March 2016
Turbulent times for European dairy
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Turbulent times for European dairy industry.
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Top 10 European Dairy Companies.
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Peder Tuborgh, CEO, Arla Foods.
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M E E R R G G E E R R S S M Asahi Makes €2.55 Billion Offer For SABMiller’s Italian, Dutch and British Businesses Asahi Group of Japan has made a Eur2.55 billion binding offer to AB InBev to acquire SABMiller’s Peroni, Grolsch and Meantime brands
and their associated businesses in Italy, the Netherlands and the UK. The Asahi offer is conditional on completion of the AB InBev acquisition of SABMiller, which is expected to close in the second half of 2016. The acquisition will allow Asahi to expand its growth platform in Europe and to become a global player with a distinct position, while increasing the presence of its flagship Asahi Super Dry brand.
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A C C Q Q U U II S S II T T II O O N N S S A
the company's overall footprint in ‘better-for-you’ snacking and increases its natural food channel presence. Snyder's-Lance is projecting estimated annualised synergies from cost savings of $75 million, with approximately $10 million to be re-invested in the company's growth plans. Snyder's-Lance expects the transaction to be immediately accretive to 2016 annualised earnings. "We are very excited to have completed the acquisition of Diamond Foods and look forward to starting this new chapter in our company's history. Diamond has been a powerful industry leader in snack foods with exceptional brands and we're excited to bring these two great teams together," says Carl E Lee, Jr, president and chief executive of Snyder's-Lance. "By bringing together the resources and expertise of the Snyder's-Lance and Diamond teams, we expect to see widening profit margins as we gain synergies and progress though our integration plans over the next 12 to 24 months."
Snyder's-Lance Completes Acquisition of Diamond Foods Snyder's-Lance, the US-based snack foods group, has completed its $1.91 billion acquisition of rival Diamond Foods. The acquisition creates a powerful, international snack foods company with an innovative and diversified product portfolio. The addition of leading snack food brands such as Kettle Brand potato chips, KETTLE Chips, Pop Secret popcorn, Emerald snack nuts, and Diamond of California culinary nuts positions Snyder's-Lance to compete more broadly and with enhanced capabilities. Each of these brands brings unique strengths to support Snyder'sLance's strategic plan while increasing the company's annualised net revenue to approximately $2.6 billion. The transaction also expands
Carl E Lee, Jr, president and chief executive of Snyder's-Lance.
Sysco to Purchase Brakes Group in $3.1 Billion Deal Sysco Corporation, North America’s leading food service distributor, has agreed to acquire Brakes Group, a lead-
ing European food service distributor with operations in the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Sweden, Spain, Belgium and Luxembourg. Brakes Group is owned by Bain Capital Private Equity. The transaction is valued at approximately $3.1 billion (£2.2 billion) and includes the repayment of approximately $2.3 billion of Brakes Group’s financial debt. The deal expands Sysco’s footprint in the UK and Ireland and further into Europe and positions the company for potential future expansion in these markets. The deal is subject to customary regulatory review by European Union competition authorities. The companies expect to complete the transaction before the end of Sysco’s fiscal year in July 2016. Headquartered in London, Brakes Group will operate as a standalone company within Sysco. The Brakes Group business will continue to be led by chief executive officer Ken McMeikan. His management team and the rest of the employee base will remain in place. Bill DeLaney, chief executive of Sysco, comments: “This transaction will unite Sysco with a leading foodservice distributor in Europe with demonstrated capability to sustainably grow its business over time. Beginning with a common customercentric mindset, our companies are strategically aligned with compatible cultures and similar business models. We expect to retain key members of Brakes Group’s talented leadership team and to experience little distraction from integration given the mini-
FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2016
mal overlap of the businesses. Sysco’s management team remains confident in and committed to achieving our previously ann-ounced three-year plan financial objectives.” “Since we bought Brakes Group in 2007, the business has been transformed with capital investment of more than 100 million British pounds in an e-commerce platform, multi-temperature distribution infrastructure, and customer service enhancements,” says Dwight Poler, managing director of Bain Capital Private Equity. “There is still a huge market opportunity ahead that I am confident Brakes Group is very well placed to deliver with Sysco.” In 2015, Brakes Group’s increased revenue by 6.5% to $5 billion (£3.3 billion).
Bill DeLaney, chief executive of Sysco Corporation.
Refresco Gerber Expands Co-packing Activities Refresco Gerber, the leading European bottler of soft drinks and fruit juices for retailers and A-brand owners, has agreed to acquire the PepsiCo bottling facility in Hamburg, Germany, for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition fits Refresco Gerber’s buy & build strategy and further strengthens its footprint in the German soft drinks and fruit juices market. Included in the terms of agreement is a 10year co-packing agreement with PepsiCo. Hans Roelofs, chief execu3
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chicken and turkey meat, primarily in Austria, Southern Germany and Switzerland. Bell is active in the production, processing and distribution of meat products, sea-food and convenience products in Switzerland and in several countries in the European Economic Area. After the transaction Bell will increase its business activities in Austria and Germany. Hans Roelofs, chief executive of Refresco Gerber.
tive of Refresco Gerber, says: “This transaction lies at the heart of our buy & build strategy and confirms our focus on expanding our co-packing business. It further strengthens our relationship with one of our key customers PepsiCo, for whom we already provide co-packing activities in France, Spain, Benelux and the UK.” He adds: “Germany is an important region for Refresco Gerber and with this acquisition, we take an important leap forward in our German co-packing activities and further improve our market presence.” It is anticipated that the acquisition, which is subject to approval by the German competition authority, will be completed during the second quarter of 2016.
European Commission Clears Acquisition of Huber by Bell The European Commission has approved the acquisition of Huber of Austria by Bell Group, part of the Coop Group. Huber produces, processes and distributes
Wessanen Acquires Leading Organic Tea Brand in The Netherlands Dutch group Wessanen is purchasing the Piramide tea brand from the Organic Flavour
Christophe Barnouin, executive of Wessanen.
chief
Company for an undisclosed price. Closing is expected to be in March 2016. Piramide is a long established tea brand in the Netherlands and leader in the health food stores channel. Tea is a core category for Wessanen and a key part of the market for healthy, sustainable and organic food. Organic herbal and green teas are a growth segment as consumers are looking for healthier and more sustainable options. Wessanen is a European leader in organic teas and Piramide will be an addition to its strong portfolio of tea activities on the Zonnatura, Clipper, Alter Eco, Bonneterre and Bjorg brands. Christophe Barnouin, chief executive of Wessanen, com-
ments: "The accretive acquisition of Piramide is a further step in the execution of our strategy and will strengthen our leadership of Organic teas in The Netherlands across both the grocery channel (with Zonnatura and Clipper) and now also health food stores. It fits our ambition to build strong brands across all channels and to further strengthen and leverage our scale, expertise and capabilities in core categories.”
Emmi Strengthens its Position in Goat’s Milk Market Swiss dairy group Emmi is acquiring a 60% stake in Dutch family business Bettinehoeve, which is currently the largest producer of fresh and ripened goat’s cheese in the Benelux countries. Bettinehoeve currently employs some 115 staff at its two Dutch production locations and generated sales of around Eur40 million in 2015. Goat’s milk products are among the most attractive niches in the international milk industry. Emmi focuses on premium and niche markets and successfully exports premium products manufactured in Switzerland, such as Caffè Latte and Kaltbach cheeses. Through its foreign subsidiaries, Emmi is a leader in niche markets like desserts, lactose-free dairy, specialty cheese and goat’s milk products. The trend for goat’s milk products is based in particular on the nutritional benefits. Emmi entered the international market for goat’s milk products in summer 2010 with its acquisition of US goat’s cheese producer Cypress Grove Chevre. It has gradually expanded its activities in this attractive segment in recent years: in 2013, through the acquisition of a 70 % stake in Dutch AVH dairy, which specialises in the export of goat’s and sheep’s milk products, and most recently in December 2015 with the purchase of the purchase of the US company
FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2016
Redwood Creamery.
Hill
Farm
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Eden Springs Completes Acquisition of Nestlé Waters Direct Businesses Eden Springs, a leading European provider of water and coffee solutions, has completed the final transaction of the acquisition of five water cooler businesses from Nestlé Waters Direct (NWD), a division of Nestlé Waters. The deal enhances Eden’s leadership position across 18 countries in Europe. The Polish deal forms part of a larger programme for Eden, involving the acquisition of NWD businesses in Germany, Portugal and the Netherlands (December 2014) and Russia (January 2015). The entire deal is expected to increase Eden Springs’ revenue by more than 20%. The Nestlé acquisition reflects Eden Springs’ confidence in the present and future growth of the European water and coffee market, and sees the business as an opportunity to strengthen its service excellence in providing office drinks solutions.
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COVER STORY
Turbulent Times For European Dairy Industry The abolition of EU milk quotas in April 2015 marked the biggest change in the European dairy industry for more than 30 years but has also heralded a period of extreme turbulence in global markets. ncreased milk production, not only in Europe but also in North America and Australia, has combined with a slowdown in exports to China and the Russian trade embargo, resulting in a severe imbalance between supply and demand. “The global dairy industry has rarely been as tough and unpredictable, and 2015 has unfortunately been as challenging as we anticipated,” points out says Peder Tuborgh, chief executive of Arla Foods, the world’s 7th largest milk processor and the 5th biggest in Europe. “We have an extremely difficult task ahead of us in 2016 as global milk supply still exceeds demand. We do expect that the global market will begin to turn for the better towards the end of 2016.” The global market is currently characterised by instability and extreme price volatility. Indeed, milk prices have fallen by 65% since a peak in April 2013, according to the GlobalDairyTrade (GDT) benchmark milk index. Although the long-term prospects remain bright as global demand is set to rise due to population growth in emerging economies, the market environment is likely to remain challenging in the short-term. Arla Foods and other major dairy processors have been responding to the hostile trading environment by moving more of their milk into added-value products while focusing on improving efficiency and reducing costs.
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Industry Concentration Over 70% of Europe’s milk is processed by just twenty dairy companies. The Top 10 dairy companies in Europe, by turnover, are listed in the Table. Other leading dairy companies include Mlekovita, Poland’s largest dairy group; Hochwald and
Reflecting its continued international expansion, Lactalis, the French family owned dairy group, has now overtaken Danone to become Europe’s second largest dairy company.
Top 10 European Dairy Companies, 2015 Company
Country of Headquarters
Dairy Turnover 2014 (€ billion)
1 Nestle
Switzerland
20.9
2 Lactalis
France
14.7
3 Danone
France
14.6
4 FrieslandCampina
Netherlands
11.1
5 Arla Foods
Denmark/Sweden
10.3
6 Unilever
Netherlands/UK
5.8*
7 Sodiaal
France
5.4
8 DMK
Germany
5.3
9 Savencia (formerly Bongrain)
France
4.6
10 Muller
Germany
3.8*
Source: Rabobank, 2015. Turnover data is dairy sales only, based on 2014 financials and M&A transactions completed between 1 January and 15 June 2015. *Estimate Peder Tuborgh, chief executive of Arla Foods.
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on the processing of dry dairy ingredients such as milk powder and whey powder, with the majority of these facilities located in the Netherlands, Germany, Ireland and France. Other key product categories to receive investment included cheese (Eur1.02 billion or 18% of the total investment figure), milk and dairy drinks (Eur650 million or 12%), yoghurt and chilled products (Eur330 million or 6%) and butter (Eur100 million or 1.8%). Encompassing 190 projects, the Eur5.5 billion investment was made by 120 companies with Lactalis Group, FrieslandCampina, Arla Foods, DMK and Glanbia Ingredients Ireland prominent amongst them.
Milk prices have fallen by 65% since a peak in April 2013, according to the GlobalDairyTrade (GDT) benchmark milk index.
Molkerei Ammerland of Germany; Valio, the market leader in Finland; Tine, the leading dairy co-operative in Norway; and Berglandmilch, the Austrian dairy co-operative. Nestlé is Europe’s and the world’s biggest dairy company, sourcing its milk and dairy ingredients from more than 30 countries. Milk is a central raw material in many of Nestlé’s products including ambient dairy products, ice cream, creamers, infant formula and confectionery (see ‘150 Years of Dairy Tradition at Nestlé’ on page 21). Like Nestlé, Danone (ranked 3rd) and Unilever (ranked 6th) are fully fledged food and beverage groups with dairy products representing only one element of their extensive portfolios. Reflecting its continued international expansion, Lactalis, the French family owned dairy group, has now overtaken Danone, which has encountered major problems within its European dairy operations, to become Europe’s second largest dairy company. Lactalis, which incorporates the Parmalat business, recently completed the US$700 million acquisition of Elebat Alimentos, the dairy business of Brazilian food group BRF, and has just purchased shares in Georgian dairy company Sante, for an undisclosed amount. Dairy co-operatives FrieslandCampina of the Netherlands and Denmark-based Arla Foods are respectively Europe’s fourth and fifth largest dairy processors. France has four companies in the Top 20 - Lactalis, Danone, Sodiaal (7th) and Savencia Fromage & Dairy (9th) - while Germany has two representatives – dairy co-operative DMK (8th) and Muller Group (10th), the German privately-owned food company. Heavy Investment Europe’s major dairy companies have been preparing for the postquota era by investing heavily in new processing capacity and technology to handle the anticipated increase in milk production from dairy farmers and to make products to meet the changing tastes of consumers. Between 2012 and June 2014, Eur5.5 billion was invested in the expansion of dairy processing capacity across the EU in preparation for the abolition of the milk quota regime in April 2015. Almost half (Eur2.68 billion) of the total investment was spent
Ongoing Projects New investment in addition dairy processing capacity is still ongoing. For example, Glanbia Ingredients Ireland, the number one dairy ingredients company in Ireland, processing 2 billion litres of milk and exporting dairy products to over 60 countries, is planning a major expansion to its cheese plant in Wexford entailing investment of Eur35 million. A 60:40 joint venture between Glanbia Co-operative Society and Glanbia plc, the publicly quoted global nutrition company, Glanbia Ingredients Ireland has already invested Eur235 million across its milk processing plants at Virginia (County Cavan), Ballyragget and Belview (County Kilkenny) in the past three years. In the ten months since milk quota abolition last April, milk supply from Glanbia Ingredients Ireland’s 4,800 farmer suppliers has grown by 22%. In 2015, across its four Irish milk processing locations, the company processed in excess of 2 billion litres of milk for the first time. €240 Million Investment in Early Life Emmanuel Faber, chief executive of Danone. Nutrition Plant Danone is investing Eur240 million to build a new plant at Cuijk in the Netherlands for its Early Life Nutrition business as it seeks to capitalise on strong and growing demand for its international brands, including Aptamil and Nutrilon, for both standard and specialized products. The state-ofthe-art facility, which is due to start production in late 2017, is Danone’s largest investment in its European production capabilities, and will double its capacity in the Netherlands. Output will be exported to more than 80 countries worldwide. The investment is in line with Danone’s 2020 development strategy to deliver strong, sustainable and profitable growth.
Glanbia Ingredients Ireland has invested Eur235 million across its milk processing plants at Virginia (County Cavan), Ballyragget and Belview (County Kilkenny) in the past three years.
FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2016
Financial Performances The difficulties encountered in global markets are reflected in the financial performance of the leading dairy companies, which have so far reported results for 2015. 9
Danone is investing Eur240 million to build a new plant at Cuijk in the Netherlands for its Early Life Nutrition business as it seeks to capitalise on strong and growing demand for its international brands, including Aptamil and Nutrilon, for both standard and specialized products.
Savencia Fromage & Dairy is one of the first Top Ten companies to report results for 2015, which were impacted by the adverse trading conditions in the global dairy market. Focusing on cheese specialties and high value added dairy ingredients, Savencia Fromage & Dairy (formerly Bongrain) is an independent French family-owned business and is listed on Euronext Paris. Savencia is the second largest cheese producer in France and ranks fifth worldwide. Savencia’s net sales declined by 3.6% to Eur4.442 billion compared to 2014 although at constant exchange rates the like-for-like fall was limited to 2.9%. Like-for-like sales in the group’s Cheese Products business fell by 0.8% due to negative pricing in all markets in line with the falling world price for milk. However, the strength of the French dairy group’s strategic brands, in particular in Western Europe and beyond Europe, helped to significantly limit the impact of this factor. Like-for-like sales of other dairy products fell by 5.0% as a direct result of low world prices for industrial products due to excess milk production worldwide impacting the selling prices for dairy ingredients. The impact was limited by increased sales volumes of higher added value products. Savencia is continuing to focus on improving its industrial and commercial competitiveness, and on leveraging its strategic brands and reinforcing its international market positions. Robust Performance by Arla Foods Arla Foods has reported a 3.3% decline in revenue to Eur10.3 billion with net profit down almost 8% to Eur295 million for 2015 as increased milk production in Europe coupled with a slowdown
Focusing on cheese specialties and high value added dairy ingredients, Savencia Fromage & Dairy (formerly Bongrain) is Europe’s ninth biggest dairy company.
in demand in China and the ongoing Russian trade embargo caused world market prices to plummet. The 2015 outcome is fully in line with the dairy co-operative’s expectations. Owned by 12,700 farmers from Denmark, Sweden, the UK, Germany, Belgium, Luxemburg and the Netherlands, Arla Foods is one of the strongest players in the international dairy arena, with a wide range of dairy products and well-known brands like Lurpak and Castello. Arla Foods is also the world's largest manufacturer of organic dairy products. “We knew 2015 would be tough on all markets, and it was. Dairy prices have been under pressure worldwide all year, and every dairy farmer has felt the consequences,” says chief executive Peder Tuborgh. “It affected Arla’s milk price to our owners and our revenue in 2015. Having said that, Arla has achieved what we set out to do within our business in a year when the entire dairy industry has struggled.” The performance price, which measures the value Arla Foods has generated from each kilo of milk supplied by the farmer-owners, was 33.7 eurocent pr. kilo with a total volume of owner milk of 12.5 billion kilos in 2015 (compared to 41.7 eurocent pr. kilo with a total volume of owner milk of 11.7 billion kilos in 2014). Arla Foods has responded to the adverse trading environment by moving even more of its milk into branded dairy products and food service, improving market positions and reducing costs. “We have worked intensely to minimise the damage from the negative global trends by reducing costs and by maintaining and improving our market positions in Europe while creating new market positions for our branded products outside the EU,” he explains. Roelof Joosten, chief executive of Royal In the past, Arla FrieslandCampina. Foods’ profit target was 3% of company revenue, but in Aug-ust 2015 it was reduced to between 2.7% to 3.0% in order to facilitate a prepaid milk price to support its farmer-owners in their difficult financial situation in the face of the global decline in milk prices. Strategic Change Arla Foods recently unveiled its new ‘Strategy 2020’ setting out to grow its business in eight global dairy categories and six market regions as the company moves to navigate a dramatically changing global dairy market. “We are working fiercely to expand our branded business in growth regions outside the EU but also within our European lead markets. We are launching new innovations and have increased the marketing spend to support this. We have gained market shares in most of our markets although the competition is fierce, with everyone competing for their share of the market while global prices are under pressure. We are confident that Arla has the right strategy to take the company and its owners forward as we focus on organic growth within our existing branded business,” says Peder Tuborgh. Arla Foods is continuing to pursue its long-term efficiency programmes and achieved its annual savings goal of Eur330 million
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in 2015 compared to 2012 cost-levels. “Constantly becoming more cost-efficient is a crucial part of our efforts to create the best value for our farmer-owners in the extremely tough conditions. We have therefore set a new target of delivering additional annual savings of Eur400 million by 2020, starting with the first Eur100 million in 2016,” says Peder Tuborgh. Looking ahead, Arla Foods anticipates its 2016 revenue to be on Damien Lacombe, chairman of Sodiaal. par with the 2015 level, and its profit to be within the range 2.8% to 3.2% of the company’s revenue. However, Arla Foods’ ‘Strategy 2020’ will require a reorganisation of the business leading to the loss of 500 jobs. Restructuring at Danone Danone has been restructuring its European Fresh Dairy Products business to regain its competitive edge and also reviewing its business model in China for its early life nutrition products. The measures are part of the ‘Danone 2020’ development plan. “Our plan to transform Danone is underway, and it’s already paying off,” points out Emmanuel Faber, who became chief executive in October 2014. Danone has just delivered a 4.4% organic rise in sales to Eur22.41 billion for 2015 with trading operating income up 5.7% to Eur2.89 billion as operating margin improved by 17 bps on a like-for-like basis. The results mark the start of a recovery for the French food and beverage group following a tough year in 2014, when it reported a fall in sales and trading margins. Danone’s Fresh Dairy Products business, which accounts for almost half of total sales, increased sales on a like-for-like basis by 0.6% to Eur11.057 billion in 2015 as it started to reap the rewards of the restructuring with trading operating margin improving by 24 bps to 9.95%. Benefiting from the popularity of its international brands Aptamil and Nutrilon and strong demand
Arla Foods and other major dairy processors have been responding to the hostile trading environment by moving more of their milk into added-value products while focusing on improving efficiency and reducing costs.
