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SEPTEMBER 2020

Bundaberg Brewed Drinks’ CEO John McLean:

on the company, the town and the people

PLUS: Food & Beverage Industry Award winners announced | A new way to design packaging

WELCOME

CEO: John Murphy Publisher: Christine Clancy Group Managing Editor (Northern):

On resilience and changing your sails

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T

wo words will go down in the history books when PhDs, scholars and academics write about 2020 – coronavirus and COVID-19. Like a lot of people, I’m sick of hearing them. Almost everything you read online, in magazines and newspapers, hear on the radio, watch on YouTube or television relates to the pandemic.

But the lessons learned – especially in the food and beverage industry – from this insidious disease are going to be long felt. Not just in terms of panic buying, supply chains being stretched, conveyor belts belching along 24/7, and food and beverage processors swapping out their bread and butter products on their production lines to manufacture hand sanitiser. I mean real change – and some of it for good.

This is best illustrated in a new section of the magazine called Meet the Manufacturer.

This month we talk to the general manager of Bundaberg Brewed Drinks, John McLean, whose company is responsible for producing the iconic ginger beer among other beverages. While the company has had many challenges over the past six months, McLean points out that if anything, the pandemic has brought him and the rest of the management closer to their workers.

They are now interacting with them more than ever – mainly via Zoom and other online communication portals.

Another by-product of this past six months’ intrusion has shown that a lot of companies are great at thinking on their feet and changing their sails very quickly when everything started turning to custard. In our July issue, we talked to Darren Taylor whose catering business disappeared overnight as weddings, sports gatherings, expos and an array of other events were cancelled. In Taylor’s case, he brought forward an idea to start making ready-made meals. He wasn’t too sure if it was going to work out, but it has been so successful that it will now be part of his company’s permanent offering to the marketplace.

A similar thing happened to Cassandra Spies,

4 Food&Beverage Industry News | September 2020 | www.foodmag.com.au

who is the winner of the Executive of the Year in the annual Food & Beverage Industry Food Awards. Spies is the founder and CEO of Twisted Healthy Treats, a company that specialises in making frozen treats with reduced sugar. One of the company’s key markets was school canteens, which, like cafes and catering, was one of the first casualties. Luckily for Spies, the company’s executive team had been working on an export deal that would see its products on the shelves of Costco in the US. Both of these examples show what can happen when a business is pushed into a corner and have come across a roadblock through no fault of their own. Being prepared to think laterally, bringing staff onboard – and no doubt having a lot of sleepless nights – shows that when a company is stretched to its very limit, good things can happen. While I’m sure both Taylor and Spies would have liked for the outcomes to have been met under different circumstances, they are both learning experiences the CEOs will put to good use as their businesses start to come out of the other side of the pandemic.

As for the Food & Beverage Industry Awards themselves, like Taylor’s catering enterprise, the physical awards suffered the same fate.

However, that didn’t stop a plethora of entries in all categories, which didn’t make judging easy.

You can see the full list of winners starting on page 29. What these awards showed was how food and beverage processing and manufacturing companies, are continually thinking on their feet and bringing great new ideas to the table.

Thanks once again to our premium sponsor Heat & Control, who sponsored the Innovative Technology of the Year Award, and also to Rod Arenas at Food Innovation Australia (FIAL) for helping to organise the judging.

Have a great month.

CONTENTS INSIDE

6 NEWS

16

12 MEET THE MANUFACTURER

In our new feature we talk to Bundaberg Brewed Drinks' CEO John McLean about how the company has navigated COVID-19 and its future plans.

16 PACKAGING

18

A new way to do packaging prototypes without the cost and waste of traditional methods.

18 INSTRUMENTATION A VEGA switch that doesn't cost the Earth.

20 FOOD PROCESSING

Keeping up with increasing demand is key to making sure manufacturers can meet the needs of their customers.

22 LUBRICANTS

It's important to have a one-stop shop to meet your lubrication needs when you have a huge fleet of vehicles.

24 AIP

22

26

Nerida Kelton talks about the importance of Save Packaging Design, and give tips on how to implement it.

26 WOMEN IN INDUSTRY How a career change turned out to be a good thing.

29 FOOD & BEVERAGE INDUSTRY AWARDS WINNERS

29

We announce the winners of the 2020 Food & Beverage Industry Awards including Best of the Best.

26 AFGC

The AFGC outlines why trade is still important as the world goes through a pandemic.

