers.

NBPO has juat released its first Carbon Footprint report, which it believes is the first report of its kind in the palm oil industry. The report sets out in detail the carbon emissions related to NBPO’s products and can be used by UK food companies further down the supply chain to more accurately determine their total supply chain carbon emissions.

This will assist NBPO’s customers to move toward meeting their own climate change reporting and policies, and is a critical area to differentiate NBPOL’s products.

The Carbon Report also shows that palm oil can have a lower carbon foot print when compared to other oils, dispelling EU myths about soya and rapeseed. J

RSPO Promoting Further Market Uptake he Roundtable on Sustainable Palm T Oil (RSPO) is fully committed to further promoting market uptake in the food industry. The launch of the RSPO Trademark is expected to boost consumer awareness and demand for sustainable palm oil products. Food manufacturers are working very hard to source sustainable palm oil ingredients for their products through complex palm oil supply chains but more is needed in order to transform the market to achieve 100% sustainable palm oil.

Darrel Webber, Secretary General at

RSPO, comments: “A significant increase of market commitment towards the uptake of sustainable palm oil is currently a top priority for RSPO.” Palm oil is used in 1 in 10 products in UK supermarkets including confectionery, bread, crackers, chips, margarine and cereals, as well as personal care and beauty products such as soap and lipstick.

The RSPO was formed in 2004 with the objective of promoting the growth and use of sustainable oil palm products through credible global standards and engagement of stakeholders. RSPO is a

not-for-profit association that unites stakeholders from seven sectors of the palm oil industry - oil palm producers, palm oil processors or traders, consumer goods manufacturers, retailers, banks and investors, environmental or nature conservation NGOs and social or developmental NGOs. J

Nestle UK Removes All Artificial Ingredients From Confectionery estle has become the first major confectionery manufacturer in the UK to remove all N artificial ingredients from its entire confectionery range. The company has now replaced artificial colours, flavours and preservatives with alternatives in all 79 confectionery products it sells in the country.

Nestle made the changes in response to consumer demand in the UK for fewer artificial ingredients in food. According to consumer research, three quarters of British people look for products without artificial additives when buying confectionery. Nestle’s success is the result of a seven-year research and development programme that has led to more than 80 artificial ingredients being replaced with alternatives.J FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2012

21

I SUSTAINABILITY

Palm Oil in Confectionery Manufacturing ith growing consumer demand for natW ural ingredients and concern over saturated fats, palm oil has become increasingly

op strategies for sourcing 100% sustainable palm oil.

used by the confectionery manufacturers in recent years. Palm oil has many applications within the confectionery industry. It is used in the manufacture of chocolate products, and cocoa butter replacements such as CBE's, and in a wide range of coatings and fillings for wafers, biscuits, chocolates and sweets. For example, it is used in filling fats that prevent blooming (whitening) of the chocolate.

“The two main drivers behind the growth in consumption of vegetable oils are the rapid growth of world population and, secondly, the increasing use of fats and proteins in diets of developing countries. Of all vegetable oils, the one with the highest yield (tons of oil per hectare) is palm, almost seven times higher than the next in volume (soy),” comments Hidde Van Kersen, sustainability director at Loders Croklaan, the world’s leading supplier of specialty fats and oils for the food industry.

“In the current global scarcity of arable land, this is a major sustainability characteristic - for the same volume, the land footprint of palm is almost seven times smaller than soy!”

Sustainable Development Loders Croklaan has been quick to recognise the growing importance of the sustainable development of the palm oil industry and has taken a leading role in this respect. Parent company IOI is the second largest Malaysian palm producer and Palm oil plantation. one of the founding members of the Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). It is currently close co-operation with a major European working towards having all of its plantations retailer. Indeed, the company has developed RSPO certified. In conjunction with this several speciality fats that are sourced from development, Loders Croklaan has certified fully segregated CSPO, all in close co-operaall of its installations to be able to provide tion with major chocolate confectionery customers with sustainable palm oil. manufacturers.

As a world leader in specialty fats and oils In 2010, Loders Croklaan invested in a for the food industry and with its parent new facility in Rotterdam, where it is able to company a global leader in sustainability, produce fats in a very natural way, using Loders Croklaan has become the preferred enzymes. “This factory also produces filling partner worldwide for sourcing sustainable fats for the confectionery industry with carpalm for confectionery manufacturers. bon footprints that are up to 75% lower than “Palm oil is a very versatile product and products with comparable characteristics that can be used to deliver any functionality,” says are currently the standard in the market.

Hidde Van Kersen. “It can Reducing carbon footprint is a major issue in make an application liquid or the food market and these new products, hard, foamy or solid, refreshing marketed under the name Biscuitine or warm, with any melting Balance, facilitate this need,” Hidde Van point required in a specific Kersen explains. “We are able to deliver all recipe, all in a natural way and our products according to the mass balance without the need of hydrogena- system from the RSPO. This means that tion and the introduction of producers of chocolate confectionery prodtrans fats. Thanks to its rela- ucts are now able to use the RSPO logo, stattively high yield, palm is also a ing ‘Certified Sustainable Palm Oil’ on all price competitive vegetable oil.” their products.”

Rotterdam refinery complex.

Loders Croklaan offers confectionery manufacturers a full range of coating and filling fats. It also provides full technical support to ensure optimum performance of it fats in industrial production. Loders Croklaan has introduced a Creative Studio for joint product innovation and its sustainability services help customers to devel22

Industry Leadership One of the key trends within the confectionery industry is the switch to sustainable sourcing and natural ingredients.

Loders Croklaan has responded by taking leadership in setting up a supply chain of sustainable palm oil towards Europe.

Parent company IOI was among the first to have a palm oil plantation RSPO certified (in 2009), and was the first to deliver a shipment of certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO) to continental Europe in 2010, in FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2012

Industry Outlook So how does he see the European confectionery industry developing in the future?

“The European confectionery industry will grow by product differentiation and by value added products of high quality,” he replies. “The industry will continue on the path of using more natural, green and traceable ingredients, demands on the quality and origin of ingredients will continue to grow. In my view, all ingredients, not only palm oil, will have to be sourced sustainably before the year 2020.” J

I FLAVOURS

FlavourCraft Deal ‘Perfect Fit’ For Kerry erry Ingredients & Flavours has comK pleted the acquisition of South African flavours company FlavourCraft for an undisclosed sum. The deal sees Kerry expand its presence not just in South Africa, serving food manufacturers in the country, but across the continent.

Established in 1993, Durban-based FlavourCraft specialises in the design and manufacture of flavours for meats, soups, sauces, dressings and savoury snacks in the South African and sub-Saharan markets, particularly in Nigeria.

“FlavourCraft and Kerry ingredients & Flavours are a perfect fit, with the same views around creating market-leading flavour ingredients,” comments Ryan Ponquett, managing director of FlavourCraft. “By teaming up with a likeminded global player our customers and those across the continent will gain access

The laboratory facilities at FlavourCraft Kerry’s new acquisition in South Africa.

to Kerry’s huge taste, ingredients and applications knowledge. This will enable them to bring customer-preferred products to market faster and at better value.”

Kerry’s Africa zone director Bart van Schie says: “This acquisition represents a clear illustration of Kerry’s commitment to developing our business across Africa.

FlavourCraft’s product portfolio, knowledge and customer base in South Africa, Nigeria and across west Africa will be an asset to us and assist our expansion plans across the continent.”