in China, Danone’s Early Life Nutrition business increased likefor-like sale by 9.8% to Eur4.99 billion as trading operating margin rose 142 bps to 19.32%. The Early Life Nutrition division generates 22% of group sales. Danone’s other divisions are Water and Medical Nutrition. Emmanuel Faber adds: “In an environment that is still complex, unstable and fragmented, we must continue to strengthen and adapt our model to ensure that Danone will generate strong, profitable, sustainable growth in 2020.” Danone’s goal for 2020 is to generate strong, profitable and sustainable growth, with a target of overall growth equal to or higher than 5%. This includes like-for-like growth of between 3% and 5% for the Fresh Dairy Products division and between 7% and 10% for the Early Life Nutrition division. Danone is also committed to annual growth in margin driven primarily by a structural recovery in the margin reported by its Fresh Dairy Products division, which is expected to deliver a rise of over 200 basis points in aggregate margin between 2015 and 2020, compared to the 2014 figure, at constant exchange rates. New Strategy For Sodiaal Sodiaal, France’s leading dairy co-operative which operates over 70 industrial sites and achieved a turnover of Eur5.4 billion in 2014,
FrieslandCampina has been investing in additional capacity to process the increasing quantity of milk from member dairy farmers. The dairy cooperatives’s investment budget for 2015 was Eur600 million.
has also announced a new development strategy. The objective is to add value to the milk of all members to guarantee them a market price, and to increase and share the company’s profits long term. Sodiaal intends to diversify its activities and plans to invest Eur600 million under a six year plan to increase output and to remain competitive. “We have set a target of doubling our gross operating surplus (which stood at Eur93 million for 2014), and to increase the proportion of our turnover earned through exportation by 2020,” explains Damien Lacombe, chairman of Sodiaal. About 25% of sales were generated by exports in 2014. Sodiaal plans to exploit added value opportunities in countries where dairy product consumption is growing. The priority areas are Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Russia. Future expansion will chiefly depend on the development of its brands including Candia, Entremont, Monts et Terroirs and Yoplait, and on strengthening Sodiaal’s positions in demineralised whey and powdered baby formula. The French dairy co-operative also intends to export its expertise in upstream and downstream milk production. Part of the strategy will entail stepping up exports to China through its local partner, spreading its Candia brand to 23 countries by 2020 and doubling its production of organic milk to 200 million litres annually. According to Damien Lacombe, ‘Sodiaal 2020’ is based on four strategic areas: “be an efficient and effective group, improve our competitiveness on the domestic market, take
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capacity expansion. It recently completed an expansion of the production capacity for butter-oil at FrieslandCampina Butter in Lochem and installed a new packaging line for dairy-based beverages at its site in Aalter. FrieslandCampina Ingredients also recently completed the first phase of a new production facility for special milk powders and ingredients at its site in Borculo.
Danone has been restructuring its European Fresh Dairy Products business to regain its competitive edge.
our place in global growth, and play our role in bringing together dairy co-operatives.” Adjustments at FrieslandCampina Dutch dairy co-operative FrieslandCampina is also restructuring its operations to adjust to the post-quota era at it simultaneously expands its international presence through acquisitions and partnerships. FrieslandCampina is to restructure production of three of its operation companies in the Netherlands - FrieslandCampina Cheese, FrieslandCampina Butter and Ecomel (organic dairy) resulting in the loss of about 140 jobs in the next two years. However, at the same time about Eur30 million will be invested in the expansion of production plants. Joint Ventures Last year, FrieslandCampina formed a joint venture – Friesland Huishan Dairy - in China to make dairy products locally to serve the Chinese market. FrieslandCampina is planning to increase the revenue it generates in China, currently the group’s fastest growing global market, from about Eur1 billion in 2015 to Eur2 billion by 2020, according to chief executive Roelof Joosten. China is expected to contribute 10-15% of FrieslandCampina’s projected global revenue of Eur15 billion by 2020. Also in 2015, FrieslandCampina increased its share in its FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria subsidiary from 54.58% to 67.81% at a cost of Eur182 million, and successfully completed the acquisition of the Belgian mozzarella producer Fabrelac. More recently, Friesland Campina’s ingredients business has entered a partnership with USbased biotechnology company Glycosyn to develop new infant nutrition ingredients for global markets. FrieslandCampina has also been investing in additional capacity to process the increasing quantity of milk from member dairy farmers. The dairy co-operatives’s investment budget for 2015 was Eur600 million with the majority spent on quality Dr Josef Schwaiger, chief executive of DMK. improvements and
Exceptional Situation DMK Group, which is Germany’s largest dairy company with sales of Eur5.3 billion in 2014, has also been tightening its belt in response to the current turbulence in the global dairy market. “This exceptional situation requires a powerful crisis mode,” says Dr Josef Schwaiger, chief executive of DMK. “DMK will therefore initiate further austerity measures and accelerate ongoing efficiency programs." That means making additional cost savings across the business and capping ongoing investment during the second half of its 2015 financial year. DMK Group, which has more than 8,900 active dairy farmers and co-operative shareholders and 7,400 employees, has a broad product base including cheese, fresh dairy products, ingredients, baby food, ice cream and health products. The German dairy cooperative has invested over Eur500 million in its production plants and in installing advanced processing technology in preparation for the abolition of EU milk quotas, such as the construction of one of the most modern and efficient milk powder plants at Zeven in Lower Saxony. DMK Group also operates Europe’s largest cheese factory at Edewecht, also in Lower Saxony.
DMK Group has a broad product base including cheese, fresh dairy products, ingredients, baby food, ice cream and health products. The German dairy cooperative has invested over Eur500 million in its production plants and in installing advanced processing technology in preparation for the abolition of EU milk quotas.
DMK Group has been steadily internationalising its business and exports now account for about 40% of turnover. It has also strengthened its position through alliances and strategic partnerships. For instance, it recently merged with Dutch cheese manufacturer DOC Kaas and has formed a joint venture – ArNoCo – with Arla Foods at DMK's Nordhackstedt site. ArNoCo processes the whey produced by DMK's cheese-making operations – around 700,000 tonnes every year – to make whey protein concentrate and lactose. Despite the current difficult trading environment, Dr Josef Schwaiger maintains a positive outlook: “DMK has structures, size and strength to overcome the crisis - and to reposition compared to many competitors.” UK Dairy Consolidation Germany’s second biggest dairy company, Muller Group, has been consolidating its international footprint as it aims to increase turnover to Eur9 billion by 2020 with an increased profit margin. In addition to its dairy processing operations, Muller Group is also one of leading convenience food companies and one of the largest
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fruit processors in Germany. The German family owned business, which currently employs about 25,000 people and has an annual turnover of Eur6.3 billion, recently completed the £80 million acquisition of Dairy Crest’s processing, trading and distribution activities relating to liquid milk, packaged cream, flavoured milk and bulk commodity ingredients in the UK. “As a family owned company, we aim to invest in businesses where we can add value through our knowledge, scale and entrepreneurial way of operating. This acquisition is very much in line with this mission,” comments Ronald Kers, chief executive of Muller Group. “There is no question that further consolidation is required in the UK fresh milk sector and with this hurdle now cleared, we have an exciting opportunity to create a more competitive, sustainable, efficient and innovative dairy processor in the UK.” Comprising two distinct business units - Muller Milk & Ingredients and Muller Yogurt & Desserts, Muller Group’s enlarged UK business now employs 10,000 people in 13 dairies and over 70 depots, and processes 25% of Britain’s milk production. Muller Group has operated in the UK since 1987 and opened its first yogurt plant outside of Germany at Market Drayton in England in 1992. Having become the UK market leader in the yogurt in 1995, Muller Group has since diversified it UK dairy portfolio through acquisition, such as the purchase of Robert Wiseman Dairies for £279.5 million in 2012, and organic growth. Muller Group has invested over £500 million in the expansion of its dairy and distribution network since 1994 alone, including the opening of a £17 million butter plant in 2013. However, Muller Group’s attempts to establish a US manufacturing presence in partnership with global soft drinks and snacks giant PepsiCo have not been successful. Late last year it ceased production at its US joint venture yogurt plant in New York State, due to weak sales. Muller Group and PepsiCo formed their yoghurt joint venture Ronald Kers, chief executive of Muller Group. – Muller Quaker Dairy – in 2012. Having launched the Muller Corner, Muller Greek Corner and Muller FrutUp brands, Muller Quaker Dairy opened a $200 million state-of-the-art yogurt manufacturing plant in 2013. According to PepsiCo, the joint venture had been terminated “after determining that the business was not meeting expectations in a competitive and dynamic marketplace.’’ The US yogurt market is dominated by Chobani, General Mills and Danone. £65 Million Infant Formula Investment The disposal of its dairies business leaves Dairy Crest focused on its spreads, butters, cheese and whey activities. "This is a transformational moment for Dairy Crest and the wider dairy industry and helps bring much needed stability to the UK dairy sector,” says Mark Allen, chief executive of Dairy Crest. "Dairy Crest can now focus on growth, through both our branded cheese and spreads operations and new revenue streams from manufacturing products for the fast growing global infant formula market." Dairy Crest has invested £45 million to manufacture deminer-
Comprising two distinct business units - Muller Milk & Ingredients and Muller Yogurt & Desserts, Muller Group’s enlarged UK business now employs 10,000 people in 13 dairies and over 70 depots, and processes 25% of Britain’s milk production.
alised whey powder, a base ingredient in infant formula, from the whey generated at its cheese making factory at Davidstow in Cornwall. Dairy Crest is also spending £20 million at its Davidstow site to manufacture galacto-oligosaccharide (GOS), a lactose-based prebiotic, widely used in infant formula. Dairy Crest has formed a strategic partnership with New Zealand-based Fonterra, the world's leading dairy exporter which will market and sell the two products for the global infant formula market. Fonterra will receive a commission to sell all of Dairy Crest's demineralised whey production and will also provide technical and engineering support. The agreement is for a minimum of five years. Expansion in Ice Cream Unilever is Europe’s sixth biggest dairy company and the twelfth largest globally chiefly by virtue of its ice cream business, although milk is also used in its margarines. Although Unilever, like Nestlé, is not involved directly in milk production, it works closely with its suppliers with the aim of moving to 100% sustainable dairy ingredients by 2020. Indeed, in line with its Sustainable Living Plan, Unilever aims to purchase all its animal-derived ingredients from sustainable sources by 2020. With a formidable portfolio of brands, including Magnum, Walls, Ben & Jerry's and Carte d'Or, Unilever is the world’s largest ice cream producer with a global market share of about 27%. Indeed, Unilever is almost double the size of its nearest rival, Nestlé, and is intent on further expanding its ice cream sales globally by focusing on innovaton, premiumisation and expanding consumption occasions. “We have increased our share in ice cream every year for the last 66 years. Each year has been an increase in share for us,” says Kevin Havelock, president of Unilever’s Refreshment category, which in addition to ice cream also includes the group’s tea business. “The one region where we didn't have market leadership where we did take Kevin Havelock, president of Unilever’s market leadership last Refreshment category.
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year - was in the US and North America.” While Unilever is strong in developed markets with a strong ‘dairy heritage’ and where per capita ice cream consumption is high, the global foods, refreshment, personal care and home care group is also growing rapidly in emerging markets. It has also consolidated its ice cream portfolio through acquisition, such as the recent purchases of GROM, the premium Italian gelato business, and Talenti, the US gelato brand. "We have the key areas of ice cream With a formidable portfolio of brands, including covered with our Magnum, Walls, Ben & Jerry's and Carte d'Or, brands across the Unilever is the world’s largest ice cream producer world,” points out with a global market share of about 27%. Kevin Havelock. “There are plenty of opportunities for us in launching and expanding the brands across the world."
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Nestlé’s Ice Cream Joint Venture Nestlé is in the process of combining its ice cream business in Europe and Africa with that of UK-based R&R Group, which is owned by private equity firm PAI Partners. Nestlé’s ice cream brands are amongst its best performing businesses - Skinny Cow offers a range of low calorie ice cream treats, whilst premium brands such as Movenpick and Haagen-Dazs provide luxury tastes for consumers. The proposed new joint venture will combine Nestlé’s strong and successful brands and experience in ‘out-of-home’ distribution with R&R’s competitive manufacturing model and significant presence in retail. Nestlé and R&R have worked together successfully for the past 14 years, initially in the UK and Ireland and, more recently, in Australia and South Africa where R&R licences Nestlé brands. “We have a longstanding relationship with R&R. Combining the capabilities of our two companies in this way would offer an exciting opportunity for future growth in a dynamic catego- Paul Bulcke, chief executive of Nestlé.
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ry,” says Paul Bulcke, chief executive of Nestlé. Nestlé would contribute its ice cream businesses in Europe, Egypt, the Philipp-ines, Brazil and Argentina to the new joint venture. It would also transfer its European frozen food businesses, excluding pizza. R&R Group would join the new joint venture in its entirety. Each partner would own an equal share of the new joint venture which would operate in more than 20 countries and employ more than 10,000 people. “It's all about winning in the marketplace,” remarks Paul Bulcke. “We have been increasing the margin in our ice cream business. So this is not a bad business that we're getting rid of.” The deal is expected to be completed later in the year. Market Outlook Looking ahead, Danone predicts that economic conditions will remain volatile and uncertain overall in 2016, with fragile or even deflationary consumer trends in Europe, emerging markets undermined by volatile currencies, and difficulties specific to a few major markets, in particular the CIS, China and Brazil. Danone expects milk prices to edge up during 2016, with variations from one geographical area to the next - lower prices in Europe and the United States in the first half, with a possible rebound in the second half of the year, and steady price increases in emerging countries all year long, particularly in the CIS.
Nestlé is in the process of combining its ice cream business in Europe and Africa with that of UK-based R&R Group.
The slowdown in China, the world’s second largest economy and the largest infant formula market globally, has raised concerns for Europe’s major dairy processors, most of which have developed significant business there. Nestlé has invested heavily in China and it remains an important driver of growth for the group. “The economy in China has grown slower the last few years. We know that. But GDP remains robust and it is moving from investment-driven expansion towards private consumption,” points out Paul Bulcke. “Even in the last couple of years of slow growth, Nestlé always has grown in China.” The Nestlé chief stresses that it is vital to understand the route to market in China to cover the entire consumer landscape and to realise the growing importance of on-line retail. About 30% of Nestlé’s infant formula sales are now generated via e-commerce as well as 30% of coffee and 50% of petcare sales. Paul Bulcke adds: “Last year, for example, alone, our e-commerce business in China almost doubled. And this will remain a key growth driver also in the years to come.” Danone has also been changing its business model in China by continuing to invest in the Aptamil and Nutrilon brands, and by forging a structure for its local internet offering using a direct distribution model, while developing sales through specialised stores. J FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2016
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150 Years of Dairy Tradition at Nestlé Founded in 1866 in Switzerland, Nestlé has developed from two small companies producing milk-based products into the world’s largest food company. ndeed, dairy still permeates many aspects of Nestlé’s business and is an important part of its nutrition, health and wellness strategy. Nestlé is the world’s largest dairy company, sourcing more than 12 million tonnes of fresh milk equivalents from more than 30 countries. The Swiss group purchases more than half of its milk locally as fresh milk (close to 7 million tonnes per year). Milk is a central raw material in many of Nestlé’s products such as ambient dairy products, ice cream, creamers, infant formula and confectionery.
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The Milkmaid Brand began Nestlé’s 150-year history and is still sold today as Nestlé Milkmaid.
Founded in 1866 in Switzerland, Nestlé has developed from two small companies producing milk-based products.
To ensure a reliable, safe and high-quality milk supply, Nestlé works with more than 600,000 farmers around the world – most of them operating small farms. By adapting the Swiss Milk District System to dairy farming in developing countries around the world, Nestlé’s proven and systematic approach is contributing to poverty reduction and improved nutrition on a wide scale. Nestlé Milk District Model The Nestlé Milk District Model involves establishing milk collection centres featuring payment systems, quality and safety controls, electronic weighing equipment and cooling tanks, along with associated transportation and infrastructure networks. Nestlé also provides free technical and animal husbandry support to improve milk quality, as well as free veterinary services. In addition to promising prompt payment to farmers for each milk delivery, Nestlé also grants US$25 million of microfinance loans each year. For example, in China, nearly 24,000 farmers in Heilongjiang, north-east China, deliver their fresh milk to 78 milk collection centres and Nestlé invests nearly US$200 million a year into the local economy through milk payments, taxes, services and salaries. Nestlé is the third largest buyer of milk in Colombia where its
two milk districts produce 226,000 tonnes a year. Nestlé pays around US$5 million a month to 4,000 local dairy farmers, and a further 10,000 people in the region work in the milk supply chain as milkers, rural workers, transporters and traders. In northern India, Nestlé’s milk-processing factory at Moga, which opened in 1959 with a supplier base of 4 600 farmers providing 2,000 tonnes of milk to has grown to 100,000 farmers in 2,600 villages producing more than 300,000 tonnes. Field camps run by Nestlé Agricultural Services have helped many farmers improve their farming practices and milk quality. Separately, the Village Women Development Programme has trained 30,000 women dairy farmers. The Moga factory has also helped set up drinking water facilities in 91 schools benefiting more than 33 000 students, and funded a tuberculosis clinic. In neighbouring Pakistan, Nestlé invests more than US$180 million a year in milk sourcing, and US$3 million in milk-related operations, agricultural and technical support, and training for farmers. Through milk delivery points in 2,000 villages, more than 135,000 dairy farmers supply close to half a million
In China, nearly 24,000 farmers in Heilongjiang deliver their fresh milk to 78 milk collection centres and Nestlé invests nearly US$200 million a year into the local economy.
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tonnes of milk a year to two Nestlé factories. A partnership with the United Nations Development Programme is also training 4,000 female livestock workers. Dairy Leaders Programme Nestlé is also active in supporting farmers in Europe. For instance, it recently partnered with First Milk, the UK dairy farmers co-operative, to launch the Next Generation Dairy Leaders Programme, a scheme for young farmers that aims to identify, nurture and develop the next generation of dairy leaders. The two year programme will focus on a small group of the most innovative First Milk farmers supplying to Nestlé’s factories in Girvan, Scotland and Dalston, Cumbria, where the milk is used in the manufacture of brands such as KitKat and Nescafe Café Menu. The programme forms part of Nestlé’s long-term partnership with First Milk to improve the sustainability of dairy farms and develop a more sustainable and efficient supply chain with a reducing environmental impact. The participants in the programme will also have the opportunity to visit Nestlé’s UK factories to learn about the company’s supply chain and how the quality of their milk impacts production performance. Evolution Nestlé’s roots can be traced back to 1866 when Charles Page founded the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company in Cham, Switzerland. A year later, he and his brother George opened Europe’s first condensed milk factory in Cham, heating milk to evaporate some of the water, then adding sugar as a preservative.
In the UK, Nestlé and First Milk have launched the Next Generation Dairy Leaders Programme.
Their Milkmaid Brand began Nestlé’s 150-year history and is still sold today as Nestlé Milkmaid. Spurred by strong demand for condensed milk from Great Britain and its colonies, the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company was operating 12 factories across Europe and the US that exported worldwide by 1891. Meanwhile, German Henri Nestlé had invented his Farine Lactée infant food, which he sold from 1867 in Vevey, Switzerland, where Nestlé’s present headquarters are still located. In 1905, the two companies merged, and the Nestlé and Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company was born. Worldwide, people now consume more than one billion servings of Nestlé products per day. The company operates in over 197 countries and employs almost 340,000 people. J
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High Quality Milk-based Food Ingredients From Uelzena elzena Ingredients, a business unit of the U Uelzena group, offers a broad range of high quality milk-based food ingredients and extraordinary expertise in the milk fat processing sector. All products are produced in several group-owned production plants in Northern Germany. Uelzena Ingredients are distributed by Uelzena eG as well as Uelzena’s subsidiary company Warmsener Spezialitäten GmbH.