39 MARKETWATCH 40 DAIRY REPORT 41 NEW PRODUCTS www.foodmag.com.au | September 2020 | Food&Beverage Industry News 5

NEWS

Coles opens ripening facility in Melbourne C oles has spent $43 million on a ripening facility in Melbourne that will support banana, avocado and mango growers in North Queensland and will ripen fruit from farmers across Australia.

It was built as part of a fiveyear agreement between Coles and growers collective Mackays Marketing and has the capacity to ripen 350 million pieces of fruit annually.

Using reversible air-flow ripening technology, the 7,280 sqm facility is 70 per cent more energy efficient than traditional ‘tarped’ ripening systems, producing fruit that has been ripened as it is

Coles and Mackays Marketing have worked together on a new ripening facility that has been opened in Melbourne.

needed, improving shelf life for customers and reducing waste.

Mackays marketing CEO Richard Clayton said the partnership with Coles would be instrumental in encouraging greater consumption offresh fruit and vegetables to create a healthier nation.

“This project has bought best practice ripening technology to Coles and this will help us continue to regularly provide the very best quality bananas, avocados and mangoes to consumers,” he said.

The five-star Green Star facility incorporates a number of sustainability measures, including rainwater tanks with a combined capacity of 100,000 litres and more than 1,790 solar panels — capable of generating electricity equivalent to the annual usage of more than 86 average Australian homes.

Grain markets look to Australia to fill European shortfall R abobank London-based global grains and oilseeds strategist Stefan Vogel, speaking on the bank’s Australian Grain Mid-season webinar, said when it comes to wheat and canola in particular, “we are all looking for good crops in Australia to make up the shortfall caused by the poor season in Europe”.

Wheat Vogel said after an excellent 2019/20 European harvest where the European Union exported 38 million metric tonnes (mmt) of wheat, this year’s EU export volumes are set to fall at least 10 mmt with most European grain-growing nations – including France, Germany, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria – beset by

dry conditions and poor yields.

While Ukraine, another global wheat exporter, is expecting an almost 10 per cent smaller crop than last year.

And this shortfall would remain, he said, even with Russia, “the big guy in the room”, still expected to produce a bigger wheat crop than last year, bringing some harvest pressure to recent market tightening.

“So who can offset that shortfall in European production that would be going into export markets?

Everyone is banking on Australia to make that happen,” he said.

Canola For canola too, Vogel said, a poor harvest in Europe will likely see the EU producing its lowest crop since 2006 in the 2020/21 season. And

6 Food&Beverage Industry News | September 2020 | www.foodmag.com.au

this spells good news for Australia, becuase it will push EU import demand to exceed last season’s record high.

“So Europe is actually going to need a lot of Australian canola – depending on how much you can ship to us, maybe close to doubling the amount we took last year and getting back to volumes seen in 2017 and 2015 of around 1.9 million tonnes,” he said.

Australian outlook Rabobank Australian senior grains and oilseeds analyst, Cheryl Kalisch Gordon, told the webinar the bank maintained a positive outlook on the year ahead for Australian grain growers.

While Rabobank had slightly

revised down its forecast 2020/21 wheat production to 25 million tonnes due to dryness in some production areas, Kalisch Gordon said Australia would be back as a significant player on the global grain export markets this year.

“With production prospects higher for grain growers in most areas, it will be a year that will start to make up (although not entirely) for the troubling years we’ve had recently,” she said.

For wheat, while prices were expected to come in below the current five-year-average – which has been elevated by some ports recording $450/tonne wheat for extended periods during the drought – prices should be above the 10-year average.

NEWS

Country of origin food labelling evaluation begins T he Federal Government has begun an evaluation of Australia’s country of origin food labelling system to make sure it’s working for both Australian consumers and businesses.

Minister for Industry, Science and Technology, Karen Andrews, said the evaluation would help determine if the system that came into effect in 2018 was helping Australians as intended.

“Consumers made it known they wanted to understand in a clear and simple way where their food is grown and processed,” Andrews said.

“Our Government responded with comprehensive reforms to the country of origin labelling system and now we’re making sure it’s delivering as intended.

“While this evaluation was planned since the reforms were introduced, it is particularly timely as COVID-19 has seen a ground-swell in support for Australian-made food.

The evaluation of country of origin labelling will look to see if it has made consumers more informed of what ingredients are in products.

“This is about making sure consumers are being given the tools they need to make an informed choice, without crippling Australian businesses with unreasonable and expensive labelling expectations.”

Minister for Agriculture, Drought and Emergency Management, David

Littleproud, said it would be good to ensure the reforms are delivering the right information to consumers so they can choose to support our agriculture sector and the various parts of regional Australia that would benefit.