The FlavourCraft deal also provides Kerry with a major manufacturing facility in Africa, a 4000 square metre factory outside Durban, and brings with it a first class customer and application centre, providing local research and development capability, which will enable Kerry to expand its capability in developing and producing ingredients to meet local market needs.

This latest acquisition complements another recently made by Kerry in the region – that of Cargill’s flavour business in South Africa. Taken together these acquisitions, backed by Kerry’s market leading technologies and R&D capabilities, create a powerful flavours force in the region. J

I WHEY PROTEIN

Volac Launches Consumer Brand to Bring Whey Protein to the Mainstream olac is taking its deep understanding of V the health benefits of whey protein to the healthy lifestyle consumer category, with the launch of its first branded products. Trading under The Good Whey Company brand, Volac will be expanding understanding of the role of dietary protein in the maintenance of a lean body mass, such as muscles and bones, and how this can help to maintain a life-long active lifestyle. Maintenance of muscle and bone mass are protein health claims which have been approved by EFSA under the Nutrition and Health Claims Regulations.

Mark Neville, head of Lifestyle Nutrition, Volac, says: “Our consumer understanding is based on extensive research and on 15

years experience in the active nutrition market as a leading European supplier. Couple this with unrivalled knowledge of the genuine and wide-ranging health benefits offered by whey protein, known to many as the ‘gold standard’ for protein quality - puts Volac in a great position to bring these attributes to a much wider audience, beyond the sports nutrition category. We believe that expanding the appeal and takeup of whey protein will undoubtedly benefit the sector as a whole.”

He continues: “Over the past few years, we have seen demand for our Volactive whey protein products grow exponentially and our long term investment in strategic partnerships with the dairy industry means that we can continue to grow our ingredients business whilst opening up an entirely new market for our high quality whey protein. Not only does this add value to whey but it helps to secure the supply chain.”

Initially, The Good Whey Co. will offer two products – Good Whey Original and Good Whey Premium. Good Whey Original contains at least 71% protein (at least 17g of protein), no more than 102 calories per serving, and is GM free with FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2012

natural colours and flavourings. Good Whey Premium contains at least 80% protein (at least 20g of protein per serving), no more than 95 calories per serving, and is GM free with natural flavourings and colours.

Both mix well with milk, juice and water and are available in four flavours: Velvety Vanilla, True Banana, Summer Strawberry and Real Chocolate as well as unflavoured Good Whey Natural, ideal for mixing with fruit and smoothies, as well as in recipes. J 25

I NUTRACEUTICALS & FUNCTIONAL FOODS

Vitafoods Europe and Finished Products Expo – 22-24 May 2012, Palexpo, Geneva he most important global event to conT centrate exclusively on nutraceuticals, raw materials, and functional food and drink ingredients, Vitafoods Europe, is set to celebrate its fifteenth anniversary, by staging its biggest edition to date.

Vitafoods Europe, and the co-located Finished Products Expo, which take place from 22-24 May 2012 at Palexpo, Geneva, are on course to exceed last year’s recordbreaking events, when more than 10,000 attendees benefited from cutting-edge insights from leading industry experts.

Vitafoods Europe caters to a rapidly growing nutraceuticals industry, which is projected to be worth $207 billion by 2016. With the market booming, both events are set to welcome hundreds of ingredient suppliers, dietary supplement manufacturers and equipment and service providers over the three-day show, along with thousands of industry experts discussing the key developments shaping the market.

Vitafoods Europe will welcome international brands such as BASF, Biofortis, Croda Europe, Davisco Foods International, Danisco, DSM Nutritional Products Europe, Frutarom, Glanbia Nutritionals, Naturex and Ocean Spray International whilst exhibitors at Finished Products Expo include Ubifrance, Bariatrix Europe, Medex, Nature’s Plus and NOW International. Visitors to both shows will also have the opportunity to do business with and discover new ingredients from nutraceutical companies around the world, with exhibitors from China, Israel, Croatia, Poland, Slovenia, South Africa and New Zealand all present across the two shows.

New Product Zone The New Products Zone, located at the show entrance, will act as a guide map for visitors wishing to plan a route that encom-

the needs of their companies. These will include advice on regulations regarding product formulas and labeling to assist with marketing plans.

passes new products of interest. Over 150 new products are expected this year.

Highlights will include BONOLIVE, the only bone health ingredient made from olive polyphenols on the market from BioActor and DDS Plus 3, containing the award-winning, tested formula found in Probioplus DDS from UAS Laboratories/Probiotic Co. Poster Sessions New for 2012, the Poster Sessions on the exhibition floor will give researchers an opportunity to share their innovative projects with other potential collaborators, researchers and commercial partners or investors.

Suppliers Seminars The free to attend Supplier Seminars will give visitors the chance to see some of the latest products in action and get detailed information on the benefits to their business. More than 25 sessions will take place over the course of the three days including Chris Kilham from Naturex discussing medicine hunting for superplants, Véronique Fabien Soule from Rousselot examining the nutritional properties of Peptan Collagen Peptides in the framework of the EU health claims regulation and Dr Frank Shönlau from Horphag Research investigating Pycnogenol and its role in improving cognitive function.

VitaTrend, a joint initiative between Vitafoods and Innova Market Insights, will examine emerging trends that will impact on new product activity in the nutritionals and functional foods market. At the forefront of this year's sessions will be the impact of the publication of the European Commission’s ‘Union list’ for generic health claims. VitaTrend will feature daily 30-minute presentations from Innova Market Insights experts from 10.30–11.00 and 16.00–16.30. Visitors can also take part in an interactive tour of these trends.

In addition, the international food and nutrition policy consultancy EAS will offer visitors free one-on-one sessions tailored to FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2012

Product, Ingredient and Consumer Insights Also on the show floor, Mintel’s ‘Product, Ingredient and Consumer Insights’ Pavilion, will feature presentations and tasting sessions that bring research to life while investigating trends. Mintel experts will provide real market examples and then forecast how the trends will shape the future of the industry.

Aside from Mintel’s Pavilion, the International Pavilions will enable visitors to meet with new suppliers and learn about local products from regions throughout the world including China, France, India, Belgium, Serbia, Korea and the USA, while the Service Pavilion will help visitors source services from regulatory experts to contract manufacturers.

Finished Products Expo Alongside Vitafoods Europe, co-located Finished Products Expo will host its own dedicated features, including the New Products Zone, which offers visitors a guide to where the latest innovations are being showcased. One of the highlights this year will be NEWtritious’ Kherb Appeal, an instant pudding that curbs appetite and provides an excellent source of fibre, vitamins and minerals.

Vitafoods Europe Conference Away from the show floor, Vitafoods Europe will also host its annual scientific and commercial conference with an agenda that has been shaped and peer reviewed by its new Executive Advisory Board, which consists of renowned scientists and commercial experts.

More than 40 presentations will discuss consumer trends, the global performance of functional food and drink, health claims, clinical trials and human testing, brain and mind health and regulation. Delegates will be able to learn about essential nutrients and cognitive function, generating food structures to aid consumer weight management and how to better measure food quality.