Their customer base comprises the largest industrial confectionery, chocolate, ice cream, baking and food companies as well as craft businesses. The product portfolio
includes low heat and high heat skimmed milk powder, sweet buttermilk powder, butter, anhydrous and/or fractionated milk fats and sweetened condensed milk as well as yoghurt and cream products or customized fat compounds. Uelzena Ingredients can even provide very special milk fat products. Using a unique fractionation technology, hard stearins are separated from soft or liquid oleins, and the individual fractions can be recombined into a wealth of products with defined melting points and degrees of hardness. Another very special technological process, namely deodoration, allows the removal of both color and – if needed taste from butter. Besides the ingredient business Uelzena is a long time and esteemed specialist for contract drying of natural colours, plant extracts and flavors as well as vitamins or minerals. Not only standard aqueous solutions, but also highly susceptible products, suspensions and emulsions are processed into spray-dried ingredients. Contract processing of butter, anhydrous milk fats and cream products as well as conFOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2016
tract fractionation and/or deodoration of milkfat is offered within the contract manufacturing services of Uelzena. Uelzena holds all the necessary certifications ranging from ISO 9001 and IFS up to organic, kosher and halal productions. The standard certifications are frequently complemented by demanding customer audits. Production is strictly monitored trough defined quality management processes assisted by several specialized in house laboratories. For further information E-mail info@ingredients.uelzena.com or visit www.ingredients.uelzena.com. J 23
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Canadean Dairy Innovation Summit 2016 –13 & 14 April, Amsterdam The new edition of the Dairy Innovation Summit will take place on 13 & 14 April in Amsterdam. he event provides the ideal gathering for key international dairy T co-operatives, manufacturers and private companies to come together and explore fresh solutions as well as discover new trends. The thoroughly researched programme will be delivered by a prestigious speaker line up, with key representatives from Arla Foods, Chobani, the European Commission, Nestle, Danone and many more. The first Canadean Dairy Innovation Summit was held in Dublin in April 2015. The 2016 gathering will provide the ideal forum to seek solutions to the current demands and exchange experiences and business ideas with colleagues in the dairy industry. A full two-day event, it will offer a well prepared agenda packed with insightful presentations, interactive panel discussions and real life case studies, all delivered by a panel of high level speakers. Attendees will be able to network with like-minded peers. Five Trends Five trends, which are expected to impact the dairy industry most in 2016, will be explored: 1. The removal of milk quotas is affecting the industry hugely and it is vital to decide how to react to this huge change in the market. 2.Cheese and yoghurt are the two dairy products that have experienced the highest growth. Both are mostly purchased for snacking purposes, cheese due to its versatility and yoghurt due to its healthier profile. 3.The European dairy market is set to increase its demand for more innovative and health related dairy products – these are a great source of protein and calcium but healthier and lower fat choices are being highly demanded by the industry, with a large percentage of consumers considering healthy attributes when buying. 4.Women tend to consume a higher amount of dairy products in comparison to men. 5.Protein drinks are starting to be purchased not only by people who practice sport but by a wider range of consumers. Speakers An impressive line-up of speakers from across the full spectrum of
the dairy industry has been assembled for the event. Speakers include: • Agnès Martin, Science & Nutrition Director Europe, Danone Nutricia Research – Dairy division • Alastair Jessel, Managing Director, Taywell Ice Creams • Amr Kandil, Group R&D Director, Juhayna Food Industries • Björn S Gunnarsson, Director R&D, MS Iceland Dairies • Dr Paul Bouchier, Head of Research & Development, Dairygold • Dr Ralf Zink, Head of R&D, DMK Deutsches Milchkontor GmbH • Eric Robson, Research Unit Manager - Data Mining and Social Computing, TSSG – Waterford Institute of Technology • Frédéric Chausson, Director of Cooperative Development, Sodiaal • Jakob Bernhard Knudsen, Vice President, Arla Foods • Jan Willem Straatsma, Manager sustainable dairy farming, FrieslandCampina • Jean-Pierre Orenge, Business development Director - Sensitive Products, Sidel • Jens Schaps, Director, European Commission • Kai Sacher, VP R&D, Chobani • Kasia Kandulski Lindegaard, Marketing & Business Development Manager, Arla Food Ingredients • Marisol Giacomelli, Strategy Development Manager- Dairy Operations, Nestle • Markus Danuser, Global brand manager, Emmi • Peter Groves, General Manager, The Good Whey Company • Rebecca Oliver-Mooney, Category & Marketing Controller, Müller Wiseman Dairies • Suzanne Christensen, Editor, Dairy Industries International • Tanvi Savara, Consumer Insights Analyst, Canadean • Thorsten Hartmann, Director of Consulting, Canadean • Tim Doelman, Senior Vice President, Operations and Product Development, Fairlife. For further information visit www.arena-international .com/dairy/. J
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IDF Dairy Science & Technology Symposia 2016 – Dublin – 11-13th April The International Dairy Federation (IDF) through its Irish National Committee is hosting two major symposia which will run for the first time as a double-billed event in Dublin, Ireland during 11th-13th April 2016. he Concentrated and Dried Milks Symposium is a sequel to the 5th T International Symposium on Spray Dried Dairy Products last held in St-Malo, France in June 2012 which at the time emphasised how adaptation of technologies helped reduce drying energy costs of spray drying and enhance the functional properties of dairy powders. Equally the Cheese Science & Technology Symposium follows on from its forerunner event last held also in 2012 in Madison, Wisconsin (USA). The IDF Parallel Symposia 2016, as it is known, has the exclusive Gold Sponsorship backing of Ornua (‘the home of Irish dairy’) - owner of the iconic ‘Kerrygold’ brand - with internationally renowned process engineering company, GEA Group, as Silver Sponsor. Dutch-based specialist solution provider to the milk drying sector, HB Group, is a bronze sponsor. Ireland provides an interesting setting for the 2016 symposia with its predominant grass-based milk production system and supply chain partnering with major multi-national infant milk formula manufacturers based in the country. Timely Event The 2016 parallel symposia are timely given the industry stimulus that followed the lifting of the EU milk quota production restrictions during 2015 – substantial investment has taken place and continues to be made in milk processing capacity commensurate with a well-judged anticipated expansion in milk production at farm level. A long term market perspective takes into consideration the growing demand for foods including dairy arising from projected global population expansion.
An important dimension to these IDF symposia will be the focus on how the multi-disciplinary nature of dairy science and technology can act as an engine of development that will be able to respond with innovative and sustainable dairy product and ingredient solutions to meet growing needs in different markets. Such innovation extends beyond merely nutritional profiling, but to also include how ingredients may be adapted to impart biological functionality in food formulations into which they are incorporated. Program Highlights • 2h plenary programme of Invited Talks marking the 25th anniversary of the International Dairy Journal.
• Novel developments from the INRA Rennes team featuring two-inone use of sweet whey to improve the biomass production and spray drying viability of probiotics, and a new process for the production of permeate powders without spray-drier. • Special feature on Infant Milk Formula and Adult Nutritionals addressing important developments concerning regulation, analytical methodology and novel ingredients. • Advances in Cheese Flavour engineering and characterisation. The Opening Ceremony to a plenary gathering on Day 1 will feature a keynote presentation by Kevin Lane, Chief Executive of Ornua, on the role of innovation in dairy to meet long term global market and nutritional needs. This plenary session will also feature keynote addresses by leading academics to mark the celebration by international publishing house, Elsevier, of the 25th publication anniversary of its peerreviewed ‘International Dairy Journal’. The alignment of the two symposium topics is also important since cheese manufacture is the powerhouse for whey generation – a supply line that is crucial to meet the ever-growing demand for dried whey protein ingredients and nutritional formulations. The topic of infant milk formula is important internationally and also specifically to Ireland where considerable volumes of IMF product and related ingredients are manufactured. Dr Erik Konings, Nestlé, has agreed to speak on the subject of ISO/IDF cooperation with regards to the drafting of standards for submission to Codex. Latest Insights It is also planned to get the latest insights from the international official methods organisation AOAC and its Stakeholder Panel on Infant Formula and Adult Nutritionals (SPIFAN) on developments that will interest both IMF companies and their ingredient suppliers. Several speakers are lined up to talk on the technological and processing aspects of IMF – Dr Mark Fenelon, Head of Teagasc Food Research, will explore the topic of next generation infant formula in terms of ingredient innovation and sustainable process development. With one registration fee payment, participants will have the option of moving freely between the parallel-run symposia. This 3-day doublebilled symposia is an ideal opportunity for all engaged in dairy processing to refresh on latest underpinning scientific and technological developments. Symposia Themes Symposia participants are entitled to move freely between the two symposia which will be running in parallel in adjoining rooms. Themes being explored by the IDF Concentration and Drying
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Symposium 2016 include: • New & emerging technologies for development of dried ingredients: Conventional thermal and non-conventional processes, Learnings from non-dairy ingredient processors eg soy. • Manufacture and applications of membrane – concentrated ingredients: High protein ingredients; Implications for long distance transport – technology, economics and functionality including powder rehydration properties. • Processing & functionality of infant formula & nutritional powders. • Permeate, lactose and whey processing. • Energy, sustainability and processing costs: Improvements to manufacturing efficiency (high solids drying / viscosity management etc). Economics of concentration – is bigger always better? • Effects of pretreatment and composition of feed on powder functionality: Ingredients for beverage including UHT applications & other recombined products; Mineral distribution and complexation during concentration/drying/storage etc. • Industrial developments and applications – modelling, simulation and scale-up: Industry case studies; equipment manufacturers’ platform;
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atomisation and collision studies. • Post-Drying Technologies: Functionalising dairy powders through agglomeration and coating techniques. Themes being examined by the IDF Cheese Science & Technology Symposium 2016 include: • Manufacturing and ripening technologies: Protein standardisation, whey-less cheese, advances in yield improvements. • Manufacture of dried and melted cheese products. • Exploitation of molecular diagnostic tools during ripening. • Cheese flavour engineering and characterisation: Cheese starter contribution. • Mechanisms of cheese proteolysis. • Texture control and microstructure dynamics: Roles of fat and protein in cheese structure-function relationships. • Nutri-functional opportunities for Cheese. For further information visit www.idfingredientsandcheese2016.com. J
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Marketing Ireland’s Increased Dairy Production Globally With Irish milk production set to increase by 50% to 7.5 billion litres by 2020, Bord Bia (the Irish Food Board) is busy supporting the development of new export markets and differentiating Irish dairy products globally, as it continues its efforts to establish the world’s first national, sustainable dairy industry. ncompassing butter, cheese, infant formula, milk, cream, fresh dairy products, milk powder, whey and functional ingredients, Irish dairy export sales rose by 4% to reach Eur3.24 billion in 2015. The UK is the largest single market buying 30% of the products, 28% went to other EU markets and international markets beyond the EU accounted for 40% last year. Faced with a relatively small domestic market, the Irish dairy industry exports about 90% of its output and this proportion will increase as milk production is ramped up following the abolition of EU milk quotas in April 2015. So where will this increased dairy production be sold? “The trend over time is for more and more of our dairy production to be exported into international markets outside of the European Union. It is worth noting that at the present time China is Ireland’s second largest market after the UK, and it accounts for a very significant share of our exports of infant formula. So the focus is going to be clearly on the regions of the world whose populations are growing rapidly, which is Asia and Africa,” replies Aidan Cotter, chief executive of Bord Bia. Bord Bia’s mission is: ‘To drive, through market insight, and, in partnership with
tion and technological capabilities of the Irish dairy processing sector. For example, in preparation for the major expansion in Irish dairy products, Bord Bia has been accelerating its programme of what it describes as ‘consumer ethnography’ in various markets such as South Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, Senegal and China. “This is work where our researchers go out into the markets - they stay with people in their homes, they eat with them, they look in their fridges, they shop with them and go out to eat with them – in order to ascertain how dairy products are used in a different cultural environment, so that the
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Ireland’s grass-based dairy system is fundamental to the industry’s success in penetrating international markets.
industry, the commercial success of a world-class food, drink and horticulture industry’. Aidan Cotter continues: “Africa’s population is going to double over the next 35 years and Asia’s similarly. Even just taking the next ten years when the world’s population will grow by 800 million people – virtually all of that growth will be is Asia and Africa. So those are the regions of the world, including the Middle East, where we would expect to see multiple-growth taking place.”
Irish dairy export sales rose by 4% to reach Eur3.24 billion in 2015.
Marketing Irish Dairy Products Working in close partnership with the dairy industry, Bord Bia invests significantly in gaining market and consumer insights across its targeted export markets and in building the awareness of Ireland’s ‘green’ image, particularly through its ‘Origin Green’ programme, while also highlighting the innova-
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Origin Green is rapidly positioning Ireland as a world leader in sustainably produced food and drink products and in differentiating Irish food and drink exporters from their competitors.
Irish dairy industry can better service the needs of its customers in that context.” Aidan Cotter elaborates: “So we are investing significantly in building our insights and understanding of how dairy products are consumed in the target markets the industry is focusing on, whilst also building customer and consumer awareness of our natural production systems, the processes that are in place and the science and technology that is supporting them.” Distinct Advantages A key advantage that Ireland has regarding dairy production is its natural and unpol29
luted climate, characterised by excellent air and water quality. Ireland’s grass-based dairy system is fundamental to the industry’s success in penetrating international markets. “These are natural attributes within which Ireland can produce dairy products but there is also a very strong and long tradition of investment in research and education, and stringent regulatory controls led by the State,” he points out. “So it is not surprising, for example, that some of the leading infant formula manufacturers in the world have located in Ireland, some as far back as the early 1970s.” Indeed, Ireland currently produces a tenth of all the infant formula sold globally. New Strategy Bord Bia recently launched its new strategy for the next three years entitled: ‘Making a world of difference’. The document sets out the key forces driving change in the market-place and the strategic pillars that will guide Bord Bia’s activities in the period ahead, including a renewed focus on routes to market and the importance of building its international market presence. The Bord Bia chief executive comments: “We have to be different because we are reliant for almost 90% of what we produce on global markets. So we have to make our way in the world or perish. We have to be able to position Irish dairy products in a way that has a specific and unique appeal. So that is the focus of our dairy strategy for the next three years.” The new strategy is based on five pillars – informed consumer insight; people, talent and infrastructure; Origin Green; developing effective routes to market; and strong brand communications.
Aidan Cotter explains. “So we are putting increased focus on how we can actually show best practice in how we communicate about our companies and Bord Bia on behalf of the industry to the international market-place.”
Aidan Cotter, chief executive of Bord Bia.
located at the organisation’s Dublin headquarters and is designed to help companies successfully underpin new marketing and brand initiatives by ensuring the consumer is at the heart of everything they do. “It is a space where we can interact with consumers globally and at home, and in conjunction with producers develop those insights and how they can be transformed into new products and offerings that can be marketed internationally,” he says. The second pillar concerns investment in people. For example, Bord Bia is accelerating investment in its Marketing Fellowship and Food Marketing Graduate programmes to deliver high-quality talent to the food industry. Similarly, it is also building on its Origin Green Ambassador programme to engage with targeted customers to build awareness and understanding of Ireland and the Origin Green programme in international markets.
Routes to Market and Consumer Insight Communication In line with its goal of being the authorita- The fourth pillar concerns routes to market tive source of strategic insight linking mar- and helping the Irish food industry find ket opportunities to industry, and as part of new business. For instance, Bord Bia is curthe first pillar focusing on the consumer, rently opening an office in Singapore to Bord Bia is establishing a new Insight complement its existing base in Shanghai in Centre. The ‘Thinking House’ will be order to enhance its activities in south-east Asia. The food marketing agency is also strengthening its operations in Africa, which is a growing market for Irish dairy products, generating over Eur500 million of export sales. “The fifth pillar is what we call ‘brand communications’ in a digital age. Clearly there is a very complex environment in which to communicate in terms of conventional Bord Bia has introduced a Sustainable Dairy Assurance Scheme, designed media and social media. to provide a uniform mechanism of recording, monitoring and improving Ensuring that our voice is the sustainability of Irish dairying at farm level. It is the first national dairy heard is becoming scheme of its type anywhere in the world. increasingly challenging,” FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2016
Origin Green Bord Bia’s new strategy is underpinned by the Origin Green sustainability programme, which is the third pillar. Origin Green is rapidly positioning Ireland as a world leader in sustainably produced food and drink products and in differentiating Irish food and drink exporters from their competitors. Indeed, sustainability is central to the continued expansion of the Irish dairy industry. To support Origin Green, Bord Bia has introduced a Sustainable Dairy Assurance Scheme, designed to provide a uniform mechanism of recording, monitoring and improving the sustainability of Irish dairying at farm level. It is the first national dairy scheme of its type anywhere in the world.
The Irish dairy industry exports about 90% of its output and this proportion will increase as milk production is ramped up following the abolition of EU milk quotas in April 2015.
Sustainable Dairy Bord Bia is currently two-thirds of the way through its first audit cycle of its Sustainable Dairy Assurance Scheme, which is ISO accredited. “We expect by the end of 2016 to have all 18,000 dairy farms, representing 100% of our milk production, within the Sustainable Dairy Assurance Scheme. That means every farm is audited and carbon foot-printed every eighteen months,” says Aidan Cotter. “All of our dairy processing companies are members of the Origin Green programme, which means they are creating sustainability development plans and have made commitments to meet targets to improve the sustainability of their manufacturing processes. He concludes: “Origin Green is about the reputation of the industry and how we can actually make a difference in the world through this unique programme that underpins our natural attributes for food production. Origin Green has won many plaudits from around the world and from organisations like the World Bank and the World Wildlife Fund.” J 31
I DAIRY
Primoreels® – ‘The Lidding System of the Future’ – Cost Efficient and Reliable rimoreels A/S was founded in year 2008, P but has its roots from a filling machine company with more than 60 years of experience within the dairy industry. Primoreels has become a well-established and flexible partner for a wide range of manufacturers all around the world - mainly in the dairy industry. With the constant introduction of new products and battle for shelf space at retail, Primoreels’ solutions help customers stand out with high-quality graphics and long shelf-life performance that is able to compete with the traditional thicker Alu/PET die cut lids. Primoreels’ plastic solutions have enabled customers to forego expensive and wasteful over capping, and in this way bring the dairy packaging to the next level in terms of efficiency and lower total cost. Primoreels® flexible packaging solutions have fastly gained a reputation for timely, high-quality, innovative lidding solutions that satisfy our customers. Lidding System Primoreels A/S has invented a lidding system which offers unparalleled advantages to dairy product manufacturers whom traditionally are using ALU/PET die cut lids or roll-stock solutions. Today the Primoreels® system is successfully installed on numerous high capacity machines throughout the world. Primoreels’ lidding system is a patented invention, and with licensing agreements, the company have given various filling machine suppliers the opportunity to apply and install the system to their machinery. Already in the process of offering their filling machines – Primoreels are to be offered as an alternative solution to roll-stock and die cut lids maga-
Primoreels lids comes in thinner materials than normal die-cut lids, and therefore it’s expected to create savings for our customers all around the world. The reels contains as much as 40,000 lids per reel. Furthermore, it is possible to obtain exceptionally high print quality on the ultra-smooth lid surface. Other obvious benefits include UV-C sterilised lids, which eliminate contamination and increase shelf life.
zine. It allows the filling machine suppliers to have the competitive advantage towards their competitors, as the system offers numerous advantages – never seen before to the customers in the industry. During the last couple of years, further development has allowed Primoreels to retro-fit stand-alone units to existing In-line machines as well as Round table machines, to significantly enhance their efficiency and hygienic security level in the production. This comes with a small investment to the existing filling machine, which runs with preformed cups and die-cut/roll-stock solution. Switching lidding system to a Primoreels solution will be done in max. 4 days - on site - and the existing machine can be of any brand and size. Each machine unit is tailor-made and has its own dedicated touch-screen panel and controls, thus making them truly independent units without interfering with the current PLC or other on the filling machine. The simple instalment creates the perfect interaction between machine and foil material.
YOU GET: • Up to 40,000 lids on a reel – one day’s production • High print quality – completely smooth surface • No waste material in production • Low environmental hazard – lids as thin as 23 microns with lower carbon footprint • UV-C sterilized lids – low risk of contamination • An increase in shelf life of various products, high barrier properties. • Efficiency of production lines and staff reduction compared to the lines, where the personal applies individual stacks of lids. • Reduction of storage space for your packaging. • Primoreels® runs on automatic filling machines with capacities up to 45 cycles/minute. • Ability to install the equipment on existing lines of different manufacturers, giving the customer an immediate advantage. For further details of Primoreels’ latest innovative lidding products and services visit www.primoreels.com. J
Great Alternative Compared to regular die-cut PET and Aluminium lids, Primoreels® PET lids are the new great alternative – cost efficient and with a minimum of carbon footprint. FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2016
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I DAIRY
Value Creation Through Innovation and Collaboration SPX FLOW has decades of experience in delivering food and beverage process lines. longside continued research and development that often sets the A standard for new processes in the industry, it also has Innovation Centers located throughout the world that help customers get the best results from their process lines both in terms of product quality and plant efficiency. The food and beverage marketplace is highly competitive with many new trends and opportunities for producers ignite the imagination of their customers with new and exciting products. Meeting these demands, however, can present many processing challenges. Rapid trials, testing and validation of processes and recipes have been shown to produce improved results and lower costs in many applications.