“When consumers buy Australian goods, they aren’t just supporting

those manufacturers, but also our farmers, truck drivers and regional communities more broadly,” Minister Littleproud said.

“We know that so many Aussies are more determined than ever to buy domestically made products like bacon and cheese, and Australian-grown products like seafood and flowers.

“It’s important that it as simple as possible for them to do that, without placing undue burden on business.”

The evaluation of country origin labelling for food will consider if the labels are helping consumers make more informed choices, as well as clarifying the origin claims that businesses can make. It is also important to avoid excessive costs for businesses which will be passed onto shoppers.

The consultation will include surveys, consumer focus groups and interviews with industry and government.

CELEBRATING

150 YEARS IN BUSINESS GLOBALLY www.foodmag.com.au | September 2020 | Food&Beverage Industry News 7

NEWS

Oyster company to develop traceability system Australia’s Pacific oysters are prized by overseas countries.

T

asmania Oyster Co, with the assistance of a cofunding grant from the Federal Government’s Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre (AMGC), will develop a new laser etching system to identify and trace its

products across global markets.

The technology aims to differentiate Australia’s prized Pacific oysters, which are some of the few able to be consumed direct from the ocean due to pristine growing environments, from the highly farmed

items that make up 80 per cent of the world oyster supply. To achieve this, the company has developed a new CO2 based laser etching process that allows the company to etch a brand mark (logo) on the oyster’s shell, providing customers with peace of mind concerning the quality and provenance of the product.

“Probably one of the biggest challenges is being able to distinguish our product from others, either here or in export markets. AMGC helped us expand our thinking to export markets,” Simon Rechner, project manager at Tasmanian Oyster Co. “We think Australian oysters are some of the best in the world, but being able to market overseas is very difficult. An oyster sold in Singapore, Japan and Australia, without something on it to say where it comes from, could be from anywhere – our new technology changes that and gives us a great opportunity post-COVID to

grow our brand.”

It is estimated the solution will increase the “product to price density” by $5 per dozen oysters sold, add $7 million to the Tasmanian oyster industry through the new authentication and marketing possibilities, and provide a $3.5 million increase in revenues to Tasmanian Oyster Co. through an estimated 25 per cent growth in exports.

The technology will be rolled out to Tasmanian oyster growers, helping them present “a united front” in export markets. It will then be offered to growers in other states within the $112 million Australian oyster market and possibly other shellfish lines.

Successful completion of the project is expected to generate an additional 20 Australian jobs across the engineering, manufacturing, sales and service disciplines in the long-term.

$45 million recyling plant for Albury-Wodonga A new recycling plant will increase the amount of recycled PET plastic produced in Australia each year from local waste.

The decision to build the facility in Albury-Wodonga was confirmed yesterday after Pact Group Holdings, Cleanaway Waste Management and Asahi Beverages entered a joint venture to deliver the project.

It will create dozens of direct jobs when construction starts in coming months. It is anticipated the facility will recycle the equivalent of around one billion 600ml PET plastic bottles each year. The bottles will be used as a raw material to produce new bottles plus food and beverage packaging in Australia to help close the loop on recycling.

This will see the amount of locally

sourced and recycled PET produced in Australia increase by two thirds – from around 30,000 tonnes currently to over 50,000 tonnes per annum according to Pact Group. Other major environmental benefits it will deliver include reducing Australia’s reliance on virgin plastic, the amount of plastic waste sent overseas and the amount of recycled plastic Australia imports.

Solar energy will power part of the facility. The $45 million facility will be located at the Nexus Precinct, 10km north of Albury/Wodonga’s CBD in NSW and will be among the first businesses located at the new industrial precinct.

Over the course of the build, the project is expected to create over 300 direct and indirect jobs, with tradespeople, engineers and technicians among the roles that

8 Food&Beverage Industry News | September 2020 | www.foodmag.com.au

need to be filled.

Announcements will follow regarding the hiring of these roles.

Construction will start towards the end of the year, pending approval from Albury Council, and is expected to be fully operational by December 2021. The plant will draw on the expertise of each member of the joint

Solar energy will power the new recycling plant.

venture, which will trade as Circular Plastics Australia.

Cleanaway will provide the plastic to be recycled through its collection and sorting network, Pact will provide technical and packaging expertise while Asahi Beverages and Pact will buy the recycled plastic from the facility to use in their packaging.