For further details about Vitafoods Europe and Finished Products Expo, visit www.vitafoods.eu.com or www.finishedproductsexpo.com. J 27

H320 at Food Ex Hall 6 Stand B040-C041 at Anuga

I BEVERAGES

HCC is New Entrant in Cider and Contract Packing New entrant to the UK cider market, Herefordshire Cider Company (HCC) is about to commence production in a new £5 million canning facility in Hereford which will also offer contract packing of both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks to other beverage companies. stablished on a brown field site, the 56,000 sq ft sq ft factory will initially house one canning line but has space to accommodate two additional lines. The newly installed canning line has the capacity to produce 3 million (12 litre) cases a year. It is highly flexible and automated with the ability to handle a variety of can formats ranging from 25cl to pint sizes. HCC has invested £3 million in canning equipment with £2 million spent on the building.

HCC was established by business partners Paul Burton and John Hibberd, who both

E

have extensive experience of the beverages and contract packing industry. The two men have been in business together since 1990, when they founded Intercontinental Brands, a sales, marketing and distribution company specializing in alcoholic and nonalcoholic drinks, including liqueurs, flavoured fortified wines and RTD products, predominantly for the supermarket and cash & carry trade.

Intercontinental Brands also operated five bottling lines, located at Middlesbrough in the north-east of England which produced the company’s own products along with offering contract packaging services.

Intercontinental Brands was sold in January 2010 to private equity firm LDC, which had already become a stakeholder in the business in 2007.

New Venture “We decided to set up a new canning factory because we perceive, in the UK at least, that there is a gap for another contract canner. Furthermore, we also perceive that with the market polarisation of cider manufacturers there is room for another cider producer. We are combining both of these aspects at our new site in Hereford,” explains Paul Burton, director of HCC. He elaborates: “A particular niche within the contract canning arena in the UK is 25cl cans. There is only one company packaging that size of product in the UK on a contract basis and that is Cott Beverages. If you want to pack alcohol in a 25cl can, you have to go to mainland Europe, which is obviously prohibitive both logistically and economically.”

Business Projections HCC’s business plan projects a turnover of £12 million for the first year of production commencing in March 2012 with full capacity at the canning facility being reached before the end of this year. “I believe we will reach full capacity sooner than that because there is a lot of business out there,” says Paul Burton.

FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2012

About 80% of HCC’s business is expected to be the contract packing of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. The remaining 20% will be generated by the company’s own HCC branded cider and perry products plus private label production for retailers.

The new canning facility is strategically located in the heart of England’s cider production region. “There is a wealth of experience and industry knowledge in terms of manufacturing and packaging in the Hereford area, which is the cider capital of the UK,” Paul Burton remarks. “We want29

25th – 27th March, 2012 Stand 0331

T: +44 (0)845 456 0823

ed to be based in an area where there was a ready pool of talent and experience.”

The HCC facility is also located close to the Ledbury-based Bevisol plant, which specialises in the production and supply of fermented products, such as cider, perry, RTD and wine, and provides solutions to the alcoholic beverage industry.

Future Expansion Paul Burton expects the new business to expand rapidly on both the contract packing and cider fronts. “We comfortably have room for two more packaging lines, which may be can or glass depending upon the direction we decide to go. As a contract packer, we listen to our customers and gauge where the biggest opportunity lies.”

The company has an existing cider brand – HCC – which it launched in the off-trade last year. HCC is a canned high fruit content cider with an ABV of 7.5%. The HCC brand portfolio will be extended to encompass apple and pear cider, at least two flavours and perry.

“There is room in the cider market for someone to come in and innovate. We would expect to have a full spectrum of

products in can by the end of this calendar year,” says Paul Burton.

Brand Building The focus within HCC’s cider business will be on building up the brand. “We will not be building volume for volume sake. We would like to develop brands that have some value and have a premium, as opposed to just being the cheapest on shelf,” Paul Burton stresses.

In the future, HCC may look to packaging its cider in bottles but Paul Burton is well aware of the barriers of entry to the ontrade market. “It is difficult for a smaller cider company to break into the off-trade in a meaningful way because the big operators – Heineken and Magners – are really dominant,” he points out.

However, the move by Heineken into cider, following its acquisition of the UK operations of Scottish & Newcastle, including the Bulmers business, has helped to expand the category domestically and to boost cider exports by developing cider in international markets. “Heineken in taking cider to other places and using their marketing muscle to develop the category is good

news for every cider company, and others can piggy-back on that.”

Paul Burton continues: “I quite expect the other major international brewers to want to have cider interests going forward. AB InBev is already in the cider market with Stella Cidre and I would be amazed if SABMiller and Carlsberg do not seriously look at the category. Both have existing brands that they could extend into cider and it is only a matter of time before Magners is a target for one of them. Both of them can afford to write a big cheque.”

However, the prospect of the introduction of minimum unit pricing for alcoholic beverages has implication for both contract packing and the cider market and for HCC’s plans for investment in new packaging lines.

“Whilst minimum unit pricing is on the agenda it would be foolhardy to make an investment in a PET line. A 2 litre cider product that sells for only £2 now could potentially rise to £7.50 or £8. So it would kill that side of the market over night and drive consumers towards smaller packages.”

Paul Burton adds: “It will take volume out of the cider market but I am not so sure it will take any premium out.” J

I WATER TREATMENT

Puresep Chosen by Hereford Cider Company to Provide End to End Plant Solution ereford Cider ComH pany has chosen Puresep as its key partner in providing an end to end plant solution, from the water make up and process filtration technology, through to mixing and blending facilities and finally for effluent treatment. Puresep was able to design a solution to facilitate the complete production plant’s requirements.

Puresep is well known in the food and beverage industry with expert knowledge of cutting edge filtration and water treatment solutions having already partnered with Heineken, Diageo, Britvic and Marston’s. Following close consultation and a major evaluation of available technologies, the agreed plant solutions included ultra-filtration technology, PureFlow Reverse Osmosis Plant, Deaeration Plant, PureChlor Chlorine Dioxide Plant and an effluent neutralisation system.

The Ultra filtration plant is in place as a pretreatment technology to remove colloids and suspended solids thus preventing the inefficient clogging of the reverse osmosis membranes. The high efficient PureFlow Reverse Osmosis membrane sep-

aration plant utilises high rejection, semi permeable polyamide membranes to reject dissolved ions from the feed water. The pressure of the feed water is boosted, to drive the separation process. Puresep’s technical team recommended using a PureCare-100 anti-scalent dosing system to prevent membrane deposits ensuring the smooth running of the plant as well as assisting in the efficiency and cost effectiveness of the membranes.

A Deaeration plant was installed as an efficient and economical solution to removing oxygen from the water. The hydrophobic membrane system enables process water to pass through the membranes while a vacuum pressure applied to the core of the membrane removes the dissolved gases. The vacuum pressure is applied with a Carbon Dioxide sweep gas thus reducing the equilibrium concentraFOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2012

tion of the stripped gas resulting in a fast diffusive transfer of dissolved oxygen.

A multi-point of use PureChlor Chlorine Dioxide system was installed to ensure sterility to softened water for CIP applications and for treating the water for process applications. This is an effective, efficient and safe way of generating Chlorine Dioxide, and is a key way of keeping water costs to a mimimum and productivity and efficiency at its optimum.

A final part of the plant was an effluent neutralization system. This system is in place to correct the pH of the effluent to within the required band so that it can be discharged off site.