China. Although each center has a particular focus and expertise; all are supported by global specialists and expertise. These centers have been proven to help producers meet even the most challenging of production goals. They can help increase process efficiency, reduce energy costs, improve product quality and reduce time to market for new products or recipes. Small-scale Trials Scale-up to Optimum Processes
Innovation Center at Soeborg in Denmark.
To meet the latest trends and to remain competitive in the market; collaboration between food and beverage manufactures and process technology suppliers delivers results that can push the boundaries of expectation. Whatever the production goals, combining specialist knowledge can deliver many benefits including improved product characteristics such as fresher tastes or increased nutritional value; longer shelf life; increased food safety; better use of raw materials; increased production capacity, and reduced energy costs.
The Innovation Centers are fully equipped with a wide selection of modern processing technology and supported by highly qualified technicians and food scientists that can help customers obtain or even exceed the set KPI targets. The customer support in test and validation of processes and recipes can save a lot of time and money by developing an optimum process prior to scale-up. Savings are not only related to energy costs and processing efficiency, but often also in the capital investment for the process system as a less expensive machine can sometimes yield better process results. The speed with which new products and processes can be developed in an Innovation Center means food producers can react more
Challenging Production Goals
There is a wide range of technologies available for each part of a process. Whether mixing, thermal processing, blending, evaporation, extraction, crystallization or drying; selecting the optimum technology to produce the desired results, both in terms of final product characteristics and processing efficiency, takes an intimate understanding of the process. There are many factors to be considered and often the best choice ‘on paper’ does not yield the best results in practice. To this end, producers need more than a specification sheet to base their choices on. SPX FLOW Innovation Centers are located in Europe, USA and 34
Innovation Centre at Silkeborg.
FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2016
quickly to market trends and demands. Their use has been shown to add business agility and flexibility as well as giving an excellent return on investment. Collaborating with processing experts, new and exciting product ranges can be developed for a more attractive premium product market. Above all, manufacturers have complete peace of mind that the process choices they are making are best for their products and their business prior to large scale investment. State-of-the-art Technology
There are many examples where pilot scale tests and trials have been used to address food processing challenges. As well as driving efficiency and quality, they have been used to develop many foods to meet latest market demands. Examples include creamier tasting, low fat products; safer infant formula using processes with higher spore kill rates; meeting the demand for more natural products by reducing product additives; tasty nutritional beverages with smooth mouth feel; bakery sandwich creams with lower saturated fat and no trans fats, etc. Whatever the production challenge, collaboration and leading technology can deliver surprising results that are not bound by the limits of current practices. The SPX FLOW Innovation Centers offer a broad range of stateof-the-art technology to test and trial processes. They are also used to develop new technology and breakthrough new processing techniques. Inspired by customer challenges and often working in collaboration with food producers; SPX FLOW uses these centers itself to deliver continuous innovation to its technology lines, making it a true global technology leader for the food and beverage industry. J
FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2016
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New Development Spray Dryers ore than 12 months of specialised M development work within the smallscale industrial dryer field by European
Operating System
SprayDry Technologies culminated in this year’s launch of the ESDT5 spray dryer which provides a complete drying solution and is the first new model in this leading UK spray drying company’s laboratory, R&D and pilot dryer range. Only requiring a power and compressed air supply in order to start production, the ESDT5 is an all stainless steel sanitary machine specifically aimed at the product development market. The package includes feed container, pump and powder collection containers and utilises a three fluid atomiser system for blockage-free operation. It is mounted on castors and fitted with handles for effortless mobility.
equipment including falling film evaporators, fluid beds, agglomerators, cyclone & bag filter powder air separators, wet scrubbing systems, pasteurisers, CIP skids and a range of tanks and vessels.
Award Winning
New Range
Operating system of the EDST5 is not complicated but intuitive and offers a degree of control and flexibility that will satisfy most users. Units are supplied as standard with cyclonic powder/air separation and G4 & F8 main air intake filtration. An optional HEPA intake filter and bag filter powder collection is available if required. Production has begun on the first addition to the range, the 15kg/h evaporation ESDT15, while a 2.5kg/h ESDT2.5 and a 10kg/h ESDT10 are envisaged as being ready to receive orders later in the year. Separately to that range, the company has also designed a sanitary Tall Form Bustle Pilot Spray Dryer primarily aimed at the dairy and food industry which has an evaporative capacity of 45kg/h at inlet and exhaust temperatures of 190/90 C. As standard this plant is supplied as a
Awarded the Queens Award for Enterprise in 2015 following year-on-year growth in overseas markets, much of European SprayDry Technologies’ success has been a result of its high product quality, continual development and highly competitive pricing within the global market. Complementing EDST’s outstanding spray dryer range, the company also supplies a wide range of associated plant and
On-going commitment to R&D recently led to the successful launch of a new range of plug flow spray dryers mainly aimed at the coffee industry and other specialist markets where larger particles are essential. The company also enhanced its highly efficient Tall Form Dairy Spray Dryer for improved sanitation and quality. ESDT is highly competitive supplying generally within evaporative ranges from 1kg/h to 5,000kg/h. Within this wide range, the small dryer market is very important to the firm. This brings us back to the new ESTD5, which is designed to 3D model of the Bustle Pilot Spray Dryer with integral deliver 5kg/h of evaporation when fluid bed with gas heating, cyclone and police bag operating with inlet and exhaust filter. temperatures of 200/90 C. Since its launch a number of orders have been received from customers both in two-stage dryer with continuous fluid bed, high-pressure nozzle atomisation, Europe and the United States. Neat lines of the unit conceal the cyclone and bag filter separation system process air fan and electrical panel and fines recycle. Options include for a which are both integrated within the three-stage machine with integral fluid bodywork. A highly manoeuvrable bed and direct or indirect heating. CIP HMI screen allows the operator to nozzles are supplied for connection to a monitor the drying operation from factory CIP system and explosion protection options include vents, flameless vents almost any position. Ease of operation and sanitary finish or suppression. European SprayDry Technologies supwere paramount in the machine’s plies spray drying equipment, plant and design brief. All product ducts can be ESDT5 Development spray dryer - an all stainless machinery plus related products across fully dismantled for cleaning. A double steel sanitary machine offering a complete drying skin chamber with sealed insulation the industrial spectrum around the world. solution that only requires a power and compressed aids economics and the chamber man- For further information visit www.sprayair supply in order to start production. dryer.com. J way gives good visibility. FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2016
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I DAIRY
Au2mate Academy – A Knowledge Centre For Dairy Automation! By Klaus Dam, Managing Director of Au2mate A/S he intensified global competition means increased demand for T plant up time and effectiveness. In this context the need for highly skilled employees who can operate, monitor, troubleshoot and optimize the process plant and the automation systems in a safe and rapid manner is ever increasing. This article deals with Au2mate Academy: a knowledge centre for dairy automation, supporting continuous learning of dairy staff in dairy process and dairy automation disciplines. Au2mate Academy is a knowledge centre for dairy automation that offers education and training of managers, operators and technicians in dairy automation! The dairy plants become larger and more complex both in terms of processes and applied automation technology, while the requirements for performance are increasing; this including process optimization, waste, energy consumption, detergents and plant uptime. This means that the requirements for operation and maintenance personnel increase in relation to continuous optimization, and time to diagnosing and performing error correction on the plants and the automation systems! Dairy Specific Automation Courses
is designed and built in industrial standard with instrumentation, PLC, SCADA & MES in order that theory and practice can be trained in correlation! The live plant is equipped with comprehensive automation systems, comprising I/O, PLC, SCADA, MES as well as communication networks. ‘Best Practice’ Technologies
The following ‘best practice’ technologies are presently applied: • Wonderware Intouch/IAS with virtualized servers • Siemens S7-400 & 1500 system • Siemens ET200S & ET200SP I/O • Siemens & Allen Bradley local HMI panels • Danfoss, Siemens and Allen Bradley frequency converters • Allen Bradley CompactLogix system • Allen Bradley Point I/O • ASi, PROFINET & PROFIBUS fieldbus • ABB 800xa DCS system • Wireless technology • SQL Database • ERP integration
Au2mate Academy offers dairy specific automation courses. The training is targeted management, plant operators as well as technical staff and includes: automation concepts, instrumentation, PLC, SCADA and MES, structured according to prevailing industrial standards and best practices, eg S88 & S95. The Au2mate Academy is established in modern facilities at our headquarters in Silkeborg DK and holds a class room and a live pilot process plant consisting of: reception, raw material storage, pasteurization, buffer tanks and dispatch as well as CIP plant. The pilot plant is built in mini-scale to run on water. The plant
Au2mate Academy Automation Architecture
Au2mate Academy offers dairy specific automation courses. Additionally, Au2mate Academy can offer customized education and training by appointment, as well as prototyping and thin slicing! J
4 Quick Facts About Au2mate A/S
Au2mate Academy live plant.
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• Founded in 2001. • Has 81 employees at offices in Silkeborg, Dubai, UK and Poland, holding more than 600 man years of experience in dairy automation. • Project-oriented, has delivered more than 1600 projects; PLC, SCADA, MIS/MES and ERP integration to dairies throughout the world, including Nordic countries, Europe, Middle East and Africa, America and Asia. • Supply solutions based on open standard platforms and internationally recognised methods for software development and project management.
FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2016
I DAIRY
Better Control of Powder Parameters Improves Product Quality and Saves Money ohnny Bonke, Application Development Jin theManager from GEA, will be taking part IDF Parallel Symposia in Dublin on Monday, 11 April 2016 organized by the International Dairy Federation. Johnny will present at the Concentrated Dried Milk Products Symposium and will focus on the use of Advanced Process Control (APC) in the dairy powder industry to monitor and control critical powder parameters during the drying process.
POWDEREYE™ from GEA.
During his presentation, Johnny will explain the latest developments from GEA for inline sensor technology. Many processors of food powders will already be familiar with the GEA’s trusted POWDEREYE™ sensors that have led the market for
some years by providing accurate inline analysis of the bulk density and moisture content of powders. Today, however, this technology has been significantly enhanced to allow the measurement of a wider range of product-quality parameters and for the automatic control of the drying equipment itself. The latest POWDEREYE™ sensors, as well as providing moisture and bulk density analysis, also transmit data relating to temperature and humidity as well as productquality parameters such as powder color, particle size distribution and the proportion of scorched particles present. The system then provides this information directly to the operators for the necessary adjustments to be made to the dryer, or uses an intelligent algorithm to instruct the GEA DRYCONTROL™ Model Predictive Control (MPC) system to make those adjustments automatically. The combination of POWDEREYE™ with MPC provides much tighter quality control for processors. Better control keeps more product within specification and so reduces the need for re-blending, lowers
Johnny Bonke, Application Development Manager at GEA.
energy consumption, avoids fouling and reduces the need for Cleaning in Place (CIP) thereby reducing both downtime and the use of cleaning chemicals. The new POWDEREYE™ sensors can be supplied with new installations or retrofitted to existing powder drying plants. J
Gemak –The One-stop Solution Partner of Choice emak designs and manufactures world G class equipment and engineered solutions for the dairy, processed food, beverage and chemical sectors. Gemak’s expertise in cost effective design and bespoke processing solutions has allowed it to be the turnkey solution partner for hundreds of food processing plants around the world. Gemak started life in 1986 in a small workshop. Today, Gemak operates from a brand new, 12,000 sq m state-of-the-art
factory, purpose built in 2011 with a 25m high tank production area and over 160 employees in six business units - R&D, design, manufacturing, assembly and site works, sales & customer service, technical service & maintenance for processed food, dairy and beverage sectors. Gemak specialises in dairy processing with design and manufacturing of equipment and systems for the production of pasteurised and UHT milk, milk & whey powder, cream, butter, cheese, yogurt, yogurt drink, ice cream and desserts. Gemak combines its design and manufacturing expertise in flow control, thermal processing, mixing & blending, standardisation, evaporation, filtration, drying and metering to create tailored solutions to your needs. Gemak has a unique offering with inhouse design, engineering, manufacturing, automation, software, installation and service under one roof, making it the ‘onestop solution partner of choice’ within the FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2016
dairy, processed food, beverage and chemical sectors. Having full control over crucial stages of creating a turnkey plant, allows Gemak to offer the shortest lead times, competitive prices, maximum flexibility and reliability with complete accountability. The UK team is being led by Kursat Uysal, who has years of experience in food processing and packaging, specialising in the dairy sector. J 39
I MIXING & BLENDING
Food Safety Takes Front and Centre at Admix s a leading supplier of sanA itary mixing technology for the food industry, Admix has been committed to the highest quality and hygienic standards for over two decades. Recently, US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced over $30 million in grants to be awarded to 80 research projects through the US Department of Agriculture (USDA)'s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI). The AFRI grants will be issued to enhance food safety by improving processing technologies. Also in February, the USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Service released its new salmonella safety standards, which spotlighted 2015 accomplishments including the publishing of final performance standards and best practices documents. Admix recognizes the federal government’s commitment to food safety and is reaffirming its own commitment through the launch of a Quick Ship program. In order to ensure food processors have the safest equipment delivered in the most timely fashion, Admix has fast-tracked its new Quick Ship program and has made two flagship products – the
DynaShear inline high shear emulsifier and the Rotomixx portable batch mixer – available through the program. “Innovative design, applications expertise, and a commitment to quality are hallmarks at Admix,” notes Lou Beaudette, President and CEO. “For 27 years, we’ve delivered sanitary mixing equipment to food, beverage, dairy and meat processors both big and small, around the globe. We strive to exceed the needs of these customers and the Quick Ship program does just that – with both the DynaShear and Rotomixx available to ship within 14 days of order receipt.” The DynaShear meets 3-A Sanitary Standard #73-01 and the Rotomixx meets 3-A Sanitary Standard #36-01 as well as the USDA-AMS hygienic standard for design of meat and poultry processing equipment. Both units are all stainless steel, clean-in-place (CIP), and constructed with FDA-approved materials. In Europe, Admix equipment also conforms to the legal and the good manufacturing practices of the Directive (EC) 1935/2004 of the European Parliament. For more information about Admix sanitary technology, visit www.admix.com/equipment. J
New Generation Flashmix Revolutionises Powder/liquid Mixing he latest Silverson Flashmix powder/liqT uid mixer is now two times faster. Large volumes of powder are dispersed and hydrated, consistently and agglomerate free at a
rate of up to 500lbs/min. The Flashmix incorporates breakthrough technology that allows it to bring the benefits of high shear mixing to new applications. “We’ve really broken new ground here,” explains Matt Smith, international sales director of Silverson Machines. “The Flashmix can be used at higher temperatures and with higher viscosity mixes, than was previously possible. This opens a whole new area of processing for high shear mixing.” Unlike most powder/liquid mixers, which use vacuum to pull in powders, the Flashmix literally forces powder into the liquid stream – there is no venturi, no vacuum. A specially modified Silverson In-Line mixer re-circulates liquid from a process vessel through the Flashmix at high velocity with minimal aeration. Since the powder and liquid compoFOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2016
nents are introduced directly into the high shear zone of the mixer, they are subjected to intense mechanical and hydraulic shear, which instantaneously combines them, producing a homogeneous product without agglomerates. “The Flashmix is uniquely suited for mixing higher concentrations of gums and thickeners,” adds Matt Smith. The Flashmix is built upon a base of an EHEDG and 3-A Certified sanitary In-Line mixer. Because of its modular construction, the Flashmix can be customised to accommodate numerous applications and batch sizes. “The real beauty of the Flashmix is its simplicity,” he says. “No additional pump is needed; it requires only low power; and it’s easy to install, operate and clean. From an operational perspective, this is hugely beneficial.” J 41
I PUMPS, VALVES & FLUID TREATMENT
Pumping Yeast in Wineries With a Peristaltic Pump inemaking or vinification starts with W the selection of grapes. After harvesting the grapes, they are taken to a winery for fermentation. Red grapes are made from the pulp fermented along with the skin, which gives it the real colour. Whereas white wine is made by fermenting the juice extracted from the grapes. Traditionally the grapes were collected in oak vessels for fermentation. Nowadays, many wineries adopt a more modern approach of fermenting in Stainless Steel containers open at the top. During this stage yeast may be added to catalyse the fermentation process. This usually takes one to two weeks during which the yeast converts sugar in the grapes into alcohol. The alcoholic fermentation takes place in the favourable conditions created by pumping over the mixture and pigeages (traditional stomping of grapes), along with the addition of yeast. At the end of the process, yeast is removed to avoid spoiling of flavor and to leave the wine with a clear, crisp appearance.
Verderflex Hose Pumps in the Filter Press
The process to remove yeast is usually performed by introducing diatomaceous (kieselguhr) earth into the fermented wine. The fine particles of diatomaceous earth attract the yeast cells to form clumps, which remain in a suspension referred to as yeast slurry. The yeast slurry is then pumped through a filter press with a
Verderflex peristaltic pump, before the wine is finally stored or bottled. A German company manufactures chamber filter press system mounted on a skid with a Verderflex VF25 industrial hose pump as part of a standard filter press system. From the yeast slurry storage vessel, the slurry is fed into the peristaltic pump through a 32-mm suction line made from flexible Verderflex hose to reduce pulsation. The peristaltic Verderflex pump is fitted with DIN 11851, type SC stainless steel sanitary connections of 32 mm, with reducing inserts to suit the 25mm tubing. The drive of the pump is a 1.1 kW gear reducer giving a pump speed of 48 rpm, delivering 800 l/hr of product to the filter press. On the discharge side of the filter press pump, a 32mm flexible hose is used to feed the filter press. It is important to eliminate the pulsation on the discharge side of the peristaltic pump, so in addition to the flexible hose, an air dome is installed. The air dome has a volume of approximately 20 liters, allowing it to absorb pulsation, but also to act as a pressurized storage tank for the filter. The chamber filters are evenly filled with wine/yeast slurry mixture, to a pressure of 10 bar. This pressure is maintained and not exceeded, for effective operation. To achieve this a pressure sensor is installed on top of the air dome and is set to stop the Verderflex pump running when 10 bar pressure is registered. At least one pressing shoe of the pump is always positioned to be fully compressing the hose, acting as a valve, thus maintaining the pressure in the air dome and chamber filter. As the wine slowly flows through the filter the pressure inside the air dome reduces, until the sensor registers a pressure of 7 bar, at which point it is set to start the Verderflex pump again. The industrial hose pump continues to stop and start in this cycle, maintaining an even pressure between 7 and 10 bar until the filter is completely filled with the yeast solids. At the end of a batch, when the yeast slurry feed vessel is empty, the periFOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2016
staltic Verderflex pump can run dry without damage. Or, if the filter is blocked in the middle of a batch, the hose pump can then be reversed to empty the filter and air dome of yeast slurry, leaving the filter dry, so the yeast cake can be removed. Some of the reasons why Verderflex hose pumps are popular in wineries.
Verderflex peristaltic hose pumps are also commonly used for transferring yeast in the brewery industry.