NEWS

Seafood industry wants Australians to support origin labelling review T he Australian seafood industry has called on consumers to support the expansion of the current Country of Origin Labelling (CoOL) laws to include seafood sold in foodservice the government begins an evaluation of legislation which came into effect two years ago.

“In the retail sector CoOL provides consumers with clear information on where their food has come from and allows consumers to make informed purchasing decisions, we want to see this origin labelling extended to seafood sold in the foodservice sector,” Seafood Industry Australia (SIA) Interim CEO Veronica Papacosta said.

“In July 2018, it became mandatory for food sold in retail to be labelled with its country of origin, and the wheels didn’t fall off. In fact, labelling improved the level of communication and trust between a retailer and their customers. However, there was no

requirement placed on places like restaurants and cafes. Foodservice should have never been exempt from the original labelling requirements and we hope this loophole will finally close.

“Seventy per cent of the seafood eaten in Australia is imported, the majority of this consumption is in the foodservice sector, and many people don’t realise this. Consumers assume their iconic seafood meals are made using iconic Australia seafood, however we know this is often not the case. We know people want to support our Australian seafood producers, but people cannot buy Australian seafood if they can’t tell where it’s from.”

The Australian seafood industry has appealed to the federal government to make origin labelling mandatory for seafood sold in foodservice, and Papacosta believes the country has the opportunity to make this happen.

Origin labelling is an important issue for the local seafood industry.

www.foodmag.com.au | September 2020 | Food&Beverage Industry News 9

NEWS

Safeguarding Australia from seedy biosecurity risks A ll Australians are being reminded to be biosecurity aware, following cases of unsolicited seed packets being received through the mail.

Head of the biosecurity operations, Emily Canning, said imported seeds must adhere to strict biosecurity conditions that help manage pest and disease risks.

“The department is aware of the cases overseas and we have had a small number of reports in Australia that are under investigation,” Canning said. “It is an important reminder that we all need to do our part to safeguard Australia from biosecurity pests and diseases.

This includes reporting potential biosecurity breaches and following the correct process if you are purchasing seeds from overseas.

“If you do receive seeds in the mail that you did not purchase, do not plant the seeds or put them in the garbage.”

People should secure the seeds and immediately report it to the department. Imported seeds that

do not meet biosecurity conditions can threaten the environment, agricultural industries and backyard gardens. They could also be carrying invasive species or harmful plant diseases.

“This is why we have strict conditions for the import of seeds, to help manage these serious biosecurity threats,” said Canning. “At our international mail centres, detector dogs, x-rays and biosecurity officers are also in place to intercept any potential risk items that arrive. We do regularly intercept seed packets from overseas that are mis-declared as jewellery, gifts, earrings and garden tools.”

These items are either exported back to the sender or destroyed, to ensure they do not harm Australia’s agriculture or environment.

“We all have a role to play to support our biosecurity. Be biosecurity aware, report any breaches and help keep Australia free of pests and diseases,” said Canning.

Nuts and seeds from overseas are a big biosecurity threat to Australia’s food industry.

Vegan cheese company starts exporting O ne of Australia’s largescale vegan cheese manufacturers, Dairy Free Downunder is becoming a global player in the market for plantbased foods.

Due to attending Food Innovation Australia Limited (FIAL)’s Virtual Meet the Buyer events, Dairy Free Downunder has now started exporting to new customers in both Indonesia and Vietnam.

This development will see the family-owned business expand its global presence beyond its current customers in Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Brunei, Malaysia,

and Singapore.

“FIAL’s Virtual Meet the Buyer has seen us continue to connect with new customers, despite travel restrictions,” said Dairy Free Down Under co-founder, Kevin Flanagan.

As the Food and Agribusiness Growth Centre, FIAL quickly pivoted when travel restrictions and international tradeshow cancellations came into play, launching its Virtual Meet the Buyer initiative.

FIAL’s Virtual Meet the Buyer provides export-ready Australian food and agribusinesses the opportunity to secure a one-to-one

10 Food&Beverage Industry News | September 2020 | www.foodmag.com.au

meeting with buyers from all around the globe – from China’s Shandong and Jiangsu Provinces, through to Thailand and Singapore.

“Australian products are still very much in demand. Our Virtual Meet the Buyer event enables Australian businesses to overcome the hurdle of travel restrictions, maintaining, and even increasing, their connectivity to international markets. This will be key to sector recovery and growth,” said FIAL general manager of markets, Rod Arenas.

The fourth Virtual Meet the Buyer will see 142 one-to-one

meetings between 48 Australian export-ready suppliers and 45 of Jiangsu Province’s key buyers.