All plant installations benefit from high quality system design and PLC process control and fully integrated and automated control panels. Puresep was able to design, install and commission technology to meet the plant’s complete requirements, meaning the end user had one company to deal with, resulting in simple and efficient communications and cost-effective solutions. J 31

QUALITY

& HYGIENE

BEST Leads the Way With a New Generation of Sorting Technology new generation of highly efficient sortA ing technology for ensuring the quality and safety of food products has emerged in recent years and Belgian engineering company BEST has been at the forefront of these developments since being formed in 1996.

BEST (Belgian Electronic Sorting Technology) now has the largest range of optical sorters in the world, both for the food and non-food industry. The company is able to provide the right technology (or multiple technologies) and the right machine in accordance with the customers’ products, its specific defects, and production capacity. BEST listens to the individual sorting challenge and creates a tailor-made solution per customer.

BEST’s goal, when it was established in 1996, was to create a technology as easy to operate as a radio - a small yet robust hightech sorting machine that was easy to install and operate. The company’s first invention – the high-tech laser sorter LS 9000TM - was able to sort sticky raisins with defects of the same colour, and became a revolution in the raisin industry.

Raisins are very difficult to sort and BEST’s sorting machines soon became used for a broad variety of food products in diverse conditions such as dried, frozen,

or fresh fruit and vegetables, potato products, seafood, and nuts. The sorting machines process these food products in a variety of shapes - cubes, slices, whole or cut, frozen or fresh and even mixed.

Indeed, BEST’s philosophy back then was: ‘If we can sort raisins, we can sort almost anything!’

Latest Technology

Utilising a wide range of the latest technology, including laser, camera, LED, Xray, or a combination, BEST is able to resolve many sorting challenges with regard to optimizing the end product and/or removal of defects and foreign material from food products. The company invents the latest sorting technologies in order to cover the requirements of all phases of production, from the beginning of the production line up to the packaged product.

Every machine BEST delivers, is custom-built to fit the exact sorting needs of the customer. Because production lines are never alike, BEST engineers examine the customer’s situation first hand, and then prescribe an exact remedy of mechanical, optical and electronic components. With every delivered machine, the customer receives tailor-made training, geared to individual needs.

Continued Innovation

The Nimbus is a laser/camera sorting solution that combines the efficiency of the laser detection on foreign material, together with the accuracy of the camera detecting discolourations and shape differences in freefall.

BEST is continuing to lead the way in sorting technology innovation and development. The company recently opened its fourth BEST Sorting Solution Center (BSSC) in a new building at its headquarters in Leuven in Belgium. The Solution Center allows customers and prospective customers to test the BEST sorting solutions in an environment that simulates their production process. BEST uses the customer’s products to demonstrate the efficiency of its sorters, allowing the client to evaluate the results before investing.

BEST also operates two innovation centers in Leuven (Belgium), one in Denver (USA) and one in Hanghzou (China). The company is also working on opening a fifth one in Tokyo, Japan.

BEST has recenty launched two technological innovations, with the next generation free fall sorters - the Opus and the Nimbus.

FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2012

Every machine BEST delivers, is custom-built to fit the exact sorting needs of the customer.

The Nimbus

The Nimbus is a laser/camera sorting solution that combines the efficiency of the laser detection on foreign material, together with the accuracy of the camera detecting discolourations and shape differences in free-fall. The sorter detects all colour, structure, size and shape defects from a stream of good products. Besides these conventional sorting methods, the Nimbus is also able to sort based on biological characteristics, such as chlorophyll (Fluo™), mycotoxins (Detox™), and water (SWIR).

The Opus

The Opus is a unique, state-of-the art freefall modular camera and laser sorter with a small footprint and the ideal inspection width (1 meter) to integrate in an IQF fruit or vegetable packing line. It is a modular system, with single or double sided camera and laser combinations. The sorter features the new high resolution BEST camera that can be combined with SWIR technology.

The camera, exclusively developed for BEST, is provided with an adapted spectrum, ideal for optical sorting. It also features BEST’s new industrial high quality lenses with an advanced focusing system.

The machine’s laser configuration is the optimal solution to detect foreign material among good products. Thanks to the SWIR technology, water based products such as frozen fruit and vegetables absorbing the light, and difficult defects such as wood and plastic reflecting it, are detected.

BEST constantly invests in R&D, to guarantee its trendsetting position in many food and non-food industries. J 33

I PLATE FREEZING

Benefits of Plate Freezing Within the Seafood Industry

By Kyle Bennett Although many forms of cooling and maintaining the catch within the seafood industry have been employed in the past, and still are today, plate freezing has quite literally allowed the seafood industry to grow to its current size, by giving trawlers the opportunity to fish further out in deeper waters without the worry of spoiling their catch.

Fast freezing" was first discovered "whilst

by Clarence Birdseye around 1912 on a field assignment in what is now modern day Canada. After being taught by the Inuit how to ice fish under thick ice in -40C weather, he noticed that the catch was freezing nigh on instantly. More importantly, when thawed, it still tasted fresh, and hence modern direct contact freezing was born.

Blast freezing and conventional methods at the time froze the product slower, allowing larger ice crystals to form which damage the cell walls of the fish, on the other hand, with direct contact plate freezing, the ice is formed rapidly and large ice crystals do not have chance to grow. This then leads to a higher quality product without the tell tale sign of a mushy consistency once prepared.

Throughout the 1950's and onwards, a now defunct company called Jackstone Froster held almost a monopoly on the plate freezing market, and pioneered the basic designs in which nearly every plate freezer on the market now follows.

In 1962 the company was responsible for

In today's market, DSI and Freezertech are two of the biggest names in plate freezing, both with considerable experience in all refrigerants and both having substantial knowledge on the overall seafood processing market. J

introducing the "Vertical" plate freezer, which further increased production by shortening filling and preparation times, as well as allowing a completely direct product contact with the plates, as no packaging is involved.

Today Vertical plate freezers are one of the most common types used on the large trawlers due to their ease of general operation, however a good proportion of the market uses horizontal plate freezers as well.

These in turn give better space efficiency for smaller trawlers, as well as allowing flexible size blocks to be produced.

In 2002 the market was changed yet again, by the introduction of a modern CO2 refrigeration system for trawlers by Per Nielsen and Thomas Lund.

By using a highly efficient CO2 system combined with even lower temperatures, freezing times were further reduced by up to 40% compared to existing R22 systems. Not only has this allowed higher production rates, but also increases the quality of the catch by even more rapid freezing.

FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2012

Today Vertical plate freezers are one of the most common types used on the large trawlers due to their ease of general operation, however a good proportion of the market uses horizontal plate freezers as well. These in turn give better space efficiency for smaller trawlers, as well as allowing flexible size blocks to be produced.

35

I PLATE FREEZING

DSI – The Plate Freezer Specialist anish engineering company DSI D (Dybvad Stal Industri) manufactures many different types of Horizontal and Vertical Plate Freezers which are suitable for the freezing of foodstuff. Since 1979 the company has manufactured thousands of Plate Freezers, based on customer demands.

DSI’s focus is to optimize the operating performance, reliability and overall economy of its Freezers, to ensure that its Plate Freezers always live up to the changing needs of customers.

Preserve the Freshness

As consumers are increasingly focusing on

36

the quality and the freshness of food products, DSI focuses on the quality of the frozen product and has chosen the term Preserve the Freshness - as its guide for the design and quality mark for the company’s Freezers.