In these wineries in Germany the duty cycle is for approximately 500 running hours per unit per year. After each season, the hose inside the pump is replaced with a new one. Advantages
The advantages and benefits of the Verderflex hose pumps include: * Self priming, yeast product can be taken from the storage vessel, even if this is below the filter unit * Metering capability, constant flow to the filter at increasing pressures * No moving part in the liquid stream, only the hose in contact with the wine * Reduced maintenance, only the hose as wearing part * Dry running, at the end of each batch the pump runs dry without problems * Non return valves are not required as the pressing shoe close the hose completely. For further information contact Verderflex on Tel +44 (0)1924 221 020, Fax +44(0)1132 465 649, Email info@verderflex.com or visit www.verderflex.com. J 43
I PUMPS, VALVES & FLUID HANDLING
Buy With Confidence From a BPMA Member he British Pump manufacturers' T Association has recently adopted a ‘Buy with confidence from a BPMA Member’ ethos based on the BPMA’s Code of Conduct, which applies to each member company. The BPMA seeks to represent Members that demonstrate the highest degree of professionalism, expertise and ethical standards in every aspect of their operations, including the safety, reliability, quality and support of their products, as well as the competence of their employees and representatives. Each Member is therefore expected to
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abide by this Code of Conduct, which is designed to assure users, specifiers and purchasers of pumping equipment that they can ‘Buy with confidence’ from a BPMA
FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2016
Member. A comprehensive range of undertakings form the Code of Conduct, the full details of which can be found on the BPMA website – www.bpma.org.uk BPMA members account for approximately 85% of the £1 billion plus UK market for liquid pumping equipment, and is made up of a wide range of companies large, medium and small. Each one is bound by this Code of Conduct, so for anyone looking to purchase and install pumps and related equipment, they can ‘buy with confidence’ from any BPMA member company. J
I PUMPS, VALVES & FLUID HANDLING
Pumping Hot Cooking Oil
e often receive queries from the pump W industry about Cornell hot cooking oil pumps. For some reason these pumps always hold a special attraction to people who have a technical mind-set. Or maybe it's just because of the end product – fried snack foods. Cornell has been producing a wonderful series of pumps for this application since the nineteen eighties. Therefore, I felt it was time to write a technical feature of the most important characteristics of a hot cooking oil pump. The Problem
When fresh products are immersed in hot cooking oil during the frying process, water vapors are released from the product into the oil changing its consistency and temperature. This temperature and liquid property transition requires the oil to be circulated through the fryer and a heat exchanger. Obviously, at a temperature of 180 Celsius or more, the cooking oil can't be pumped using a standard centrifugal pump. In addition to sealing issues there are several other technical challenges which need to be resolved in order to guarantee a reliable pump system. During the pumping process water in liquid form travels along the bottom of the fryer until it reaches the pump suction, the action of the impeller breaks
up the water into smaller droplets that flash into steam. This presence of steam doesn’t just cause damage to the pumps through the possibility of cavitation, the resulting turbulence and vibrations are also detrimental to the pump’s performance. The Solution
Firstly, selecting the right pump is of vital importance. A cooking oil pump obviously has to cover the system curve, providing the lowest possible NPSHr. This is why in practice cooking oil pumps generally work a little to the left of the BEP – Best Efficiency Point. In addition, Cornell Pumps has developed several technical innovations which reduce the chance of cavitation or other pump damage to practically zero: * Anti-cavitation system, here a small amount of oil circulates back to the heart of the impeller through the vapour suppression line. The high pressure jet into the impeller eye suppresses the vapour bubbles until they have passed through the pump. * External balance system, this ensures that any build-up of debris around the shaft sealing is transported to the suction side of the pump to prevent damage to the mechanical seal. In addition, Cornell’s external balance line equalizes pressure between the impeller hub area and the FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2016
pump suction to reduce axial loading action on the impeller, shaft and bearings. * 609S “O” Seat Mechanical Seal, as standard, Cornell uses a shaft sealing which is suitable for cooking oil temperatures of up to 200 Celsius without the need to install external cooling systems. For extremely high temperatures there is the option to add a water-cooled mechanical seal that can withstand oil temperatures of up to 288 Celsius. The Result
The only thing that counts is the result; users in the snack and food industry often work in shift rotations, and they don't want to worry about the technical side of installations and pumping systems. There are now countless Cornell hot cooking oil pumps running all over the world, whose users know that pump yield and up time are both at the maximum level. Down time simply isn't an option! The picture shows three pumps of the 8H-F18K type, these are the largest hot cooking oil pumps that Cornell has in its range. These units will be used in a new project in which the operating capacity will be 770 m3/h @ 40 mwc. With an efficiency of up to 88%, themotors power is limited to 90 kW. Please contact us at info@cornellpumpseurope.com if you would like to receive more information. J 45
The Rexnord® 1005 XLBP Series MatTop® Chain is ideal for pack conveyors that require the lowest backline pressure. This design sets a new standard for the beverage industry with a range of safety, performance and energy features and benefits. By assessing your individual needs and objectives, Rexnord’s skilled engineers will help you obtain the lowest Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), while running your operation safe and green. Please contact Rexnord at +31 174 445 111 to request a technical survey of your production line to identify the opportunities for sustainable improvements.
I BREWING
Strong Performance By Heineken Despite the difficult global trading environment, Heineken has reported a 25% jump in net profit to €1.89 billion on revenue up by 6.5% to €20.51 billion for 2015. perating profit (beia) grew 6.9% organically to Eur2.05 billion, primarily reflecting higher revenue and improved cost efficiencies. Revenue increased 3.5% organically, with a 2.2% increase in total volume and a 1.3% increase in revenue per hectolitre. Revenue per hectolitre improved despite limited pricing and deflationary pressures in a number of the group’s key markets. Furthermore, the organisational changes announced in March 2015, which included regrouping around four geographic regions, has allowed Heineken to improve its focus on growth opportunities, be more agile in responding to consumer needs in the marketplace and to be more cost effective. Consolidated beer volume rose by 2.3% with positive growth in the Americas, Asia Pacific and Europe offsetting weaker volume in Africa Middle East & Eastern Europe.
O
Developing Growth Markets Heineken continues to invest in key developing growth markets, and during the year announced plans to build new breweries in the Ivory Coast, East Timor, Mexico and Brazil and to expand capacity in Ethiopia. A new $60 million greenfield brewery was opened in Myanmar in July 2015. Jean-Francois van Boxmeer, chief executive and chairman of Heineken, comments: “Our strong performance in 2015 reflects the successful execution of our strategy, as well as the relevance of our unique geographic diversity and our portfolio of premium brands, led by Heineken. In 2015, top and bottom line growth was supported by increased investment in our brands, sustained innovation, and cost efficiencies. We improved operating margin by 46bps before the impact of the dilution from the Empaque disposal.” Heineken completed the divestment of its Mexican packaging business Empaque for an enterprise value of $1.225billion in early 2015.
Stefan Orlowski, president of Heineken’s Europe region.
Jean-Francois van Boxmeer, chief executive and chairman of Heineken.
Focus on Premium The Dutch beer group’s strategic focus on premium brands is allowing it to benefit from continued and increasing consumer demand for premium and craft beer. Heineken, the world’s most valuable premium beer brand, continues to grow across all regions. The group’s premium brands portfolio also incorporates Desperados and Strongbow, which are leaders in the high-growth, global premium flavoured beer and cider categories. These are supported by regional brands such as Tiger and Dos Equis and premium extensions of local brands, like Birra Moretti Le Regionali in Italy. 2015 was a landmark year for Heineken’s cider business with availability expanded to 71 markets, including Nigeria, Bulgaria and Singapore, and for the first time more than 1 million hectolitres being sold outside the UK. In addition, the UK cider market has returned to growth helped by new flavour innovations and increased investment in the category. Investing For Future Growth Jean-Francois van Boxmeer continues: “We have continued to invest for future growth, by entering or expanding our presence in markets including Myanmar, Ivory Coast, East Timor, Jamaica, Malaysia, Slovenia and South Africa. We are also particularly excited by our new partnership with Lagunitas, one of the leading craft brewers in the US. Whilst we expect further volatility in emerging markets and deflationary pressures in 2016, we are confident that we will again deliver top and bottom line growth, as well as margin expansion in line with our guidance.” In 2016, Heineken expects to deliver further organic revenue and profit growth despite an increasingly challenging external environ-
FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2016
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ment, with margin expansion in line with the medium term margin guidance of a year on year improvement in operating profit (beia) margin of around 40bps. Europe Region Europe remains Heineken’s largest region, accounting for 48.4% of group revenue, 35.4% of group operating profit (beia) and 40.7% of consolidated beer volumes in 2015. Heineken’s new regional structure consists of four geographic regions - Africa, Middle East & Eastern Europe; Americas, Asia Pacific; and Europe. The changes from the previous regional structure are the combination of the Western Europe and Central & Eastern Europe to form a
single Europe region, and the addition of Russia and Belarus to the previous Africa, Middle East region to form a new Africa, Middle East and Eastern Europe region. European beer volume increased by 1.3% to 76.6 million hectolitres in 2015 with brand investment and innovations driving strong growth of the premium brands led by Heineken and cider across the region’s key markets. Revenue increased by 1.4% organically to Eur10.227 billion. Revenue per hectolitre flat as deflationary pressure combined with off trade pricing pressure resulted in limited pricing opportunities. Driven by disciplined cost management, a continued focus on innovation and the successful premiumisation strategy, operating profit (beia) in Europe was up 7.3% organically to Eur1.196 billion, as higher profits in Poland, Spain, the UK and France offset lower profits in Greece and Croatia. According to Stefan Orlowski, president of Heineken’s Europe region, 2015 was “a year of good progress with several key markets gaining share in the premium segment.” He adds: “Continued innovation in our beer and cider portfolio, improved efficiency and greater leverage of our position as Europe’s largest brewer helped drive top- and bottom-line growth.” J
I BREWING
International Malting and Brewing Symposium ‘12th Trends in Brewing’ – Ghent, Belgium – 3-7 April 2016 he International Malting and Brewing Symposium ‘12th Trends T in Brewing’ will take place from 3rd until 7th April 2016 at the KU Leuven Technology Campus, situated near the historical centre of Ghent city in Belgium. The event is jointly organised by KU Leuven, Ghent, the Technical University Berlin, Germany, and the University of Nottingham, United Kingdom.
diversity of beer styles. Major topics include: • Diversity of Beer Styles: What? Why? How? Case Studies – USA, Africa, Europe, Asia. • Beer Styles. • Sources of Fermentable Extract. * Sources of Flavour Diversity (Hops/Botanicals). • Microbial (Fermentation) Diversity. • Final Product Evaluation. One of the main goals of the event is to bring together researchers, scientists, technologists and experts from companies, universities and other institutions and to provide them with a unique platform for sharing worldwide ideas as well as recent developments in the production of speciality beers. Novel findings and technologies will be presented through invited lectures, peerreviewed lectures and posters, in combination with an extensive technical exhibition. Running alongside the scientific programme, the technical exhibition for suppliers to the brewing industry has always been an important part of the ‘Trends in Brewing’ symposium. Beer dispensing as well as lunches will take place in the exhibition hall. J
Similar to previous editions of ‘Trends in Brewing’, starting with the first ‘Trends’ in 1990, the emphasis will be on the applications of novel technologies and the evaluation of highly promising tendencies in malting and brewing, aiming at improvements of malt and beer quality in a practically feasible way. The event comes at a time of declining beer consumption globally, with Pilsner beers in particular being impact by this downward trend. In contrast, there is a growing interest in the speciality beers market, which is good news for the brewing industry. ‘Celebrating Diversity of Beers and Beer Styles’ The central theme of the 4-day conference focuses on ‘Celebrating Diversity of Beers and Beer Styles’. The ’12th Trends in Brewing’ will promote and disseminate the state of the art concerning the 48
FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2016
I BREWING
Asahi Makes €2.55 Billion Offer For SABMiller’s Italian, Dutch and British Businesses sahi Group of Japan has made a A Eur2.55 billion binding offer to AB InBev to acquire SABMiller’s Peroni, Grolsch and Meantime brands and their associated businesses in Italy, the Netherlands and the UK. The proposed sale is in line with AB InBev’s commitment to proactively address potential regulatory considerations relating to its recommended offer to acquire SABMiller.
The Asahi binding offer, if accepted by AB InBev following required employee consultation, is conditional on completion of the AB InBev acquisition of SABMiller. This is currently expected to occur in the second half of 2016. The brands and operations of Royal Dutch Grolsch, Birra Peroni, Miller Brands UK, the Meantime Brewing Company, and SABMiller’s sales and marketing office in France are included in the scope of the binding offer. The global rights to the Grolsch, Peroni and Meantime brands are also included, with the exception of the rights in the United States for the Peroni and Grolsch brands. Alan Clark, chief executive of SABMiller, says: “SABMiller has grown Peroni and Grolsch into world-renowned premium brands, and we are confident that, along with fast-growing modern craft brewer Meantime, they will continue to thrive and develop. These beers will continue to be part of SABMiller and sold
and managed by us until the change of control.” The acquisition will allow Asahi to expand its growth platform in Europe
and to become a global player with a distinct position, while increasing the presence of its flagship Asahi Super Dry brand. J
New GEA UK Structure Offers Total Solution to Food Sector uring the past few years D many customers have indicated to GEA of their need for a more integrated approach to enhance the current reliable and efficient solutions and services for their facilities. With this in mind, GEA embarked worldwide on a ground breaking group alignment to ensure GEA can offer the most advanced, efficient solutions and service in the market out of one point of contact – the new GEA UK. Until last year, GEA ran several indepen- The GEA UK management team. dently organized companies for the different technological products and solution’s in the UK. With the new organisation there is just one face for all UK customers which provides all GEA offerings. This is a vast difference especially when it comes to cross sector projects although the product and service portfolio remains unchanged. GEA has a wide-ranging portfolio that spans almost the entire food chain and a wide range of other process industries – eg most of the products sold in supermarkets have been in contact with its technology. From standard plant systems to customised solutions, all GEA food processing technology is designed to meet
optimum hygiene and quality standards, while operating efficiently and sustainably. The technical expertise is complemented by project management, planning and cost control services to help the customer achieve flexible and cost-effective food production. Ilija Aprcovic, GEA UK Managing Director, comments: “We have now embarked on an incredible journey with our clients and are looking forward to incorporating all facets of their facilities into our integrated solutions and service offerings.” The response from the market has been very encouraging for GEA, with many clients understanding the long term benefits of the integrated approach. One of the clients commented: “Historically we would have taken silo views between our different processes; with all the inefficiencies this creates, going forward we are excited by the new set-up at GEA and look forward to a more consistent approach.” Visit the new GEA UK at Foodex 2016 in Birmingham, Stand P210. J
Strayfield – World Leader in Dielectric Heating F heating is a volumetric heating R method that internally generates heat energy within the product. Design features like moving double ended output electrodes and fully seam welded construction result in the best RF dryers using 1/3 the energy of convection dryers for the same evaporative rates. Thus RF drying can increase throughput without increasing production path length. It removes water from the inner layers of the product directly without wasting energy to transfer heat across the product. An
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example of its application is in the baking industry. Following baking, RF heating can remove the remaining moisture in biscuits. Using RF, the water molecules themselves are churning under the field so no barrier needs to be penetrated, and the process is 60-70% more efficient. RF drying provides a solution to checking/cracking in biscuits over time during storage due to moisture migration. RF can dry products after baking, allowing bakers the flexibility to bake products to the desired texture, flavour, and colour of the products without needing to take into account the remaining moisture they need to remove to achieve target-packing moisture. RF drying does not cause caramelization or Maillard browning and focuses on removing residual moisture using RF systems instead of convection ovens. Strayfield, the world’s leading supplier of post bake drying RF technology is also beginning to see applications in the wider packaged food industry and FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2016
food safety industry for reducing water activity in agricultural produce, such as nuts, grains, and wheat flour. Equipment can be installed directly in-line, and is available for both continuous and batch processing. For food industry applications, most work continuously, and products can stay on the conveyor belt that passes it through the radio wave field in the equipment. For further information contact Strayfield on Tel +44 1189327760, E-mail food@strayfield.co.uk or visit www.strayfield.co.uk. J
I CONVEYORS & END OF LINE TECHNOLOGY
Rexnord Introduces The New 1005 XLBP-Series MatTop® Chain he trend for packages in the food and beverage industry T towards the use of lighter and more delicate packaging materials is ongoing. This drives the need for new conveying solutions that ensure optimal pack handling with the lowest risk of damage to the packs. At the same time these new conveying solutions need to contribute to important sustainability goals, such as conveyor safety improvement and energy saving. Rexnord is proud to introduce the Rexnord 1005 XLBP Series MatTop® accumulation chain for packs to address these needs. Safety Conveyors equipped with traditional “LBP” (Low Backline Pressure) chains, can create a potential safety hazard at the transfers between conveyors, where the chain opens and closes, due to gaps that form between the rollers on the chain links. This forces OEM’s and end-users to install safety precautions in the packaging area, to ensure no workers can get their fingers or clothes trapped between the chain and conveyor at any time. The Rexnord 1005 XLBP - Series Chain has been designed to optimize the safety of the conveyor system, by reducing the gaps between the rollers by 50% at the transfers. The rollers are made in a bright lime-green colour, to increase the visibility of the moving parts on the conveyor. Protection of the Packs A complaint often heard at end-users, is that many plastic rollers on LBP conveyor chains do not rotate easily or even get stuck over time, which can cause a dramatic increase of backline pressure on the packs during accumulation. As a result, packs get damaged and the energy consumption of the drive motors will go up, as will the Total Cost of Ownership of the conveyor line. The Rexnord 1005 XLBP - Series Chain offers a solution to these issues: the rollers combine a 30% lighter rotation on the shaft, with less chance for contamination to end up in the rollers or between the rollers and the chain module. This
The Rexnord 1005 XLBP - Series Chain has been designed to optimize the safety of the conveyor m, by reducing the gaps between the rollers system by 50% at the transfers. The rollers are made in a brightt lime-green colour, to increase the visibility of the moving parts on the conveyor.
The Rexnord 1005 XLBP - Series MatTop Chain is the latest addition to the Rexnord portfolio and has all the features to set the new standard for LBP (“Low Backline Pressure”) conveyor chains for the coming years.
ensures the lowest backline pressure on the packs and minimal energy consumption of the conveyor over time. Lower Energy Consumption Most end-users have a sustainability target to reduce energy consumption in all areas in their plants. In the packaging area it is not uncommon to have a great number of conveyor drives, since the packs have to travel a long distance from the packers to the palletizers. The power consumed by each conveyor is determined by the total weight of the chain plus the packs, multiplied by the friction factors and the speed. Since the weight of the packs and the speed is a given, Rexnord 1005 XLBP - Series Chain has a reduced chain weight of 40% compared to traditional modular LBP chains. In combination with the 30% lower friction between the packs and the chain during accumulation, this will translate into direct energy savings on each drive motor. In case line control permits, it is even possible to reduce the total number of drives required, since the conveyor lengths can be extended. Innovative Leader Rexnord holds an unmatched track record of innovative conveying solutions for the food and beverage industry that have defined the new industry standards since 1938. Starting with the first metal TableTop® chains to engineered plastics to magnetic corner tracks (Magnetflex®). The Rexnord 1005 XLBP Series MatTop Chain is the latest addition to the Rexnord portfolio and has all the features to set the new standard for LBP (“Low Backline Pressure”) conveyor chains for the coming years. For more information, please contact Rexnord at +31 174 445 111 or visit www.rexnordflattop.com. J
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I DISTILLING
Unprecedented Expansion by the Scotch Whisky Industry Although the export environment for Scotch whisky remains challenging with overseas sales down by 2% in value and 2.5% in volume for the ten months ended October 2015, distillers remain confident of a return to growth and are investing in preparation for this expected upturn and to exploit the consumer shift towards more expensive products, as premium blends and single malt Scotch whisky continue to rise in popularity - single malt export sales rose by 5% to £406 million in the first half 2015 year. he Scotch whisky industry employs more than 10,000 people directly in Scotland and accounts for a quarter of UK food and drink exports, with Scotch being sold in around 200 markets globally. The industry contributes £5 billion in value to the UK economy each year and is worth about £4 billion in exports. It is also a major generator of tourism revenue, with 1.5 million visits made to distilleries annually. The overall Scotch whisky category has been in slight decline. The value of Scotch whisky exports declined by 7% to £3.95 billion in 2014 and volume exports fell by 3%. However, malt whisky has bucked this trend, with exports having tripled in the past decade to reach sales of £915 million in 2014.
Glenmorangie and Ardbeg single malt whisky brands, and is part of French luxury goods and spirits group Moet HennessyLouis Vuitton (LVMH). He elaborates: “The US is the biggest malt market in the world. It is our first market too. The UK is our second largest market followed by Taiwan. What is interesting is that you have got more and more discerning consumers around the world who started with blended scotch and are now discovering malt.”
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Return to Growth Diageo is Scotland’s largest distiller and the
Ivan Menezes, chief executive of Diageo.
Trading-up by Consumers “Malt category products are more crafted and that is what is driving the category in Asia, Europe and the US. The malt category has been growing for the last 25 years, while all other categories have been cyclical and seen high and lows. The growth is coming from trading- up by the consumer,” explains Marc Hoellinger, chief executive of The Glenmorangie Company, which owns the
The stills house at Dalmunach Distillery.
clear global leader in Scotch whisky, a category that generates over £2.5 billion of net sales and about a third of the drinks giant’s profits. Headed by Johnnie Walker, which is the global leader in Scotch whisky and also the most valuable spirits brand in the world, Diageo’s formidable Scotch whisky portfolio also includes J&B, Buchanan’s and Windsor. Having struggled to expand its Scotch whisky business in recent times, Diageo has just reported a
FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2016
Scottish malt whisky exports having tripled in the past decade to reach sales of £915 million in 2014.