Participating buyers include Alibaba’s Hema supermarket and leading e-commerce retailer, Sunning. In-demand products range from superfood smoothies and functional coconut waters, to sparkling waters and premium cheeses.

It was delivered in collaboration with the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Austrade Shanghai, the Jiangsu State Government, and Global Victoria China.

NEWS

What does Victoria’s lock down mean for food and bev?

V ictorian Premier Daniel Andrews has announced several changes to the manufacturing sector in Victoria.

Non-essential manufacturing will be hardest hit, however, for the food and beverage sector, it is pretty much business as usual with one main exception. Andrews stated that while emergency measures are in place, some industries are too important to close down. And while they may stay in operation, there will be some restrictions. “Whether it’s our food production, waste collection or supply chain logistics, we need some things to continue – but they’ve got do so safely,” he said.

All open businesses and services had until 11:59pm Friday 7 August

to enact a COVIDSafe plan focused on safety, prevention and response in the event that coronavirus is linked to the workplace.

“In industries that can’t close, but where we’ve seen a number of cases or emerging new risks, we’ll be making some big changes to make these workplaces safer – for workers and for their families,” he said.

“That includes mandated reductions to the number of workers onsite. In the meat industry – and based on the minimum required to operate safely onsite – the workforce will be scaled back to two-thirds. Unlike other changes, and recognising the risk these sites have posed here and around the world, this will apply to abattoirs in

Melbourne and across the state.”

Advice from the Department of Health and Human Services recognised the importance of public transport and freight and logistics as essential services to the Victorian community.

“The Department is also working closely with the ports, freight and logistics sector as an essential service to make sure essential supplies get to where they need to go,” the Victorian Department of Transport said in a statement.

Heavy vehicles are able to pass time-based curfew “no trucks” signs when they are making deliveries of food or personal hygiene products to retail outlets over the next six months. It is also alloable for

heavy vehicles to remain in loading zones for the time required to make these deliveries.

Industry operators are asked to ensure that they adhere to the health and safety protocols to protect their workforces and the public.

There are also changes to supply chain industries under the state’s Stage 4 restrictions.

Warehouse and distribution centres in Melbourne must reduce their workforce, be kitted out in full PPE and subject to routine COVID19 testing.

Warehousing and distribution centres in Melbourne will be limited to no more than two-thirds the normal workforce allowed onsite at any one time.

Woolworths converts Melbourne stores to online delivery hubs W oolworths will temporarily convert its Dandenong Plaza, Watergardens South and Mountain Gate supermarkets into online delivery hubs as Melbourne enters stage 4 restrictions.

The stores will close to in-store customers to solely serve online grocery delivery customers until further notice.

The conversions will enable Woolworths to pick and dispatch more online orders to customers in the surrounding suburbs. This includes online orders for the most vulnerable people in the community through Woolworths’ Priority Assistance service.

During March and April Woolworths undertook similar conversions in a small number of stores in Sydney and Melbourne to meet online demand and service customers staying at home in line with government restrictions during the early stages of the pandemic.

Woolworths is increasing its online presence due to COVID-19.

The three stores have been carefully picked to minimise the impact on local shoppers and have the following alternative stores within five kilometres: • Dandenong Plaza: Dandenong South

and Endeavour Hills • W atergardens South: Watergardens, Watervale and Taylors Lakes • Mountain Gate: Ferntree Gully, Scoresby and Boronia.

All team members in the three

stores will be retained to either pick online orders or work in neighbouring stores. There is no impact on jobs as a consequence of the conversions.

“The demand for online delivery continues to grow at pace with more customers in self-isolation or seeking to limit their outings,” said Woolworths Supermarkets Victorian general manager Andrew Hall.

“This week we’ll be converting three of our Melbourne stores to online delivery hubs to help meet this demand and support the most vulnerable in the community.

“We understand this will be inconvenient for some of our in-store customers and have sought to minimise this as much as we can by converting stores in close proximity to others.

“It’s an uncertain time for many in Melbourne and this will ensure we have the delivery capacity to support the essential grocery needs of many more customers online.”

www.foodmag.com.au | September 2020 | Food&Beverage Industry News 11

MEET THE MANUFACTURER

All in the family – Bundaberg Brewed Drinks’ rosy future Bundaberg Brewed Drinks is a business that has never lost sight of what it means to the local community. Mike Wheeler talks to CEO John McLean about COVID-19, the business of beverages, and the importance of family.