The whole world is DSI’s market.

Customers include the leading refrigeration and processing companies. DSI also maintains an excellent, ongoing collaboration with many end-users in order to ensure that its products fulfil the high demands from customers.

DSI Plate Freezers comply with the most stringent requirements on safety and ergonomic design. And to secure a safe working environment, the company also

FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2012

offers different systems for automatic handling of the blocks DSI’s Freezers are easy to clean and keep clean in accordance with the demands of the veterinary authorities. DSI Plate Freezers are type-approved by Det Norske Veritas and comply with DNV and EU regulations, and are also type-approved by the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping and Russian GOST / TR approvals.

DSI is the world leading manufacturer of Plate Freezers - a statement that commits the company to strive for perfection. J

I PLATE FREEZING

Freezertech – A Modern Company With a Commitment to Tradition rimsby based Freezertech specialises in G the development and manufacture of double contact plate freezers, for the food and animal by-products markets.

Established in 2008 by ex-Jackstones Froster employees left without jobs after the company’s collapse, Freezertech has showed phenomenal growth since its conception and there is little sign of slowing down.

Initially concentrating on providing worldwide OEM and aftermarket compatible spares for existing Jackstone plate freezers, Freezertech quickly expanded into larger premises soon after achieving more and more sales for new machines.

With the benefit of over 60 years of development history and the 34 years of extensive experience of Steve Cole at the reigns of the company, Freezertech has quickly proven itself to be a major competitor in the international plate freezer market.

The Audacity to Reject Compromise

"A key part of Freezertech's success," explains Kyle Bennett, "is we're actually listening to our customers and doing something about it - gone are the days where one machine fits all and our customers pick a model from a list. Different customers have different needs, so each machine is specifically tailored to their individual requirements, for instance

marine customers need a compact design that maximises the available floor space, whilst land customers need to focus on automation and ergonomics as much as possible - taking feedback off every customer allows us to implement the best parts of everything."

Every Freezertech machine is hand built 100% in the UK, so every part goes through stringent quality control and nothing leaves the factory without being signed off personally by the managing director, Steve Cole - and it's this commitment to judge every detail that has helped create some of the best plate freezers available in today's market.

Freezertech also ensure they remain competitive on orders by offering not only some of the best prices, but offering maximum flexibility - in the height of the fishing season a quick turn around on new machines is very often needed, and that challenge is always met with success by Freezertech.

"Everyone here is 100% dedicated to their jobs, we not only employ the best and the brightest, we also employ the most committed workers we've ever met our guys will stop all night if they have to in order to make sure something goes out 100% correct, and likewise all our products are backed up by a 2 year comprehensive warranty to prove it," says Steve.

take the pain out of managing large and small installations projects - Freezertech can help cater for all aspects of the refrigeration and food handling industry, enabling the customer to have an easy "single source" for all their requirements.

Steve Cole explains: "It is this network of partners that helps us achieve our goal of complete customer satisfaction, we put people in touch with the right companies for the job, and in today's fast paced world of food processing, it's not just about getting the job out the door, it's about ensuring everything and everyone works at the level they are meant to work at. Customers can benefit from automatic unloading and handling systems to reduce employee labour and strain, and also enjoy the advantage of more efficient power consumption when dealing with properly trained and experienced refrigeration engineers like the ones we work with." J

The Creativity to Surpass Expectations

Not only does a Freezertech customer benefit from their plate freezing experience, but also from their wide network of partner companies and dealers.

It is this network that helps FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2012

37

I MAP

Continued Growth For Modified Atmosphere Packaging he growing popularity of convenience foods is continuing to drive demand T from manufacturers for Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) solutions.

While traditionally used mainly in the dairy products, meat and bread sectors, the potential of MAP is becoming increasingly recognised in other product sectors such as fish, fruit and vegetables.

Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) provides a longer shelf life for food products and an improved appearance of freshness in terms of taste, colour and form. The modified atmosphere in the package counteracts the growth of microbiological organisms and bio-chemical reactions and the consequent spoilage of the goods.

MAP places comparatively high demands on the packaging process, particularly in the sealing process, where various sources of error can lead to leaks. The impact of leaking packages on the product can be grave - from loss of nutrients to losing flavour, taste, texture or colour to the point of deterioration due to pathogenic microorganisms. Depending on the product, even health risks cannot be eliminated.

Focus on Leak Detection According to WITT, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of MAP solutions, the focus is now on quality control both

during and after the packaging process, with leak detection solutions becoming increasingly important. WITT points out the even one single recall action can not only be very expensive but can also quickly ruin a manufacturer’s reputation. For this reason, premium manufacturers undertake comprehensive leak detection tests during the final inspection.

WITT offers high-quality systems for the leak detection of all types of packages.

Food producers can choose between leak detection systems for sample or continuous checks. With state-of-the-art technology, WITT’s premium solution LEAKMASTER® MAPMAX features the detection of even the smallest of leaks in single modified atmosphere packages or complete shipping cases. A worldwide unique speed of up to 15 cycles per minute provides 100% leak control of a food manufacturer’s production. WITT points out that this is the only way to achieve 100% safety and the company is receiving more and more requests on this kind of in-line solution.

WITT has been producing MAP gas mixers for more than 30 years and has the widest range of products and experience in this field. Headquartered in Witten, Germany, WITT offers specific devices and systems for the mixing, metering and analysing of gases for every type of packaging machine that is used in the food industry as well as leak detection and gas monitoring systems.

FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2012

Highly Innovative WIIT is highly innovative with a strong track record of developing new trendsetting products while constantly upgrading existing ones.

Recent examples of new product development include WIIT’s premium gas analyser MAPY, which is an ideal combination of aesthetics with ergonomics and technical functionality and has received a Red Dot Award for outstanding design; and WITT’s bestseller, the mobile gas analyser OXYBABY®, which features ergonomic design, short sample times, minimal sample gas requirements and is easy to use with onehand operation.

WITT’s LEAK-MASTER® MAPMAX leak detection system is the only one in the world that offers up to 15 test cycles per minute.

WITT’s latest innovation is the KMFLOW. The KM-FLOW is a new gas mixer with digital mass flow controllers (MFC) for packaging using a protective atmosphere in the food industry. The new KM-FLOW gas mixer allows the food industry for the first time to use MFC technology for mixing gases in order to optimise their packaging process. In combination with an online gas analyser this solution helps to reduce gas consumption up to 30 %.

If a standard WITT product cannot meet a specific customer requirement, WITT will design and manufacture a custom made solution. WITT products are low-maintenance and offer a long service life. In an emergency, customers can instantly rely on the worldwide network of WITT partners. J

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I FREEZING, PACKAGING & TRANSPORT

Fresh Freeze, Preserve, Deliver – Linde at Anuga FoodTec perature and moisture content, eg cooked poultry and ready-to-eat meals.

Both nitrogen and carbon dioxfacturer to the final consumer. These revolve around the intelligent use of food ide can be used as a cryogenic gases for freezing, packaging and transport refrigerant. The cooling medium is sprayed directly onto the product refrigeration.

At Stand C051 in Hall 10.1 Linde will and efficiently extracts the heat be showcasing its new cryogenic freezer from it.