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return to growth with organic net sales up 1% in the first half of 2016, reversing declines in 2015. Diageo achieved growth in Latin American and Caribbean, where net sales were up 9%, and Europe, Russia and Turkey where growth was 6%. Johnnie Walker was up by 1%, Scotch malts by 10% and Buchanan’s by 7%. “Our Scotch portfolio is back in growth despite the Marc Hoellinger, chief executive of The continued volatility Glenmorangie Company. we face in this global category where currency weakness impacts local pricing in many emerging markets,” points out Ivan Menezes, chief executive of Diageo. “In fact net sales trends improved across all regions except Africa and it was only in very troubled areas such as Angola and the Middle East where we saw any significant slowdown.” Ivan Menezes continues: “While it was Johnnie Walker which drove this improvement we continued to benefit from the strength of our Scotch malts and Buchanan’s. Buchanan’s continues to challenge for the position of the world’s number two blended Scotch whisky behind Johnnie Walker. Quite a partnership.” Despite this return to growth, Diageo and the Scotch whisky sector still faces significant challenges due to changing consumption trends in Korea, the economic slowdown in China, and from the economic and political uncertainty in the Middle East. The Diageo chief executive adds: “Our overall feel on the category and the health both of Scotch and of Johnnie Walker is positive and we expect to continue to do better as we go into the second half.” Unprecedented Expansion The Scotch whisky industry is expanding at historic levels with nine new distilleries opened in the past two years - Annandale, Arbikie, Ardna- Laurent Lacassagne, chairman and chief executive murchan, Ballindall- of Chivas Brothers. och, Dalmunach, Eden Mill, Glasgow Distillery, Isle of Harris and Kingsbarns. According to the Scotch Whisky Association, last year's 2% cut in spirit duty by the British Government following the spirits duty freeze and scrapping of the alcohol escalator in 2014 gave a boost to confidence in the industry, helping to support the conditions for investment. Opened in 2014, Arbikie is credited with being Scotland’s first single-estate or ‘farm to bottle’ distillery, whereby all ingredients are sourced from a specific area of land and neutral grain spirit is not used to add volume. Producing vodka, whisky and gin, the
new distillery is part of the Arbikie Highland Estate in Angus, which is managed by brothers John, Iain and David Stirling. Their strategy is to market the spirits to luxury retailers throughout the UK and to then expand into global markets. The Glasgow Distillery is the first new distillery in Scotland’s capital city for over 100 years. Opened in September 2015, the Isle of Harris Distillery is an £11 million project that is expected to produce 300,000 bottles of single malt each year. The sharp rise in small new distillery openings across Scotland
John Dewar & Sons, which is part of the Bacardi group of companies, recently opened a state-of-the-art blending facility at its Poniel Blend Centre & Maturation Warehouse site in central Scotland. The project is part of a $500 million investment in Scotch whisky production by Bacardi.
reflects the growing interest in craft beers and handcrafted spirits in the UK and also in the US in recent times. In the US, the number of craft distilleries has grown from about 60 a decade ago to an estimated 600 making whiskies, bourbons, vodka, gin, rum and more exotic spirits. Indeed, the new small Scottish distilleries are planning to capitalise on the rising popularity of artisan, handcrafted whiskies and other spirits in the UK and North America. £25 Million Dalmunach Distillery Involving investment of £25 million, Dalmunach is the largest of the recently completed distillery projects. Based at Moray, the distillery was opened by Chivas Brothers, the Scotch whisky and premium gin business of global drinks giant Pernod Ricard. Dalmunach malt whisky distillery will help support Chivas Brothers in meeting the increased global demand for its Scotch whisky, including the Chivas Regal, Ballantine’s and Royal Salute brands. Built using the latest innovations and environmental expertise such as heat recovery technology, the Dalmunach Distillery is capable of producing up to 10 million litres of high quality Speyside-style spirit per year to support the growing global demand for the best selling blended whisky brands within Chivas Brothers’ portfolio. The new facility is Chivas Brothers’ 14th operating malt whisky distillery. Maturation and Blending In addition to investment in new distilleries, the Scotch whisky industry has also been expanding and upgrading capacity in bottling, warehousing and maturation. For instance, John Dewar & Sons, which is part of the Bacardi group of companies, recently opened a state-of-the-art blending facility at its Poniel Blend Centre & Maturation Warehouse site in central Scotland. The 100 acre Poniel site currently includes 18 warehouses. Each can hold up to 72,000 storage casks where Dewar’s, White Label,
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the major players in Scotch whisky to create larger malt whisky distilleries to meet growing global demand. Diageo and Edrington are currently building ‘super distilleries’. £1 Billion Investment Programme In June 2012, Diageo announced a £1 billion investment in Scotch whiskey production over the following five years, with at least one new distillery to be constructed, several existing facilities to be expanded, and overall production capacity to be increased by 30% to 40%. However, a subsequent slowdown in the group’s Scotch sales has prompted Diageo to moderate its plans and to postpone certain capacity expansion investments, although it is still ‘filling to grow’ at the long-term rate £100 Million Distillery and Visitor Centre for The Macallan Continuing to focus on the fast growing premium and super-premium sectors of the global spirits market, Edrington is investing £100 million in a new distillery and visitor centre for its prestigious Scotch single malt whisky brand, The Macallan. The new distillery is intended to ensure the ongoing quality control of the production of The Macallan and to further consolidate the brand’s position as one of the world’s leading luxury spirits. Over time the distillery will deliver additional capacity to meet Ian Curle, chief executive of Edrington. the growing demand from existing and new international markets. William Lawson’s blended Scotch, and Aberfeldy single malt Incorporating a rolling roofscape, the new distillery and visitor Scotch whiskies are matured. The project is part of a $500 million centre is designed to complement the natural beauty of The investment in Scotch whisky production by Macallan Estate, which overlooks the River Bacardi. Spey. The new facility is scheduled to open Employing 300 people, John Dewar & to the public in Spring 2017. Sons currently operates whisky distilleries in The Macallan grew turnover by 10.5% Aberfeldy, Macduff, Aultmore, Craigellachie during Edrington’s last financial year. The and Nairn with ageing, blending, bottling brand now occupies market leading posiand packaging facilities in Glasgow and additions in Russia, China, Japan, South Korea tional maturation facilities in Poniel. and Hong Kong and has grown quickly to occupy the number two position in the Planned Distilleries USA, where the brand’s pricing strength “The Scotch whisky industry is going reflects its pre-eminent premium malt posithrough a time of expansion. There are now tioning. 117 distilleries in Scotland, with seven openEdrington’s other core brands are ing in the last year or so,” points out David Highland Park single malt whisky, The Frost, chief executive of the Scotch Whisky Famous Grouse and Cutty Sark blended Association. “About 40 new distilleries are Incorporating a rolling roofscape, Edrington’s new whiskies, Brugal rum and Snow Leopard currently being planned or built to meet distillery and visitor centre will complement the vodka. demand for the quality product.” For the year ended 31 March 2015, natural beauty of The Macallan Estate. For example, Chivas Brothers is in the Edrington reported an 8% decline in earnprocess of expanding The Glenlivet Distillery, which had its distil- ings before interest and tax, pre exceptionals (EBIT) to £181.1 lation capacity increased by 75% under a £10 million investment million on revenues down 2.4% to £617.1 million as a result of a project in 2010. The first phase of the current expansion project significant reduction in non-branded sales and the impact of will increase annual capacity from a current level of 10.5 million litres of spirit to 21 million litres, making The Glenlivet the largest malt whisky distillery in Scotland. Laurent Lacassagne, chief executive and chairman of Chivas Brothers, says: “The Glenlivet is a very successful brand and became the leader in the global malt whisky segment in 2014. Its dynamic is in its traditional US market and in new markets such as India, South American and Taiwan. We will phase the expansion, which is consistent with the growth of the brand.” After selling more than one million cases in 2014, The Glenlivet became the world’s number one single malt Scotch whisky by volume, overtaking William Grant & Sons’ Glenfiddich brand. According to Laurent Lacassagne, the overall performance of Chivas Brothers’ comprehensive portfolio of Scotch whiskies has been robust. “We are committed to investing into manufacturing facilities geared towards innovation to help us capitalise on the current and long-term growth prospects of the category,” he adds. Indeed, the opening of Dalmunach Distillery and the further expansion of The Glenlivet by Chivas Brothers is part of a shift by David Frost, chief executive of the Scotch Whisky Association. FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2016
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Again, we take a very long-term view - this isn't a one- or twoyear payback, we're thinking ten, 15 even 20 years out.” William Grant & Sons reported record after tax profits of £139.8 million (up 4%) in its last financial year but group sales declined from just over £1 billion to £933.2 million due to a planned reduction in the distribution of third party brands. The family owned business owns the Glenfiddich brand, which has now been overtaken by The Glenlivet as the world’s number one single malt whisky by volume sales.
Headed by Johnnie Walker, which is the global leader in Scotch whisky and also the most valuable spirits brand in the world, Diageo’s formidable Scotch whisky portfolio also includes J&B, Buchanan’s and Windsor.
adverse currency factors. Eliminating the effect of the reduced levels of non-branded sales, underlying EBIT increased by 4.6%. Brand turnover rose by 1.8% reflecting a strong performance from the company’s whisky portfolio but a subdued performance from Brugal. “Our whisky portfolio performed ahead of the market and this shows the strength of our brands, which are well placed to benefit further from continuing trends towards premium spirits,” says Ian Curle, chief executive of Edrington. “Edrington’s focus in the coming years will be on this increasingly important premium end of the market – with The Macallan as the Ultimate Luxury Spirit – and we continue to invest to support our growth objectives and our long-term prospects.” The independent Scotch distillery company has now embarked on a new development strategy. Entitled Edrington 2020, the strategy prioritises further enhancing The Macallan brand, accelerating the growth of Highland Park, and further developing the group’s super premium capability. Premium and super-premium are forecast to remain the fastest growing segments of the overall spirits market. Long-term Approach William Grant & Sons is another major, independent Scottish distiller taking a long-term approach. “What we've looked to do over the last few years is to build on our strength in some of our core markets, but also to put down the platforms for future growth in emerging markets,” says Simon Hunt, who has just taken over from Stella David as chief executive of William Grant & Sons. “We've got acceleration plans in Africa, India, South-East Asia, and we are working out what we want to do and how Simon Hunt, new chief executive of William Grant & we want to win. Sons. 58
Sustainability The Scotch whisky industry is striving to improve energy efficiency and reduce its environmental impact as it seeks to meet its 2050 target of sourcing 80% of industry energy requirements from non-fossil fuel sources. Since 2008, more than £160 million has been invested across five major production sites in renewable energy schemes, such as large scale AD, biomass and renewable combined heat and power (CHP) facilities. The amount of energy the industry sources from non-fossil fuels increased almost six-fold, from 3% to 17% between 2008 and 2014. The industry is also close to achieving zero waste to landfill. Only 2% of waste was sent to landfill in 2014 and many sites have already have met the target of zero.
The Scotch whisky industry is striving to improve energy efficiency and reduce its environmental impact as it seeks to meet its 2050 target of sourcing 80% of industry energy requirements from non-fossil fuel sources.
As part of its commitment to sustainability, John Dewar & Sons has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 34% since 2006, achieved a 46% reduction in water use since 2009 and a 30% reduction of waste to landfill since 2010 at its five malt distilleries. “We recognise how important it is to preserve and protect the natural resources that exist in the places where we operate. Caring for the environment is at the heart of our corporate heritage,” says Iain Lochhead, operations director for John Dewar & Sons. “In our business, there’s real passion about sustainability. It's something we think about from start to finish in our processes.” Iain Lochhead adds: “We're doing good work in Scotland that’s effecting real change. It’s important for our eco-savvy consumers to know that we take great care in selecting and preserving the natural ingredients we use in making our great tasting Scotch whiskies.” Diageo has installed a £65 million bio-energy plant at its Cameronbridge site, to become the first distillery in the world to combine biomass combustion, anaerobic digestion and water recovery. The bio-energy facility can generate up to 30MW of energy, meeting 95% of the site’s energy needs, while new water recovery technology has the capacity to recover up to 30% of the water used in the distilling process. Opened in 2014, Ardnamurchan is credited with being Scotland’s greenest distillery and its most westerly mainland distillery. All the power and heat requirements for the Ardnamurchan Distillery come from local renewables – the river that provides the distillery’s cooling water has a hydro-electricity generator and the biomass boiler is fuelled by woodchip from local forestry. J
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I CASE STUDY
Terra Invest in Kosme Labelling Technology erra Spirits & Liqueurs, based in Bailieboro, County Cavan, T Ireland, are the largest family owned independent cream liqueur producer in Ireland whom over the years have built a strong reputation as contract bottlers of premium liqueurs, Irish Whiskeys and Irish Spirits. Located in the rural town of Bailieboro, they operate from a 90,000 sq ft plant that has been totally modernised in recent years with new storage tanks, laboratory, offices, and production lines and warehousing. This family run business, owned by the McKevitt family was established in the early 1970’s and originally traded as Emmets, the then General Manager Patsy McKevitt acquired the site in 1995 and started trading independently as Terra Ltd. Product Range Terra develops, produces and bottles superior quality Irish Cream liqueurs alongside an array of alcoholic beverages for customers who include some of the most prestigious retailers and International drinks companies worldwide. Exports are now in excess of 60 countries and growing almost daily, the three bottling lines can cater for a range of bottle sizes in glass and PET from 50ml up to 1.75 litres. Terra produce their own range of products, their flagship brand is Molly’s Irish Cream, along with Maloney’s Irish Country Cream, Cu Chulainn Irish Whiskey and Celtic Honey Liqueur. Labelling Capability The increase in volumes over the past years put a strain on the labelling capability on the main bottling line. Shaun McKevitt, Operations Director, takes up the story: “Previous to our latest investment we were labelling through an older generation 2 head Krones wet glue which was limited in terms of flexibility and perhaps efficiency, especially considering the pace of the drinks industry in 2016 & the demands from our growing customer base.” Shaun continues: “Matt Gardiner, who is the resident Irish sales
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manager for Krones, quickly understood our current and future requirements and recommended that we take a look at a Kosme Flexa Comba labeller. After a visit to Roverbella in Italy, coupled with some site visits where we could see a similar machine in operation, I decided that this was exactly what I wanted. The Kosme has now been in operation for over six months, it has never missed a beat, in fact it is running so well that the only attention it gets during a shift is when more labels need to be added.” Kosme Flexa Comba The Kosme Flexa Comba has been supplied with five labelling stations handling both PSL and cold glue labels at a speed of up to 200 bpm, the previous machine could only manage 90 bpm so it has made a huge difference to the line. The machine design allows for quick changeover by exchange of labelling stations which has significantly reduced our downtime, furthermore its self controlled by encoder which means the labeller knows when to ramp up or down its own speed without any interference required by operators. Shaun continues: “I was very confident in my choice of machine, of course the build quality was important to me but almost as important was the after sales and service back up that is provided by initially Matt Gardiner but also the Krones UK team and Kosme in Italy. Quality bottle dress is so important for a contract packer and brand owner, I could not be more pleased with the Krones/Kosme package. We have future proofed the machine by installing optical spotting technology and we ordered four sets of change parts at the outset for both PSL & cold glue technologies. We will be investing further during the course of 2016 and 2017 as we do a lot of business with retail so I can see further upgrades. The service I have had from Matt and the Krones team has put them in a great position for us to purchase from them again in the near future.” For further details on Kosme/Krones equipment please contact mark.heath@krones.co.uk or matthew.gardiner@krones.co.uk. J
FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2016
I EXHIBITION
Innovative Show Welcomes Attendees into the New Pack-Age he UK’s biggest packaging show just reaffirmed itself as the leading event of T its kind! Packaging Innovations, running
terms of organisational focus; I would rate the show as a huge success!”
alongside Label&Print and Empack, closed its doors recently on two packed NEC halls, 160 product launches, and a series of new show features, whilst boasting the very best and brightest in packaging and print, on an international scale.
Learnshops Programme The sell-out show featured a packed Learnshops programme, with speakers from Innocent Drinks, Kraft Heinz, Britvic, Taylors of Harrogate, John Lewis, Wilkos, JML Group, The Body Shop, SABMiller plc, Quorn Foods and many other leading brands. Among the speakers was Graham Fox, Packaging Operations Team Leader from Innocent Drinks who discussed ‘closing the packaging skills gap’. Graham Fox remarked: "Part of the problem is a skills mismatch rather than a skills gap. There's a risk that companies recruit people who are over-qualified for a role. They then inevitably become demotivated and leave. For instance, those who have done science and technology training don't want to start on the ground floor. You need to give them a sense of where they are going in their career with you."
The show, which took place on 24 & 25 February 2016, welcomed major names including British Airways, Samsung, Young’s Seafood, Amazon, Tesco, Mars, Kimberly-Clark, LUSH, TATA Steel and Dairy Crest. Gerry Sherwood, Event Director for Easyfairs’ UK Packaging Events, comments: “The show has once again proven that it is the go-to event for all packaging and print professionals. We want to extend a thank to all of those who attended, giving the show a real buzz and making it such a success. This year more than ever we welcomed the best and brightest from within the industry, along with key trends and the very latest innovation on an international scale. We also had a phenomenal 73 per cent of our exhibitor’s rebook stands for next year’s show, which just highlights how important the shows are to them. Bring on 2017!” Paul McKendrick, General Manager at Creative Whisky Company visiting the show, remarked: “This is my first trade show ever, and it has been a real eye-opener for me. It has been really positive in
Great Innovation Debate The show launched its first ever Great Innovation Debate, which saw experts from Britvic Soft Drinks, Essentra, Innocent and Bacardi discuss ‘What is Innovation?’, with Stefan Casey, Business Innovation Manager for Retail, Food & Drink at The Retail Institute chairing the debate. One key theme touched upon was finding new packaging innovation. The panel agreed that a more modern approach must be adopted, looking at crowdFOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2016
sourcing and social media in order to find the next innovations; as well as being open to collaborations and looking at ways we could unsettle the marketplace. Graham Fox concluded: “When you look at companies like Uber and Airbnb, they have disrupted sectors where no-one thought it was feasibly possible, yet look where they are now. In order to innovate we need to reinvent; we need someone to work out what needs to be done and the right way of doing it.” Also new to the show was The Rising Star Scheme, which provided an opportunity for organisations still in their infancy to achieve their packaging goals; and The Innovation Showcase that highlighted the very latest innovations in the industry. The Drinks, Pharmaceutical and Retail Symposia were back by popular demand, presenting visitors with the chance to hear real-life stories, offering advice and unveiling the latest concepts sweeping the relevant industry. Iain Stirling, Co-Founder and Owner of Arbikie Highland Estate, speaking at the Drinks Symposium, commented: “When you look at the branding of your own product, you realise just how important it is. Customers need to remember why they buy your products, so the more unique the branding the greater recognition and brand loyalty it will receive.” Product Launches If that wasn’t enough many of the exhibitors used the show to launch products to the UK market: Fantastak launched its SuperRoller; Skanem unveiled its new intelligent labels; Waddington Europe pre-
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sented its new packaging material, Hydrozorb (H-PET); Dantex Graphics launched its PicoColour II UV inkjet digital press and AG/CAD Ltd debuted its state of the art DYSS X5 digital cutter – the list just keeps going! After a hugely successful show, Gavin Ashe, Managing Partner at Kite Packaging,
said: “It is such a great event. We have had a huge footfall of visitors to our stand, who were all keen to look at our new and innovative products. Our PaperJet Delivery System in particular attracted some really quality visitors, as did our Auto Airshock Machine. What a fantastic two days!” The next Easyfairs packaging event will
be Packaging Innovations & Luxury Packaging London, which takes place at London Olympia on 14 & 15 September 2016. For anyone interested in exhibiting, more information can be found at www.easyfairs.com/PI-London or via the show team on +44 (0)20 8843 8800 or PackagingUK@easyfairs.com. J
I BOTTLES
New Additions to the Measom Freer Collection easom Freer’s new range of Tube Bottles are ideal for the fishing market, M stocked in PVC and MDPE they come in four new sizes with four different necks. There is a 21ml (6018V in PVC) and 100ml (6120 in natural MDPE), 125ml (6213) and 250ml (6214) in PVC and MDPE. A new size 750ml (6081) has also been added to the popular Metric range, stocked in clear PVC and is also available in PETG & colours to order. This range comes in 18 sizes ranging from 2.5ml to 1 litre with a wide range of caps, closures and pumps available to suit.
dosing or a more functional gel or spray pump, Measom Freer have a huge variety of closures available from stock, including the new 24mm neck Trigger Spray available to order in White, Black or Clear PP with dip tubes to suit their bottles. Customers can order direct from stock on Measom Freer’s E-commerce website for fast, efficient delivery, with a minimum order of a single box. Measom Freer have been manufacturing plastic bottles and packaging at their factory in Wigston, Leicester since 1937. J
Whether you are looking for a standard screw cap, dropper caps for more precise
‘World leader in RF Dielectric Heating’ Process Advantages: • Reduces Checking – uneven stresses in the product are eliminated as a result of evening the product moisture profile. • Product Colour Control – in the RF process, the colour and moisture are separately controlled. • Increased Production – throughput of a typical oven line can be increased by as much as 50% on certain products. • Energy Savings – unlike conventional equipment the efficiency of the high frequency oven is only marginally reduced at lower moisture levels. • Floor Space Savings – efficient heat transfer results in faster product transfer and reduced oven length. • Automatically Compensates – for variations in product moisture. • Automatically Profiles – moisture content. • Reduces flashing off of volatile flavourings - allowing reduced quantities to be used. • Eliminates Centre Bone.