S

tarting out as a family-owned operation in the 1960s, Bundaberg Brewed Drinks has turned into one of Australia’s most iconic brands of the past 50 years. And unlike a lot of brands that garner the term “iconic”, not only has the company not forgotten its roots, they are entrenched in its DNA just as much as it is in the town that shares its name.

Unlike its contemporary Bundaberg Rum that moved most of its bottling operations to the Sydney suburb of Huntingwood in 2014, Bundaberg Brewed Drinks has no plans on going anywhere. Up until COVID-19 hit, CEO John McLean and the rest of the executive team had done a lot of forward planning for the future of the company, including a new brewery being built in the eponymous Queensland town situated 350 kilometres north of Brisbane.

McLean will tell you one of the keys to the company’s success has not just been in his father-in-law’s Cliff Fleming’s spotting a great sales opportunity, but the people who ply their trade for the company, not just in Bundaberg, but around Australia and the world. There are generations of families who have worked for Bundaberg Brewed Drinks since the Fleming family bought it in 1968 when it was known as Electra Breweries. Back then, there were five soft drink factories in the area, which was no different to most Australian towns because there was no supply chain, and this meant distribution was localised. Bundaberg Brewed Drinks is now the last company

standing in the town in terms of having a national presence.

“We’re a proud family business and what makes us happy is that it’s not just our family involved in the business,” he said. “It is great when we see our employees’ families in the business. We have many mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, fathers and daughters, uncles and aunties – there is a whole series of close relationships.”

Since March and the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company has faced many challenges, but McLean, who was a school teacher before joining the business 25 years ago, takes it in his stride.

“Back in February, everything was hunky dory. We knew there were a few challenges coming out of China due to COVID, but we carried on,” he said. “We talked about our annual operation plans, and a week later it all came crashing down.

In April, we knew it was going to take a lot longer so our operational plans became about optimising for 2021. Everything we are doing now is how can we get a foundation re-established, recommitted and really build the business so that it’s booming in the future.”

The company gets the majority of its ingredients from local sources, with the main exception being sarsaparilla, which has to be imported for the company’s root beer offerings. Most of the instrumentation, plant and sensors for its bottling operation comes from Germany, France and Italy, while the heavy machinery for its brewery is fabricated in Australia

12 Food&Beverage Industry News | September 2020 | www.foodmag.com.au

Bundaberg Brewed Drinks’ CEO John McLean is optimistic about the export opportunities for the company.

MEET THE MANUFACTURER

www.foodmag.com.au | September 2020 | Food&Beverage Industry News 13

MEET THE MANUFACTURER

The company’s bottling plant is still based in the town from where it takes its name.

The original building that housed the company’s plant.

by ME Engineering.

While having local fabricators is good, it is the supply chain where most companies in the processing and manufacturing of products have found problems during the pandemic.

And while, initially, the company did have issues, forward planning has been essential.

“At the beginning of COVID it was a bit more challenging because the ports were making boats wait for 14 days before docking,” said McLean. “That really did hamstring our international business and especially our Kiwi business. We’ve all gotten over that and we have worked out the situation so the supply chain is now very robust.

“However, we’ve worked very closely with our logistics team, and our planning and procurement team work very closely with our providers, both inbound and outbound. It probably comes as no shock that communication is key. We are constantly looking at our projections moving out and looking at short-, medium- and long-term forecasts and working with our suppliers so we don’t see ourselves embarrassed. We have had one situation where we had to fly in closures (grip caps) from Thailand. But that was it.”

McLean is a believer in the Stockdale Paradox, which at its heart is “hope for the best, prepare for the worst”. It is something that a lot of companies facing COVID-19 have put at the top of their list in terms of preparing for an uncertain future.

While Bundaberg Brewed Drinks

will see itself through the pandemic, McLean thinks that the event could possibly change how some businesses work forever.

“COVID has advanced a lot of technology,” he said. “We used to use Zoom occasionally but now we run

Bundaberg Brewed Drinks’ iconic ginger beer.

14 Food&Beverage Industry News | September 2020 | www.foodmag.com.au

entire weeks on the platform. The pandemic has advanced the business from a technological perspective. It has brought customers and suppliers a lot closer because we’ve all got a common environment to start a discussion from.

“It’s been really good in terms of connecting with people. Our business very much believes in relationships.

“I haven’t been on a plane since February, but I’m speaking to my customers and other partners

MEET THE MANUFACTURER

more than I ever have by Zoom or telephone, catching up on the way to work, or on the way home from work. I’m also talking to my employees more than I ever have.”

McLean said it is important to be flexible and adaptive and adoptive.