The CRYOLINE® XF also models: the CRYOLINE® XF spiral freezer and CRYOLINE® CW multi-purpose offers efficiency when it comes to freezer. These high-performance models cleaning: the simple design makes for IQF (individually quick frozen) freez- it much easier. The spiral freezer ing with cryogenic nitrogen (N2) or car- has a built-in self-cleaning belt The compact form of the CRYOLINE® XF contributes to bon dioxide (CO2) are the latest two addi- washer system and resistant sur- the increased efficiency of the spiral freezer. tions to the modular CRYOLINE® prod- faces, giving problem-free access to uct line. Both machines can be seen at the all internal components and areas. The stream of the packaging machine and can stand as true-to-detail exhibits at the scale advantages of this ingenious design are be adjusted to the respective belt speed. of 1:4. reduced downtimes for cleaning and main- Depending on the package size, an inspectenance, resulting in increased productivi- tion of up to 60 cycles per minute is possiCRYOLINE® XF ty. ble. Flow-pack wrappers and trays of difThe compact form of the CRYOLINE® ferent heights can be inspected.

XF contributes to the increased efficiency MAPAX® LD With the 100% inline inspection of all of the spiral freezer: high flow velocities In addition to its range of tailor-made MAP packages, errors in the packaging line can be achieved over the entire surface due solutions for modified atmosphere packing are signalised at an early stage and defective to cross-flow technology, thus cutting (MAP) of food, at Anuga FoodTec Linde products automatically ejected. A high freezing times. The result is an extremely will be presenting MAPAX® LD, a com- quality standard is guaranteed and returns high heat transfer which is far superior to pletely new system for detecting leaks in by retailers are substantially reduced. that of comparable devices. The freezer is packages under a protective atmosphere. the perfect choice for many high-quality The innovative technology uses hydrogen Dry Ice in Certified Food Quality foods such as meat, ready meals, fish and as a detection gas. Even the smallest leaks In addition, Linde will be providing inforseafood. In addition it is suitable for freez- are quickly detected in a non-destructive mation on dry ice in certified food quality ing and cooling products with a high tem- and reliable process. according to ISO 22000:2005. ApplicLeak detection by the MAPAX® ations for the ice – made of solid CO2 and LD system uses hydrogen as a supplied in pellet and nugget form – are detection gas instead of carbon all shipping and processing steps in which dioxide or helium. For this purpose the dry ice comes into direct contact with a small quantity of hydrogen food, eg transport refrigeration, sprinkling (approx. three per cent) is added to of meat and chilling of baked goods and the packaging gas. In the event of a mixers. A further innovative process speleak a slight mechanical pressure on cially designed for cooling containers in the packaging will cause hydrogen fresh food logistics is SNOWCOOL®. to escape from the packaging. The cooling effect is likewise based on the Thanks to the sensitive hydrogen sublimation of dry ice snow. sensor the process works considerThe Linde Group is a world-leading ably faster than conventional ver- gases and engineering company with sions and detects even the smallest around 50,500 employees in more than leaks in a fraction of a second. 100 countries worldwide. In the 2011 The highlights of the Linde stand at Anuga FoodTec this Inline operation is possible, ie dur- financial year, it achieved sales of Eur13.79 year will be end-to-end freshness concepts from the ing production. The MAPAX® LD billion. For more information visit manufacturer to the final consumer. system is located directly down- www.linde.com. J

he highlights of the Linde stand at T Anuga FoodTec this year will be endto-end freshness concepts from the manu-

FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2012

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I WATER MANAGEMENT

Robert Wiseman Dairies Increases Water Savings £100 million fresh milk dairy at A Bridgwater, Somerset in England has succeeded in increasing its use of recycled water by 50% to over 300,000 litres of water every day, equivalent to the daily water use of 663 households. Known as ‘Britain’s green and white dairy’ Robert Wiseman Dairies Bridgwater facility has set the standard for environmental performance since it opened in 2009 and was the first dairy in the UK to have its own reverse osmosis (RO) plant to ensure that water leaving its on-site effluent treatment plant could be recycled and reused in the dairy.

Recycled water is returned to the mains water tank to be used across the dairy for everything from cleaning the filling lines to pasteurising the milk and significantly reduces the requirement to draw water from the local water supplies.

The RO technology was first introduced in early 2011 initially allowing around 200,000 litres of water leaving Bridgwater’s on-site effluent treatment plant to be recycled and reused. This installation has been expanded and is now providing over 35% of the water

required by the dairy which has an annual production of around 500 million litres.

“Water scarcity, particularly in the south of country is a significant issue and our Bridgwater dairy has amongst the best water per litre of milk produced ratios of any dairy in the country,” says Billy Keane, managing director of Robert Wiseman Dairies. “This water recycling is another step towards meeting the target we set of reducing water use across our network of dairies by 25% by 2015 whilst also helping to further reinforce Bridgwater’s reputation as the world’s most environmentally advanced fresh milk dairy.”

Headquartered in East Kilbride near Glasgow in Scotlant, Robert Wiseman Dairies procures, processes and distributes almost a third of all fresh milk consumed in Britain, every day. The company has six dairies and a distribution network which enables the company to deliver milk to customers in every GB postcode. Wiseman is a wholly owned subsidiary of Muller Dairy (UK) and employs around 5,000 people. J

I ENERGY EFFICIENCY

PepsiCo Wins 2012 Energy Star Sustained Excellence Award Protection Agency The(EPA)US hasEnvironmental awarded PepsiCo’s US opera-

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tions a 2012 Energy Star Sustained Excellence Award in recognition of the soft drinks and snacks manufacturer’s continued leadership in protecting the environment through energy efficiency. PepsiCo, which has been recognized by the Energy Star programme since 2006, is being honored for its long-term commitment to energy efficiency.

After more than a decade, the cumulative effects of PepsiCo’s resource conservation program have resulted in an improvement in energy efficiency of more than 30%.

FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2012

Further, PepsiCo avoided the emissions of over 600,000 metric tons of greenhouse gasses in 2011, which is equivalent to the energy consumption of over 50,000 American single-family homes and over 115,000 passenger vehicles.

The 2012 Sustained Excellence Awards are given to a select group of organizations that have exhibited outstanding leadership year after year. These winners have reduced greenhouse gas emissions by setting and achieving aggressive goals, employing innovative approaches, and showing others what can be achieved through energy efficiency. Award winners are selected from about 20,000 organizations that participate in the Energy Star program. J

I RETAIL READY PACKAGING

Corrugated Innovation – Helping Packaging Users Succeed Retail ready packaging, the most significant development in ‘on-shelf ’ packaging for many years, has changed the way consumer goods are distributed and displayed forever. ow that retail ready presents products N and brands to shoppers every day, marketers are becoming very aware of new opportunity. Well printed, well designed packs can help drive impulse sales, enable shoppers to navigate the category or reinforce brand messaging.

By listening carefully to customer briefs, and by enlisting and combining the skills of experts across its network of businesses, DS Smith Packaging gets to the heart of a brand’s strategy to deliver tailor made solutions. Tony Foster, Sector Director, comments: “There is nothing ‘off the shelf’ about DS Smith Packaging’s approach to retail ready.”

Spectacular Results The results come through in spectacular fashion. Take, for example, the retail ready packaging for Seabrook Crisps.

Seabrook wanted a corrugated pack that perfectly reflected the qualities of its new range called “Goodbye salt Hello flavour”. The message to the shopper stands out loud and clear; it highlights the reduction in salt but not flavour.