1.8
1.6
1.6
1.4
1.4
1.2 1
1.2
1 Moisture without RF Moisture with RF
Moisture Profile across the band 1 1.36 1.34
2 1.58 1.37
3 1.59 1.4
4 1.57 1.36
5 1.57 1.35
6 1.44 1.33
EDGE
CENTER
6’50” (No RF)
1.23
1.52
4’30” (With RF)
1.39
1.51
Unique Design Features: - Hygienic and sanitized Stainless steel construction. - Harmonically filtered Generators, that surpass the most stringent emission regulations anywhere in the world. - Fully seam welded construction reduces interference and emissions. - 'Gold Standard'- Dual ended balanced power output reduces frame currents and improves uniformity reliability and efficiency. - Moving upper electrode increases versatility-Wide range of product processed with just one setup. - 27MHz operating frequency with widest ISM tolerance band.
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Strayfield Limited, Ely Road, Theale, Food Industry Berkshire, RG7 4BQ, England Tel: +44 1189327760 • Fax: +44 1189305634 Email: food@strayfield.co.uk Web: www.strayfield.co.uk
FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2016
I CARRY HANDLE PACKAGING
Roberts PolyPro Enhances Packaging Performance oberts PolyPro manufactures and designs innovative plastic R components that enhance packaging performance. The world’s largest consumer companies depend on Roberts PolyPro solutions to improve their packaging and make their products more appealing to consumers. Roberts PolyPro’s wide variety of innovative handles fit bottles of all shapes and sizes in any configuration. No matter if you have a single bottle or a multipack, Roberts PolyPro’s handles make it easier to pick up one or many of your products. Roberts PolyPro’s lightweight, compact handles and multipack carriers also support sustainability efforts by reducing material consumption and improving cube utilization. Roberts PolyPro’s extruded handles and multi-pack carriers consume on average 5 to 35 percent less resin compared to
injection molded products. Roberts PolyPro products are made from extruded HDPE resin and when used with either PET or HDPE bottles make the entire package — bottles and handle — 100 percent recyclable. Roberts PolyPro orients multipack handles before shipment and in the case of single bottle handles uses a patented process of welding the handles together prior to shipment. On average, this process results in up to 40% more handles per pallet than loose handles shipped in bulk. The increase in units per pallet significantly decreases shipping costs, improves cube utilization, reduces the amount of corrugated board required, and lowers over-the-road fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. For more information on Roberts PolyPro’s innovative handles call 1-704-588-1794 or email info@RobertsPolyPro.com. J
FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2016
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I POUCH FILLING & SEALING
Pulse Flexible Packaging & Plasfilms Zip-up an Ideal Solution For M&S! hen Anne Harding, Print & Packaging Development Manager at M&S, turned W to Pulse Flexible Packaging to see if they could provide a packaging solution for their new Taste of the British Isles confectionery range, produced for M&S by Thornton’s, they seized the opportunity with both hands. The brief was to develop a pack with an easy open and re-close system that allows for careful portion control and simple in-store display to attract the consumer. It was critical to M&S that the pack had a premium look and feel to reflect M&S’s high quality product, in conjunction with a high quality packaging format to engage their discerning customers. Pouch Solution Pulse Flexible Packaging’s development team devised a solution using a high quality gravure printed polyester with a patterned surface lacquer, laminated in line to BPI grade PE, to then be formed in to a pouch. The pouch can be self– supporting on shelf, with the added convenience of a euroslot for trouble-free on-shelf hanging and removal. While the high impact graphics and patterned lacquer ensures the products premium look and feel on-shelf.
Keeping Pace With Production Demands When Pulse Flexible Packaging broadened its portfolio to include premium premade pouches, Plasfilms was the natural choice to support them. As a supplier of SANZIP reclosable zippers, which have numerous formats and consumer benefits, including easyopen functionality and re-closeability for portion control and product freshness, Plasfilms, through its Armstrong Bradley business, has been a supplier to Pulse Flexible Packaging for a number of years. The two businesses have a shared value for quality and customer service and have a successful partnership. For further information visit www.pulseflexible.com. J
Manufacturers of depositors & filling machines for the food production industry
The Taste of The British Isles ‘Strawberries & Cream Coconut Ice’ pack was a finalist in the prestigious 2015 UK Packaging Awards in The Best Flexible Plastic Pack of the Year category. Re-close System The easy-open and re-close system was achieved with a simple tear notch, for convenient access to the product, while Plasfilms supplied a SANZIP MD10-TK re-close gripper ensuring an efficient re-close, time and again, allowing effortless portion control for the consumer. The MD10- TK offers a very strong inner holding force from the inside coupled with an easy-open feature for the consumer. The construction allows for an effortless crush on the side seal, which not only offers an attractive flat finish but a good barrier with little air escape. Converters benefit from being able to run the zipper at high speeds and at low sealing temperatures. 64
Tel: 01282 440040 Email: info@riggsautopack.co.uk www.riggsautopack.co.uk
FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2016
I POUCH FILLING & SEALING
Riggs Autopack – Manufacturers of Pouch & Bag Filling Machines iggs Autopack Ltd design and build R high quality volumetric depositors and filling machines that accurately fill, heat seal or clipper tie plastic pouches, bags and sacks.
Their depositors and filling machines are built in-house at their 50,000 sq ft Nelson factory; they are one of the most precise and hygienic on the market with exceptional performance, reliability and build quality. They effectively dispense hot or cold liq-
uid, semi-liquid and suspended solid products on a damage free basis, and accurately fill most container types or size. With quick changeover times and easy set-up, the Model 1000 depositing and filling machines are robust, reliable, hygienic and quick to clean, easy to use and simple to maintain, with fully adjustable depositing volumes and speeds. They are supplied with an after sales support package and available for outright purchase, short or long term hire. A no-obligation on-site machine trial is also available upon request. If you are a small, medium or large scale food manufacturer seeking a high quality system to accurately fill pouches or bags, then Riggs Autopack could have the solution. Riggs Autopack Ltd, Premier Mill,
Brunswick Street, Nelson, Lancashire BB9 0HU. Tel 44 (0)1282 440040; Email info@riggsautopack.co.uk; Web www.riggsautopack.co.uk. J
BRC Re-accreditation For Partner Logistics Wisbech he Partner Logistics cold storage facility T in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, has been successfully re-accredited with the British Retail Consortium’s (BRC) Global Standard for Storage and Distribution for the fourth consecutive year. The BRC standard is a leading global scheme which covers all activities that may affect the safety, quality and legality of products, and ensures best practice in handling, storage and distribution whilst pro-
moting continuous improvement in operating practices. To maintain the BRC accreditations at the Wisbech site, annual audits are overseen by a dedicated Health, Safety, Security, Environment and Quality (HSSE&Q) team. Currently all six deepfreeze facilities operated by Partner Logistics in the UK, the Netherlands and Belgium hold the BRC global standard. Richard Bufton, Health, Safety and Quality officer for Partner Logistics in the UK, says: “We’re very pleased that the Wisbech warehouse has achieved the BRC standard for four years in a row. It is a fantastic achievement and shows that we promote quality and transparency within our FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2016
The Partner Logistics cold store in Wisbech is the largest in the UK.
operations and we are committed to providing the best possible service.” Located in the heart of the Fens in Cambridgeshire, the Partner Logistics Wisbech facility is the UK’s largest deep freeze warehouse with a capacity of 77,000 pallets. The state-of-the-art warehouse operates at temperatures down to -28 C, is fully automated and designed to the highest environmental specifications. J 65
I BISCUITS & CAKES
Walkers Shortbread – The Iconic Scottish Food Brand From small beginnings over 110 years ago, Walkers Shortbread has developed into a £140 million turnover business with strong international brand recognition and sales in more than 80 countries. elped by exports of Scotch whisky, Scotland’s food and drink industry has gained a global reputation for the quality of its products with well established, iconic brands such as Walkers Shortbread also helping to develop new markets. Like many of Scotland’s leading distillers, Walkers is still family-owned with a long history. The company was founded by Joseph Walker in 1898 when he opened his village bakery at Aberlour, Speyside. The enterprising business still retains its independence and is currently headed by the founder’s grandchildren, who faithfully maintain the tradition of producing the finest shortbreads, biscuits, cakes, oatcakes and meringues to original recipes using only natural ingredients - a policy that has earned Walkers a global reputation for quality and excellence. All Walkers shortbread, biscuits and oatcakes are free from artificial colours, flavourings and additives.
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Exports The company, which operates factories at Aberlour and Elgin, and employs more than 1,400 people, exports its distinctively packaged luxury bakery products to over 80 countries worldwide. InAll Walkers shortbread, biscuits and oatcakes are free deed, Walkers has from artificial colours, flavourings and additives. won the Queen's Award for Export Achievement four times. Walkers was also granted a Royal Warrant of Appointment as suppliers of oatcakes to Her Majesty the Queen in 2002. The US is the company’s largest export market and it has established a subsidiary there. Top 30 Company Walkers ranks 27th in a league table of Scotland’s top 100 private companies, which includes 21 companies in the food and drink (including leisure) sector. The list is headed by distiller William Grant & Sons Holdings with other drinks producers including The Edrington Group and Ian Macleod Distillers. In addition to Walkers Shortbread, other famous Scottish family-owned branded businesses such as WA Baxter & Sons and Thomas Tunnock Ltd also feature. Moving With the Times Although Walkers is famous for the traditional nature of its prod-
ucts, it has a strong track record of innovation and moving with the times. For example, the company recently expanded its product portfolio with the addition of a new certified Gluten Free range. In line with its policy of continued product development and improvement, Walkers has also recently refreshed its oatcake range with the intro- Walkers Shortbread exports its distinctively duction of new vari- packaged luxury bakery products to over 80 eties and a selection countries worldwide. of Scottish Biscuits for cheese. In its biggest export market, Walk-ers has teamed up with the popular US TV series ‘Outlander’, which is set in the Scottish Highlands during the 1740s. Walkers has developed a special Outlander-themed assortment of shortbread biscuits and packaging along with in-store displays. Financial Performance Reflecting rising global demand for its products, Walkers Shortbread reported a 2.7% increase in turnover to £140.8 million for 2014 with exports generating 42% of sales. However, pre-tax profits fell from £14.5 million in 2013 to £10.9 million and margins slipped from 9.7% to 7.4%. during the period, impacted by adverse currency factors and stagnation in European markets. On the domestic front, Walkers is faced with intensifying competition in the UK supermarket channel with the continuing rise of the discounters, and pricing pressures in the private label sector, which it also supplies. Indeed, the company expects that current cost and economic pressures will continue to affect its margins for some time. However, despite the challenging trading environment, the shortbread, biscuits, cakes and oatcakes manufacturer is well placed for the future because of the enduring nature of its customer relationships and the quality of its products. “As a family company, what is most important to us is the strength of our relationships with customers and consumers. If you maintain those, then sales will follow,” says Jim Walker, joint managing director of Walkers Shortbread. J
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I BISCUITS
New Look For Expanding Border Biscuits Border Biscuits is investing £4.3million this year to increase production capacity and reposition the brand in response to in-depth consumer research. ounded in 1984 and originally producing just four varieties of biscuits, the privately-owned Scottish biscuits manufacturer now makes more than 20 types of biscuits and supplies all of the major supermarkets – Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury – as well as the wholesale and food service sectors and independent retailers across the UK. The company generated a turnover of £14.5 million in its last financial year. Border Biscuits features in the Top 20 Scottish brands and its Dark Chocolate Gingers are the nation’s best-selling chocolate coated ginger biscuit, with more than 20 million biscuits produced annually, using up to 155 tonnes of chocolate. The company’s Milk Chocolate Ginger range recently won a Great Taste 2015 award and has gained additional listings in Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury.
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New Look In addition to adding a new production line at its factory in Lanark, Border Biscuits has introduced stylish new packaging, a new look website and a major consumer and trade advertising campaign with the introduction of iconic new characters – The Biscuitiers, with the strapline Border Biscuitiers Bake Better Biscuits. The seven heroic Biscuitier characters, each with their own unique personalities, are being introduced via a trade advertising campaign, followed by a national TV campaign rolling out from March. To coincide with the trade advertising campaign, contemporary new packaging designs across the company’s 21 strong portfolio have been introduced nationwide. The new packs are designed to capture the personality of the brand and to increase stand out on shelf. Lesley Ann Gray, brand and marketing manager at Border Biscuits, comments: “We’re a family-owned business and all of our staff share our vision of making exceptional biscuits that people love and we go to great lengths to do this. We really wanted to tell this story through our biscuit portfolio and feel the Family
Founded in 1984 and originally producing just four varieties of biscuits, Border Biscuits now makes more than 20 types of biscuits and supplies all of the major supermarkets.
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The Lanark-based company has now added its Dark Chocolate Gingers to its popular mini pack range.
Biscuitiers creative really encapsulates the company ethos.” She continues: “Our new packaging was introduced following extensive consumer research and will appeal directly to our loyal customers, who’ve supported the brand for over 30 years as well as attracting new ones to the brand. We have introduced a new cookie range and additional new products will be launched throughout the year to enhance the brand offering.” Mini Pack Range The Lanark-based company has now added its Dark Chocolate Gingers to its popular mini pack range. Border Biscuits sells over 26 million mini packs every year. The new Dark Chocolate Gingers Mini Packs include two biscuits, individually wrapped in stylish, convenient packaging and available in boxes of 48. “We hope that the addition of our bestselling variety will further boost sales of mini packs which continue to go from strength to strength, reporting a 21% increase in volume and 20% increase in value. We have invested in the mini pack range with a trade advertising campaign to ensure high visibility and awareness of the product, making it a must stock range,” she points out. The Mini Pack range is available in wholesalers nationwide in boxes of 48 or 100 and feature ‘classic’ recipes from Border Biscuits including Viennese Whirls, Divinely Choc Chip Cookies, Crunchy Oat Crumbles, Butterscotch Crunch and Choc Chip Shortbread. People Focused Border Biscuits has now introduced the Living Wage for all of its skilled permanent operatives with 90 members of the workforce benefiting. Dee Scott, chief operating officer at Border Biscuits, explains: “Our staff are the heart and soul of our business and they work extremely hard to make the best biscuits they possibly can. We are delighted to be able to introduce the Living Wage to our team, as our way of saying thank you for their hard work and dedication over the many years we’ve been based in Lanark.” The Living Wage is just one of the many ‘people focused’ practices at Border Biscuits. In addition to donating 10% of its annual profits to local charities, funding and managing local website Lanark Life, Border Biscuits also offers paid leave for all staff to participate and volunteer in local community projects on a regular basis. J
FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2016
Assuring the Integrity of the Food Chain: Fighting Food Fraud – FOODINTEGRITY 2016 n International conference entitled A ‘Assuring the integrity of the food chain: Fighting food fraud’ (FOODINTEGRITY 2016) will be held at the Diplomat Hotel Prague, in Prague, Czech Republic, on April 6–7, 2016. Conference organizers, the University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague, Czech Republic and FoodIntegrity project (www.foodintegrity.eu), are inviting all the representatives of funding bodies, food retailers, processing food industries, quality brands, public administration, control laboratories, NGOs and the research community to attend this conference. Food Integrity is ‘the state of being whole, entire, or undiminished or in perfect condition’. Providing assurance to consumers and other stakeholders about the safety, authenticity and quality of European food (integrity) is of prime importance in adding value to the European Agri-food economy. The integrity of European foods is under constant threat from fraudulently labelled imitations that try to exploit that added value.
Latest Research With respect to this threat, the FOODINTEGRITY 2016 conference will focus on the latest research outputs on developments and strategies in the field of food integrity - safety, quality, authenticity and traceability, including: • Tools for food integrity assessment • Gaps in current research in food authenticity on topics Non targeted analysis Complex foods Transparency along the food chain Rapid methods 70
• Analytical tools for food authentication • Demonstration how a European knowledgebase on analytical methodology and databases for food authenticity can be exploited by stakeholders Workshops In addition, series of workshops will be organised to include: • Food Crime, occurrence, motivations and mitigations • Industrial perspective for strategies applied for assuring food authenticity • Authenticity of herbs and spices • Citizen science potential approaches to food integrity. On-site demonstration of the approaches for food authentication developed by the FoodIntegrity project will also provide unique opportunity to discuss with the FoodIntegrity experts the latest developments and strategies in the field of food integrity - safety, quality, authenticity and traceability. Exhibition An exhibition of the most modern instrumentation used in food analysis, particularly in food authentication field, and other equ-ipment and consumables, reference materials, literature, etc., will be organized during the symposium. Vendor seminar(s) are planned to introduce recent commercial instrumentation and scientific strategies for food authenticity control. The best poster presentation(s)) will be awarded with the FOODINTEGRITY 2016 Poster Award and/or sponsored poster award(s). Please register for participation in the ‘Assuring the integrity of the food chain: Fighting food fraud’ (FOODINTEGRITY 2016) on www.foodintegrity2016.eu. In summary, FOODINTEGRITY FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2016
2016 will offer a high quality scientific program with top quality presentations followed by stimulating discussions. Scientific contributions will be presented by leading scientists through keynote lectures and by contributed oral and poster presentations. The FOODINTEGRITY 2016 programme will be tailored to facilitate the sharing of information between stakeholder groups regarding food integrity, to provide opportunities for networking as well as exploration of the latest results of the scientific community focused on research in the field of food authenticity. For more information on the conference please check regularly the conference website on www.foodintegrity2016.eu or contact us at foodintegrity2016@vscht.cz. J
Anti-Slip Flooring For Greasy Meats n food production it is vital that the correct flooring is chosen for maximum safety and efficiency around the workplace. The Imain flooring requirements in the food industry are a balance of durability, cleanability and an anti-slip profile, which all contribute to a safe and hygienic environment. John Lord have a long-standing and successful relationship with the leading and innovative British supplier of premium, fresh and added-value food products. In previous years, John Lord have been involved in a number of flooring projects for this forward-thinking company, including their sausage, bacon and other meat factories in the UK. On these projects, John Lord not only had to take into consideration the fresh meats and their greasy attributes, but also the daily cleaning regime. John Lord turned to their non-tainting, Uragard HT resin range, which was used throughout the factory’s processing and packaging rooms. A polyurethane Uragard HT resin was seamlessly installed and then back-rolled to create an anti-slip profile, which was coarse enough to provide improved safety under foot but was also easily cleaned. A vibrant Buff yellow was the chosen resin colour to help highlight dark waste food on the floor during clean-up. John Lord takes ‘Total Responsibility’ on every industrial and commercial project involving their exclusive resin flooring range. From floor design and manufacture, through to installation and after care, John Lord is committed to meeting your flooring requirements. Specify your own floor online or contact the Technical Sales Team for expert advice on the best flooring system for your business at +44 (0)161 764 4617, enquiries@johnlord.co.uk, www.john-lord.com. Alternatively, meet John Lord at Foodex 2016 at the NEC, Birmingham, stand H291. J
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I POULTRY
Manor Farm – Combining the Latest Technology With Centuries of Tradition Carton Bros (trading as Manor Farm), which has been the largest chicken processor in the Republic of Ireland for many years, is further consolidating its market leadership by upgrading its factory at Shercock in County Cavan and stepping up its brand building activity. he family-owned business has a current turnover of Eur240 million and sells chicken to all the main retailers in Ireland either under private label or under the Manor Farm brand, which has undergone a radical change in the last two years. The company employs 815 people across its operations.