Bundaberg has done everything the government has asked of it. Most of its teams are now back in the offices, with the exception of those in Brisbane who are working from home for a few weeks to see if a COVID-19 hotspot comes under control. McLean said the company still runs its town hall meetings via Zoom.

“What is really good about that is usually they get to meet all the people from around the country once a year. Now once a month we get to see everybody on Zoom,” he said.

Even though the pandemic is the hot topic of the moment, McLean and his team still have their eyes on expanding the business into new territories, while consolidating the

“Most of the instrumentation, plant and sensors for its bottling operation comes from Germany, France and Italy, while the heavy machinery for its brewery is fabricated here in Australia." market share it has domestically and internationally.

“We’re the number one ginger beer in New Zealand; we’re number one in California, and hovering between number one and two in the US,” he said. “We export about 50 per cent of our product every year.

We send a lot of product overseas but we are not trying to go into every single country. We are trying to grow the countries we are in. We have a great presence in the US, and we have a growing presence in both China and South Korea. It’s the same in Germany, the Netherlands, the UK and Romania.”

Along with sourcing most of its ingredients from Australia,

Bundaberg Brewed Drinks acquires almost all of its packaging requirements from local sources. The only item it needs to import are the closures, which come from Thailand.

Even then, it is out of necessity as the last closure manufacturer in Australia closed its doors just over a decade ago.

What about the future of the company? If it grows its market share in some of its current locations – especially China – might it be a case of having to build a brewery there? And if so, will it still be able to be a family-run enterprise?

McLean doubts the former will ever happen, while the latter is already being planned.

“China is a rapidly growing market,” he said. “However, there is a certain thing about brand Australia – it’s a trust thing; there is a familiarity about it. Internationally it’s a brand that is strong. While we do bottle with partners in Germany and the United Kingdom, we’ll never change where we brew, every drop consumed around the world is crafted at our Bundaberg Brewery.”

And keeping it in the family?

“I have two daughters, one is at university and the other is going to join the company soon,” he said.

“Who knows what happens in the future. Bundaberg is a great town. It has been really good to our company and we support Bundaberg where we can. COVID has slowed us down a bit but it hasn’t knocked us out.

We have to make sure we build the facility and stay family owned.

We don’t want to compromise that.

We have a stewardship process in place where we can pass it on to the next generation.” F

John McLean at the company’s Bundaberg distribution centre. www.foodmag.com.au | September 2020 | Food&Beverage Industry News 15

PACKAGING

A virtual twin experience set to save time, money and environment

The 3DEXPERIENCE can give packaging designers many iterations of tricky products like ice-cream, without having to use a physical prototype.

Dassault Systèmes is excited to share its 3DEXPERIENCE platform. Why wouldn’t they be? It offers a new era in packaging design. Mike Wheeler talks to the company’s industry solutions director Walid Darghouth.

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assault Systèmes is a French company that has a solid history in the aerospace and defence industries but now serves 11 industries including consumer packaged goods and retail. Dassault Systèmes’s 3DEXPERIENCE platform is fast becoming the catalyst and enabler of today’s global transformation in sustainable packaging.

The 3DEXPERIENCE platform is a platform for knowledge, a gamechanging collaborative environment that empowers businesses and people to innovate in an entirely new way. The platform powers various Dassault Systèmes brands

across many industries. As a system of operations, it allows businesses to innovate with operational excellence from idea to modelling and simulation to market delivery and usage. For example, it empowers innovators to design and test packaging design in the virtual world, making traditional physical prototypes almost extinct.

Dassault Systèmes, Consumer Package Good & Retail (CPGR) industry solution director, Walid Darghouth, is a champion of the platform, and once you get into the nitty gritty of how it works, you can see why.

Italy-based Darghouth believes

one of the key aspects of the platform that users will notice almost immediately is its collaborative nature.

“The value of the 3DEXPERIENCE platform is about the ability to empower collaboration.

It allows everyone involved in a project – from the research lab to the factory to the consumer – to interact and work together,” he said.

“Utilising the platform as business model, you’re able to coordinate collaboration and communication between stakeholders during the packaging development and production stages. As a result, it enables businesses to improve

The 3DEXPERIENCE can save on time and money when designing packaging.

16 Food&Beverage Industry News | September 2020 | www.foodmag.com.au

their processes, apply knowledge and know-how at a faster rate and become more competitive.”

So, how does it work? Being online, the platform provides a modelbased system for better collaboration.