A superb product shot is featured with a background texture depicting a traditional potato sack. DS Smith Packaging recommended its R-Flute®, a significant breakthrough in corrugated fluting. When

Retail ready packaging for Seabrook Crisps.

compared to the commonly used b-flute, R- Flute® offers a flatter, better surface for printing and presentation, a crucial advantage for more and more customers who seek brand appeal and sales success with shoppers.

ImageRight A major component in the success of DS Smith Packaging’s printing is the use of ImageRight, part of a unique set of business tools called PackRight. ImageRight is used to protect a brand’s identity at the point of sale by ensuring consistent colour.

The successful ‘TiltMaster’ pack is an innovative retail-ready concept produced for Roach Bros.

and present them as shoppers expect, in the right context. Put simply, good RRP helps drive sales.”

DS Smith designed new, high quality retail ready packaging for the Seven Seas range of Liquid Pure Cod Liver Oil.

DS Smith designed new, high quality retail ready packaging for the Seven Seas range of Liquid Pure Cod Liver Oil. ImageRight matched brand colours in different elements of the packaging, so that the primary and secondary packs work together in perfect harmony. High quality flexo print has been applied on both the outside and inside liners to create greater impact on shelf.

Terry Morgan, Market Development Director, confirms that: “There’s a growing recognition that RRP is a valuable tool in shopper marketing. Designing RRP, with the right look and feel to complement the primary and secondary pack, enables brands to position their products FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2012

Innovative ‘TiltMaster’ Pack The successful ‘TiltMaster’ pack is an innovative retail-ready concept produced for valued customer Roach Bros. The corrugated concept, which has recently won a WorldStar Packaging award, allows the product to be displayed on a backwards tilt, so that it does not fall over, is always clearly visible to shoppers and thus generates optimum shelf impact. The tilting function only operates when the lid is removed, therefore taking up 18% less storage and distribution resource compared to a pre-formed construction. As always with corrugated packaging, the Tiltmaster is 100% recyclable.

Tony Foster sums up: “Customers are increasingly turning to DS Smith Packaging to make ideas happen. We are continuously raising the bar to help customers succeed at the point of sale, whilst reducing cost and carbon in their supply chains. We heartily welcome the challenge to help brands stand out positively from their competition.’’ J 43

I VISION SYSTEMS

Cognex Launches the Ultimate Vision System ognex Corporation, the world's leading C supplier of machine vision systems, has introduced the ultimate vision system that is small, tough and very smart—the InSight® 7000 smart camera. This new system series represents a true revolution in machine vision and features powerful vision tools, faster image capture, the capability to power and control a range of external lighting and enough input/output capacity for virtually any inspection scenario - all in a compact, industrial IP67 package that makes the system ideal for more applications than ever before.

“The significance of this new technology cannot be overstated,” says Bhaskar Banerjee, Business Unit Manager, Vision Systems. “Not only does the In-Sight 7000 deliver proven, reliable Cognex vision technology, but because of its small package size and unique new features, companies can deploy vision systems much more easily than they were previously able to.”

Smarter Tools In-Sight 7000 smart camera users can rely on the industry-leading Cognex vision tool library for reliable, repeatable performance in even the most challenging vision applications. Proven In-Sight measurement, location and inspection vision tools and

the flexible EasyBuilder® environment make all inspection, defect detection, guidance, alignment and measurement applications easy to set up and deploy.

Faster Image Capture The In-Sight 7000 series offers many model options, all with a tough metal IP67 package, including models that provide acquisition speeds of over 100 image captures per second. These high acquisition speeds allow users to reliably inspect products on even the fastest bottling and pharmaceutical production lines.

Lighting Power and Control Unlike most vision systems, the In-Sight 7000 smart camera has the capability to power and control specialized lighting directly and eliminates the need for external power supplies.

Expanded Input/Output Capacity With three input and three output connections, In-Sight 7000 has sufficient capacity to meet the needs associated with virtually any inspection application.

More Options Additional features of the small, tough and very smart In-Sight 7000 smart cam-

The In-Sight 7000.

era include Cognex Connect™, which offers the widest range of built-in communication protocols that interface directly with the vision system. The compact In-Sight 7000 features built-in Ethernet, RS-232 serial and multiple discrete I/Os. The system can communicate directly to virtually any PLC or robot controller and manage multiple smart cameras remotely from a networked PC or HMI, simplifying implementation and reducing costs.

The Cognex In-Sight 7000 is available now. For more information, visit www.cognex.com/IS7000. J

Self-Contained Vision System Inspects Unlabelled Cans roducers of canned foods typically P make a large volume of a particular product, such as tomato soup, then store the cans in a warehouse without labels while waiting for orders from customers.

The cans are labelled just before shipment, often with the customer’s private brand label. The cans go by at a speed of one every 60 milliseconds so conventional manual inspection is not possible.

The only known effort at applying machine vision to this problem used a camera connected to a frame grabber board on a computer. Its weakness is that the specialized hardware is not designed for use in a factory environment. The cameras and frame grabber boards are susceptible to heat and dust. A considerable level of expertise is also required to set up and maintain this type of system, expertise

that is typically not found in a canning plant.

Matrix Technologies utilized recent advances in vision system technology to develop a better approach to brightfield automated inspection. “The key to the new approach is the use of the Cognex InSight® 5600 vision system to inspect the product codes against the bright can background at a speed of 1000 products per minute,” explains Les Haman, Department Manager for Matrix Technologies.

The Cognex PatMax® pattern matching tool inspects the product code. This application takes advantage of the ability of the PatMax tool to recognize a pattern regardless of its location. Rather than reading individual characters the application is configured to simply look for an image FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2012

that matches the three-digit product code.

A new product code can be configured simply by putting a can with the new code in position to be viewed by the vision system and positioning a rectangular box around the product code. From that point, the vision system will detect that product code even if it is in a different position or at a different angle as long as it is in the field of view. This approach is much simpler, more robust and more economical than the machine vision technology used on this application in the past. J 45

Achieving Reliable & Sustainable Shop-floor Integration with SAP ERP

By Will Wilmot, BEng, CEng, Managing Director, Milestone Solutions. ith the constant evolution of integration technologies, there W are many methods and as many protocols to integrate systems throughout the manufacturing architectural landscape. This article presents a case study of how a leading edge multinational company has laid the architectural foundation for true ERP to shop-floor integration.

The project employed "best in class" MII solution to achieve the business requirements of seamless integration from "Top Floor to Shop-Floor". It was clear from our analysis that SAP MII provided the seamless integration into SAP ERP, but what also impressed was the integration of Level 3 and 2 systems.

A simplified architecture is shown below in Figure 1:

The Background Pepsico Worldwide Flavours, (PWF) embarked on a complex and exciting Enterprise SAP solution across their global manufacturing division. The key focus of this article is to present the challenge and subsequent solution of integrating shop floor systems across disparate applications and architectures.

The Challenge PWF had existing ERP systems which had shop-floor integration developed, but not in a standardised manner. The first key objective of this project was to analyse existing and future shop-floor integration requirements, and recommend an architectural solution that would provide a reliable and scalable solution for the future.

Whilst the existing scope was to maintain existing ERP touch points, the nature of manufacturing sustainability is to maximise asset utilisation and minimise cost of manufacturing, and to this end is what recognised that the proposed solution should provide a platform to standardise shop-floor management, i.e. Energy metrics per production, Overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), etc.