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Vincent Carton, chief executive of Carton Bros (Manor Farm).
the birds, which is ultimately reflected in the eating quality of the chicken meat bought by the consumer. Centuries of Tradition Manor Farm can trace its roots back to 1775 and is now being run by the eighth generation of the Carton family. “That’s just over 240 years of passion, knowledge, expertise and skill. But it’s not just the family; it’s the generations of people who work with Manor Farm, the farmers who rear the chickens, who are all part of this great tradition too,” points out chief executive Vincent Carton. “And the company has been rewarded through the years with numerous awards, which make Manor Farm synonymous with the best in Irish chicken. Proud of our Irishness, the company contracts 168 farmers and gives indirect employment to many more throughout the 26 counties.” He continues: “Manor Farm is committed to supporting the Irish agri-food sector - guaranteeing the consumer that Irish products are kept on the shelves and retaining agriculture jobs in Ireland.” Market Dynamics Indeed, the company is benefiting from a growing consumer preference for Irish produced chicken as well as other developing market trends as Ireland starts to recover from a severe economic recession.
Manor Farm is the largest producer of Bord Bia (Irish Food Board) approved Irish chicken in the country. It controls a commanding share - in excess of 50% - of the Irish retail chicken market including sales of both branded and private label fresh chicken. The Irish retail chicken market is mature with annual growth of 1% to 2%. The total market, encompassing the retail, food service and manufacturing sectors, is estimated at approximately 3 million chickens per week - half of which are imported. The majority of imported product is found in the food service and manufacturing sectors. Vertically Integrated Manor Farm is a vertically integrated poultry business, exercising control over all stages of chicken production from breeding through to processing and finally to retail distribution. The company operates its own dedicated feed mill in Shercock along with a hatchery unit in nearby Carrickmacross. This allows Manor Farm to supervise each stage of the chick production and rearing operation and also to control the diet of
Manor Farm is a vertically integrated poultry business, exercising control over all stages of chicken production from breeding through to processing and finally to retail distribution.
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a move towards Irish origin product within the food service sector despite the significant price differential. This represents a real opportunity in a new and rapidly growing sector.” Unique Proposition The Irish chicken market remains highly competitive with domestic producers faced with cheap imports and other alternative forms of protein. Vincent Carton comments: “Competition comes from all other meats that are substitutable, including beef, pork and fish. Within the sector there are many formidable competitors producing high quality Irish chicken, one in the west of Ireland and another in the southern part of the country. However, the Manor Farm proposition is unique as it is the only Irish chicken processor with its own feed mill, thereby
The Manor Farm proposition is unique as it is the only Irish chicken processor with its own feed mill, thereby ensuring complete traceability and control of what its chicken is fed.
“There have been some changing consumer dynamics over the past number of years with, for example, Irish consumers wanting Irish poultry which is being assisted by the introduction of ‘Country of Origin’ labeling and the return of demand for premium products, in particular Free Range chicken,” he explains. Sales of breast fillets, convenience products and other premium products such as Corn Fed chicken have similarly been recovering. However, value still remains a priority for Irish consumers. The Irish retail landscape has also been changing with the rapid rise of discounters, and the food service sector has now returned to growth. Vincent Carton adds: “Our customer base is diverse but predominantly retail based. However, in recent times we have seen
Manor Farm contracts 168 farmers and gives indirect employment to many more throughout the 26 counties.
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Eur15million five year investment plan. “The objective of the investment plan is to bring the Shercock site up to the highest industry standards – on a par with the most modern facilities. This is a never-ending ambition because of the constant improvements in technology, equipment and new management information systems,” Vincent Carton explains. “Manor Farm has one of the most modern processing facilities in Europe producing consistently premium quality chicken, week-in week-out.” Energy Efficiency and Environment-friendly Technology Manor Farm is currently installing a new Waste Water Treatment Plant on-site at Shercock in order to improve energy efficiency and also to greatly improve the quality of the water
ensuring complete traceability and control of what its chicken is fed, this is a critical link in the supply chain.” Investment Programme In line with its long-term growth plan, Manor Farm is currently investing in expanding and upgrading its processing facility at Shercock, which is located on the shores of Lough Sillan. This entails the creation of a new evisceration section with full recovery of offal along with the installation of a new IQF portion line, an extra fillet processing line and a new gas-stunning facility within the slaughter line. Automation at the plant is also being enhanced with the introduction of a robotic fillet grading line. All aspects of the investment programme are due to come on-line in 2016. The current Eur5million spend is part of a
The company employs 815 people across its operations.
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commoditization over the last number of years. According to Kantar, chicken is currently the lowest average cost per kilo of all meats and the revitalisation of the brand should raise this profile, which will benefit the retailers as well as the company itself.”
Manor Farm is benefiting from a growing consumer preference for Irish produced chicken, including Free Range.
being discharged to Lough Sillan. Water and electricity meters have been installed throughout the site to increase efficiency and to highlight areas for improvement. Manor Farm is also focusing on waste reduction with establishment of a Waste Management Team and the installation of cardboard and plastic balers on site to increase waste segregation and attain better recycling rates. Manor Farm is a member of Repak, the sustainable packaging recovery compliance scheme. Electrical meters have also been installed on all major energy users at the feedmill, and meters have been fitted to monitor thermal energy on site. A new hammer mill has been installed with a high efficiency rotor and a vsd to reduce energy usage. Future plans include updating lighting to LED and fitting motion sensors. Manor Farm is also taking measures to source its raw materials more efficiently. For example, in the past incoming product was shipped and transported in 1000 litre IBC tanks. The equivalent product now arrives in 10kg bags, delivered by a small van as opposed to a large lorry, resulting in a significantly reduced carbon footprint for transportation. The Irish chicken processor is also installing gas boilers in the plant rather than oil and is currently operating a higher efficiency transformer. Branding Strategy Although the Manor Farm brand is well know by Irish consumers, it represents less than 10% of the company’s sales. “There are plans for this to increase with increased emphasis on marketing through social media, consumer talks and workshops, new product launches, advertising and an upgrade to the livery on our delivery fleet.” Vincent Carton continues: “The rationale is to offer the consumer an alternative choice and to increase their spend in the overall chicken category, which has seen a
Innovation Manor Farm has a strong track record of innovation both in new product development and the adoption of the latest processing technology. “At Manor Farm we are constantly on the lookout for new product and packaging ideas and we passionately believe in offering consumers new ways of eating chicken as a way of stimulating increased consumption and excitement. One of the most exciting developments in 2015 was the introduction of the Manor Farm ‘Cook in the bag’ chicken that made the process of cooking a whole chicken so much easier and convenient. We intend to build on this concept in 2016 with more exciting additions to the range,” says Vincent Carton. Tackling Campylobacter The launch of its Cook-in-the-bag packaging for whole birds is part of the company’s commitment to tackling the problem of campylobacter in fresh poultry.
“Campylobacter is the most serious issue facing our industry today,” says Vincent Carton. “Manor Farm has been to the forefront of research and implementation of processes and procedures to minimize its contamination. Campylobacter arises on the farm and the company with its customers (the supermarkets) has entered into a dialogue with its farmers to improve bio-security at farm, new and constant training for farmers and a bonus for farmers that produce campylobacter free chicken.” He elaborates: “In addition to farm level initiatives, Manor Farm is committed to installing any equipment at the factory that has shown to reduce Campylobacter on chicken products.” To date, in addition to Cook-in-the-bag packaging for whole birds, the company has installed sealed packaging, hot washing of live crates as well as researching many possible interventions for future implementation. Sustainability Manor Farm is a member of Origin Green, the Bord Bia scheme designed to position Ireland as a world leader in sustainably produced food and drink products. Indeed, sustainability and a farm to fork ethos have been part of the company’s approach to business for many years. Manor Farm’s continued success is dependent upon its ability to harness the latest technology while maintaining its traditional values. “Our strategy stays true to our past. Produce the best quality, Irish chicken and support our customers through constant product innovation, consumer research and insight, high level of logistic service (supply rate over 99%), and work with our farmers in a long-term collaborative relationship,” the Manor Farm chief executive concludes. J
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Manor Farm Counts its Chickens With Microsoft Dynamics NAV and Sysco ood and beverage manufacturers can no F longer succeed by fine-tuning a relatively straightforward process of pushing as much through the production and supply chain operations as efficiently as possible. They must be flexible to handle a much more complex product line and set of sales channels that appeal to specific niche buyers and their lifestyles. To enable employees to succeed in this more complex environment, IT can ease the burden. Comprehensive and industryspecific enterprise resource planning (ERP) and surrounding IT infrastructure tools are not only important, but increasingly available to even smaller companies. Most food and beverage manufacturers currently have significant gaps in data flows that result in waste and errors. These can lead to ineffective innovation, inadequate traceability of product sources and han-
dling issues, and slow responsiveness to market shifts. Food and beverage companies that evolve to a business process utilising more integrated ERP tools together with mobility, business intelligence, and collaboration tools can improve business performance and seize opportunities to gain market share. Simply put, to stay ahead of the competition, food and beverage manufacturers must evolve with their partners to become more innovative, sustainable, and responsive. Working with some of the largest companies within the food and drink industry for many years, like Manor Farm, Sysco has created a highly adaptable ERP solution for the food and drink industry. In that time Sysco have built up a knowledge of the challenges the industry faces, and from that Sysco have developed a range of ‘best practice solutions’ for customers who actively want to reduce costs, manage performance and grow the business in new or existing markets. Sysco’s experienced, dedicated ERP specialists understand the needs of the various niche sectors, whether it be meat, dairy, poultry, drinks, feed, seed, processing or distribution. Sysco’s team has worked across all of these sectors and understands
all the pressures and complexities Sysco is the largest reseller of Microsoft Dynamics in Ireland and have the largest dedicated team. Sysco’s experience and insight helped the following Irish companies forge ahead to greener pastures – Avondale Foods, Foyle Food Group, Gleeson Group, Ampersand, Odenburg Engineering, Dawn Farm Foods, Dale Farm - saving money and improving productivity with their choice of ERP/Manufacturing software. Contact Sysco to discuss your requirements today on Tel +353 1 6768900, Email marketing@sysco-software.com or visit www.sysco-software.com. J
Label Tech – The Specialist in Food Labelling abel Tech is a multi award winL ning independent company that has been producing labels in Ireland since 1992. Many of Label Tech’s customers have been with the company since day one. Like them Label Tech value loyalty and are always ready to go above and beyond to deliver a premium product – even at short notice! Food labelling is Label Tech’s speciality, and Ireland’s leading food and retail brands trust Label Tech with their products. They rely on Label Tech’s expertise to bring 80
them consistently excellent designs, prices and turnaround times. Labels are one of the best ways to demonstrate a brands inviduality. Label Tech’s sales and production teams will help you find the perfect label for your product FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2016
whether basic or complex. Label Tech guarantee fast and efficient turnaround times – no matter what size, shape, or design you choose. Label Tech offer affordable label solutions in almost any shape, design and finish you can imagine. Big name brands and small independent businesses depend on Label Tech’s expertise, professionalism and friendly reliable service every day, and you can too. Visit the website at LabelTech.ie or call today to discuss your needs on 01 8421700. J
Limerick Packaging Much Greater Than the Sum of its Parts ith what other packaging product can you take 230grammes of material, W make a board and a box out of it that can hold, protect, inform, store and safely ship a product around the world and will resist a load of 500kgs. That can only be Corrugated Board and Corrugated Boxes. It is the classic case of the whole being much stronger than the sum of its parts.
the list provided, but the one we are most proud of is our speciality in Shelf Ready/Retail Ready packaging, which we can provide in standard flexo print, high quality post-print flexo or litho printed and laminated.” Large Array of Products 1. Corrugated Boxes (RSC, Die-Cut, Sheets, Pads, Divs. Etc). 2. Litho Printed Cartons and LithoLaminated Outers. 3. Shelf-Ready/Retail-Ready Packs. 4. High Quality Post Printed Corrugated Boxes. 5. Solid Board Leak-Proof Bases and Lids. 6. Industrial Polyethylene Bags, Sleeves and Sheets. very competitive prices and their ability to assist their Customers to get products innovatively packed to market in a timely fashion.
In much the same way Limerick Packaging and its staff display the same characteristics by outshining its competition from the viewpoint of package design, very competitive pricing, quality to the very highest standards and all delivered, ‘on time everytime’. How else can a small company grow and prosper during its fourteen year history but by everybody within it being Customer focused, according to Sales Director Mike Boland. “It is central to everything we do, that our Customer comes first”, he says, “and nothing is allowed to divert us from our goal of delivering on time, everytime”. Mike adds: “Our Company now boasts a large array of products as can be seen from 7. Labels. 8. Protective Foams (EPE,EPU, EPS, EPP). 9. Foam/Corrugated Composite Packs. 10. Bubble-Wrap, Rolls and Bubble Bags. 11. Pallet Edgeguards. 12. Packaging Assembly Machinery. 13. Pallet Wrap/Strapping/Strapping Accessories/Tapes. 14. POS/POP Stands, Bins and Signage. Limerick Packaging has experienced considerable growth in Shelf Ready/Retail Ready packs and also in Litho-Laminated Corrugated packs due to their ability to follow market trends, their ability to design effective solutions for their Customers at FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2016
Customer-focused Walking through their factory you cannot help notice the purposeful approach each member of staff has in everything they do. You also notice a steely determination in everyone to get everything right so that the Company can succeed and grow and prosper. But the one thing that stands out above all is the focus on the Customers needs, made obvious by the ultra large screens throughout the factory tracking each orders progress, outlining the requirements for the next day’s deliveries and even breaking these out by County to optimise transport. Mike Boland also points to the fact that it is Company policy to operate its own delivery fleet, as this provides the flexibility necessary to meet all Customer needs on a daily basis. “We are certified to ISO9001:2008 and we operate to ISO14001 and BRC/IOP,” he says. “So it seems you have thought of everything?” “No,” says Mike, “we are never happy and we are always striving to improve our performance and to create the ultimate Customer experience. We are close but we are not there yet, and when we reach our goal, we will push on and once again set new standards for Customer service. Our sights are now firmly set on FSC certification.” J 81
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I NATURAL FLAVOURS
Sophisticated Flavour Twists For Sugar-based Confectionery and Chewing Gums ensient Flavors is enabling manufacturers S to set novel impulses on the gum and sugar-based confectionery markets with a new range of natural flavours. Inspired by the company’s proprietary ‘Trends to Taste’ analysis, which pinpoints the latest culinary trends on both a global and a local scale, a
range of uniquely inspiring flavours have come to life. With a focus on exciting pairings such as fresh kiwi & creamy coconut or pineapple & passionfruit, the flavours can be used to appeal to the palates and expecta-
tions of consumers of all ages. The new portfolio comprises a range for use in all sugar-based confectionery as well as chewing gums. Combining high quality raw materials, the latest technology and in-depth flavouring know-how, the experts for sweet flavours based at Sensient Flavors in Milton Keynes, UK, have created a range of unique flavour combinations. To meet the increasing demand for taste sensations beyond the ordinary, the range offers novel taste experiences: while the combination of green tea and orange liqueur flavours delivers a sophisticated chewing gum experience for adults, children will be more drawn to the tropical blend of watermelon and coconut. The new range also offers more familiar taste profiles and when developing these,
Sensient’s designers have focused on exotic raw materials that are a step above the ordinary. For example, the citrus fruit Calamansi, a hybrid of mandarin and kumquat, captures sweet and refreshing orange and zesty lemon notes. In order to redefine confectionery flavours in a multitude of ways, Sensient has a comprehensive ingredients portfolio to hand. J
I COCOA
Cargill Enhances Traceability For Premium Payments to Cocoa Farmers – €14 Million Paid in 2015 cocoa farmers in Côte d’Ivoire Iumnhave2015, received over €7 million in premipayments under the Cargill Cocoa
Promise, while another €7 million were distributed as sustainability premiums to cooperatives for their certified beans’ deliveries. Over 50% of the sums paid to the cooperatives have been reinvested to strengthen cocoa cooperatives’ infrastructures, allowing for the construction of three warehouses and improving the transport and logistics for beans with the acquisition of over 50 trucks, many of which via the FiE Sustainability Innovation Award winning financing mechanism. As an overall trend, the cooperatives participating in the program have been spending an increasing amount in community services (11% of total premium amount), covering the improvement of health services, the construction of seven schools and 17 new potable water sources. Cargill’s Monitoring and Evaluation system effectively traces back the allocation of funds for each participating cooperative and keeps
track of how the money is spent. For the first time in five years, cooperatives have been able to allocate 10 percent of premium payments to savings, which demonstrates the farmer organizations’ maturity and professionalization, and establishes the basis for great financial autonomy. “All of us increasingly care about the origin of the things we buy,” says Taco Terheijden, Director Cocoa Sustainability at Cargill. “We persistently focus on real results to demonstrate to farmers that we FOOD & DRINK BUSINESS EUROPE, MARCH 2016
mean business when we say we want to support them in improving their livelihoods. Our programs prioritize their needs. For our customers and partners whose contributions directly benefit those for whom they are aimed, it is great to see what our program delivers. It clearly shows the longer terms results we aim to achieve and how we intend to get there.” Ahead of the overall industry average, over 30% of the beans Cargill is sourcing are third-party certified sustainable. Launched in 2012, the Cargill Cocoa Promise is the company’s commitment to improve the livelihoods of farmers and their communities in ways that enable them to deliver more cocoa in the longterm and secure a thriving cocoa sector for generations to come. The premium payments are made to farmers for selling their UTZ, Rainforest Alliance and Fairtrade certified cocoa beans and are funded by confectionery and food manufacturers and retailers. J 83
Choosing the Right Fibre Ingredient – ‘The Five C’s’ By Heidi Cullip, Marketing Manager, EMEA, Innovation & Commercial Development, Tate & Lyle today’s food and beverage marketplace, manufacturers are wading Iyounthrough an ever-changing tide of consumer demand for better-foroptions - digestive health, less sugar, fewer calories, cleaner labels, low cholesterol. The list goes on and on. So how can we meet these demands for health and wellness without sacrificing the great taste and texture consumers expect? While there are many ingredients that can help achieve specific claims and functionality, there’s an unsung hero in the food science toolkit that can help achieve most, if not all of it – fibre. Not only do fibres help manufacturers market better-for-you products, they can also help solve significant formulation challenges. But not all fibres are created equal. At Tate & Lyle, we help manufacturers determine the best fibre option using criteria we call ‘The Five C’s’ - consumer sentiment, digestive comfort, clean labels, nutritional claims and cost in use. Consumer Sentiment While consumers are interested in health and wellness, taste continues to be top of mind for consumers. Other sensory attributes like colour and texture will also make or break consumers’ eating experiences. Fibres with a clean taste, neutral colour, and texture without grittiness will increase overall consumer acceptance of finished products. Comfort Manufacturers are challenged to deliver the enhanced nutrition benefits of fibre that consumers demand, but some fibres, particularly at high inclusion levels, can cause digestive discomfort. For example, Tate & Lyle’s soluble corn fibre provides over two times the digestive tolerance of inulin.1 Research shows up to 65 grams per day can be consumed without discomfort, which is well above the daily recommended intake of fibre.
Clean Labels Around the world, there’s a growing trend for foods and beverages made with ingredients consumers understand and recognise. In EMEA, more than 25% of new product launches were positioned as label friendly in 2013.2 Depending on your target audience, selecting a fibre that offers consumer-friendly labelling options may provide additional appeal needed to boost product sales. Claims As mentioned previously, fibres can help food and beverage manufacturers achieve much more than a front-of-pack fibre claim. Their inherent nutritional benefits mixed with versatile functional benefits make a variety of claims possible. From ‘maintains healthy blood cholesterol’ with oat beta glucan to ‘sugar free’ with polydextrose, choosing the right fibre can provide that extra advantage on the grocery shelf. Cost In Use Fibres differ in stability level, which may impact cost in use. When formulating using fibres with poor stability, manufacturers have to overcompensate for fibre lost due to high heat and shear during processing, acid in low-pH systems, and long shelf life. Choosing a fibre with superior stability may result in manufacturing efficiencies. While fibres are extremely versatile, they aren’t all created equal. Manufacturers should partner with a supplier with a full portfolio of fibre options in order to effectively walk through ‘The 5 C’s’ and determine the best fit for their application and target audience. To learn more about Tate & Lyle’s fibre portfolio visit www.tateandlylefibres.com. 1 B. Housez, M. Cazaubiel, C. Vergara, J.M. Bard, A. Adam, A. Einerhand, P. Samuel, “Evaluation of Digestive Tolerance of a Soluble Corn Fibre,” J Hum Nutr Diet 2012, 25:488-496. 2 From CLARIA Message Map (Innova Market Insights, 2013, Tate & Lyle Clean-Label Research). J
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