The Solution The result of our analysis was to implement SAP Manufacturing Integration and Intelligence (SAP MII) into the manufacturing architecture. SAP MII is a SAP provided middleware solution that will facilitate system integration between ISA.S95 Leve2 and Level 4 systems, and also provides a web based front end for manufacturing visibility and interaction.

The challenge was to take existing shop-floor solutions, which by their very nature, are different in application and design and provide a solution that can standardise the interface between SAP ERP and the Shop-floor operator.

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Figure 1

The challenge was to take existing shop-floor solutions, which by their very nature, are different in application and design and provide a solution that can standardise the interface between SAP ERP and the Shop-floor operator.

So to put this into tangible terms, different Level 2 systems will report Goods Issue or Goods Receipts in a variety of message interfaces, but by employing a standardised MII solution, MII transposes the different interfaced messages from the disparate shop floor systems so that SAP ERP receives the same Goods Receipt and Goods Issue interface from the MII. SAP MII was also deployed on Mobile devices on the shop-floor, so that existing handheld RF devices were utilised by running Internet Explorer (IE) on a windows mobile platform. This solution allowed developed MII solutions to be extended further onto the shop floor.

FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2012

The Benefits The outcome of implementing SAP MII was clear. • It provided a reliable integration platform between SAP ERP and the shop-floor. • The response time performance was very impressive and as

near real-time as is required.

• Existing complex integration solutions were easily replicated and the design and development stage was used to further improve integrated solutions.

• As part of the application development, we also designed an integrated application log system which provides an interface of process messages to allow non-technical users to diagnose problems and issues. This development provide invaluable during the Go-Live and start up. This allows diagnoses of issues on the shop-floor by Super-Users before a support ticket needs to be raised, thereby reducing the support requirements.

• A standardised solution that can be deployed across the enterprise, leveraging existing SAP MII application solutions and also providing a standardised manufacturing solution to support Business Continuity Planning.

• SAP MII provides standard application hooks into many systems including standardised interfaces into Plant Historians • Future scalability to provide further shop floor integration and manufacturing solutions.

The "A" Team The team that delivered this highly successful implementation consisted of an integrated team approach that included PWF System Analysts technical PM and development resources from both

Milestone Solutions and Neoris, Inc. The Next Steps PWF have laid the platform for a truly sustainable architecture.

With the deployment having gone very well in multiple plants, they now have the architectural foundation to provide further improvements to the manufacturing processes.

As with most manufacturing architectures there is an enviable amount on information available throughout the manufacturing landscape, the next steps is to harness, collate and most importantly contextualise this manufacturing information into tangible reports and KPI's, so that manufacturing and operations personnel can now spend more and more time on improving the manufacturing process, rather than spending time collating data to find out what the real causes of manufacturing issues are.

The Author Will Wilmot is a Chartered Engineer, with 14 years experience in providing Automation and ERP integration solutions to the manufacturing and processing industries. He was the SAP MII Technical Project manager for the PWF SAP MII implementation. He is Managing Director of Milestone Solutions, which are an Irish based company that provide ERP and Automation integration to Multi-national clients. J

Milestone Solutions is a dynamic, highly experienced Automation and Manufacturing Information systems consultancy.

We are focused on providing an experienced and professional service to the Life Sciences, FMCG, Discrete Manufacturing and chemical processing industries.

We work with our clients as an Integral part of their organisation to Listen, Understand, Define and Optimise, resulting in Successful project delivery.

To find out more, or discuss how we can support your business requirements, Call us Today!

E: sales@mile.ie FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2012

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FlexaPac Tray Loading Machine Set to Revolutionise Citrus Fruit Packing he packing of netted citrus fruits into T trays, crates and cartons is set to be revolutionised and fully automated for the first time with the launch of FlexaPac, a new tray loading machine from Pacepacker Services. The patented technology is in response to a request made by a food process trouble shooting consultant, working for one of the UK’s leading importers and packers of fruits, who approached Pacepacker to design and manufacture a system which would almost entirely eliminate product waste and increase netted fruit packing throughput.

The FlexaPac, which can pack in excess of 60 nets of fruit per minute, replaces the current labour intensive approach of loading netted products into crates, trays and cartons by hand via a rotary table. Not only is the rotary table process costly due to high staffing requirements, bags of fruit are often wasted when packers accidentally drop the products, or they are bruised when the handler loads them into a tray resulting in costly penalties charged by the retailer.

FlexaPac accurately stacks trays without any product waste.

Automated Solution This challenge prompted independent Food Production Consultant Trefor Mason, who redesigns food manufacturing processes to achieve a leaner way of working, to approach Pacepacker to design an automated solution which would eliminate waste and increase line throughput. “Having worked with many fruit packers and suppliers it was apparent that the packing of the 48

Fruit gently slides off the lowering plates into an awaiting tray positioned underneath the machine.

netted fruits into trays was an area which required a complete overhaul,” he comments. “My client is a fruit supplier to many leading supermarket chains and having assisted them in the redevelopment of their factory we began to look for an automated solution which would overcome the drawbacks of manual packing and ultimately eliminate product bruising, increase line throughput and re-deploy manual workers.”

Using their EEF Future Manufacturing award winning ‘Try Before You Buy’ inhouse service, Pacepacker’s team of engineers worked with Trefor Mason and the fruit packer to create several equipment design concepts before finally developing the FlexaPac. Two simple, yet effective, parallel conveyor belts transport the bags of fruit from the net packing machine onto FlexaPac’s set of landing platforms, here, once the correct quantity of netted product has been recognised by the system, they are gently pushed onto a set of lowering plates, which then smoothly lower the product into the waiting tray below – completely eliminating product damage and waste.

Without human handling, the system evenly distributes layers of fruit, below the level of the tray bale arms or carton lips, until the required quantity is met. The system uses a combination of touch screen, PLC and servo systems and enables storage of many recipes for different product configurations.

Intelligent Options The system comes with intelligent options such as the email alert system for when production capability is not being achieved through low input of trays or packs and FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2012

production status snapshots.

Pacepacker Services business development manager, Paul Wilkinson, comments: “The patented FlexaPac technology is completely different from anything else on the market, and while it has been designed to automate and overcome the issues relating to the packing of netted fruit it also offers manufacturer’s of other netted goods such as nuts, plant bulbs, onions and cheeses, a fast and waste efficient automated packing option. The FlexaPac has the option of being fed via one or two netting machines and can be interlocked into an existing line to offer a fully integrated turnkey system – a first for netted fruit packing.”

Industry First As an industry-first, the FlexaPac is receiving a lot of attention from net bagging equipment manufacturers looking to provide turnkey lines. One such leading packaging supplier to the fresh produce industry, Verti-Pack, one of five leading packaging companies which make up the GSH Group, has now partnered with Pacepacker.

Trefor Mason concludes: “We are delighted with Pacepacker’s FlexaPac solution; it is the missing link in the fast and efficient packing of netted citrus fruits.

Not only will this machine increase throughout, it should eliminate waste and reduce labour by 85% for my client. Plus, the footprint of the FlexaPac has been cleverly designed so that it is no bigger than the current rotary table operation – all in all, it’s an excellent solution which overcomes the drawbacks of manual fruit packing.” J

Pushers gently position fruit from the parallel conveyors onto the lowering plates.