All teams work together on the same data model, and are able to access the right type and level of information according to their function. Project managers use the same set of data that the packaging engineers are using, which is also connected to the data used by the simulation and manufacturing teams. The platform makes it easier to manage projects and keep data consistent. Everyone has the most up-to-date information at their fingertips and can see how one change impacts another team’s work.

“It is also key to note that the research and development made can be stored and searched for across multiple sites,” said Darghouth. “For example, if I am a designer based in Europe and I want to know if a sustainable bottle cap design exists or if there was a similar project started by colleagues in the USA or Australia, before I start, I can search on the system to access the latest project data. With that I am able to collaborate with the overseas colleague on new ideas or further develop that concept and bring it to fruition and not have to start from scratch.”

Another key feature is having full visibility project development data on one platform. Apart from the obvious time savings, it will also

PACKAGING

help with legacy of knowledge and know how.

“If you don’t have a platform where you manage everything in one place; how sure are you that you are able to connect the dots between people, idea and data?” said Darghouth. “What the platform is capable of doing is to help our customers integrate everything we have all the information on one platform and ensure that ideas and development are shared across all users.”

In a world where getting products to market quickly has become crucial in the global market, turnaround times can also be a bugbear.

“What we are seeing today is pressure from the market for speed,” said Darghouth. “You have to innovate quickly. Often, when we do a physical test of a packaging design it can take up to six months and that doesn’t include the product inside.

Add that and it can take a lot longer.

“When it comes to packaging design, it’s also about primary packaging, secondary packaging and tertiary packaging. When you experience a fail in one of those steps using a physical prototyping, you are forced to start from the beginning again, further delaying your product launch. Imagine how much time you will need each time you have to do it again and again?

“The virtual twin experience enables packaging specialists to create a 3D model of the packaging design in real world settings, and cut down on physical testing by using simulation to ensure that the packaging holds up throughout its entire lifecycle and evaluate the reliability and safety of packaging designs before committing to physical prototypes. It also allows designers to study and understand any mistakes in the virtual environment – something physical testing does not allow for – as well as test different material composition to determine the best option for sustainable packaging. With the processes being done virtually on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, it also reduces the use of precious natural resources and costs, normally associated with development.”

Sustainable innovation lies at the heart of the industry and will be the primary driver of innovation across all sectors of the economy and progress. Darghouth said that

it is important to bring sustainable products out, but why not start at the beginning when a designer first starts the project. A digital platform provides end-to-end visibility of the whole process, from material selection, material specification through to distribution.

A topic Darghouth is passionate about is Artificial Intelligence (AI)/machine learning, which the 3DEXPERIENCE platform utilises.

He believes that it is the future, and the sooner manufactures get on board, the sooner they will begin to realise that the old way of doing things will become redundant.

“We have capability in this [AI] space already and industrial systems, especially in the space of Consumer Packaged Goods” he said.

“Even with packaging, it’s often a consideration of the material needed and how we can align sustainability goals and deliver designs consumers will love, and now expect, from manufacturers.”

He gives an example of a designing a beer container made out of cardboard. Because of the effervescent nature of beer, you can use machine learning and AI to predict how to best construct the material for the packaging container to withstand pressure from the carbonated drink without compromising the integrity and taste of the beer. Using a complete modelling and simulation environment designed to allow research in materials science, you can study the packaging materials

itself so you could augment the material and take into account the effect the gas would have on the final product.

“We have ready solutions for both the packaging supplier side as well as the food and beverage manufacturer. With increasing consumer demand for eco-friendly products. It’s about helping manufactures innovate and start with the idea of how are you going to improve the existing material properties and the characteristics of the design model. It allows us to rely on a flexible data-driven approach in packaging development and improve how it is designed, how the products can be transported via the various channels and what is possible for the post-consumption experience.

This is important in the approach to sustainable packaging.”

Like any platform that is a game changer, one of the aspects that needs addressing is ease of use. Talk about AI, machine learning and Cloud solutions make it seem like there is a lot going on in terms of getting the platform up and running.

Not so, said Darghouth.

“It’s easy to use. It has an interface which is intuitive where I can easily create my own collaborative space so I can share different ideas with my peers,” he said. “When I show a customer how to use it, they can immediately start playing with it and feel confident with it. On the Cloud we have dedicated applications that have been built in and is an ‘out-of-the-

box’ solution. It already has the capabilities and best practices of the industry built inside. We are always fine-tuning our solution,” Darghouth added. “Updates, adding new features by listening to our customers and understanding their needs.”

The 3DEXPERIENCE platform has local support from Dassault Australia, and it is not lost on Asia Pacific South Marketing Manager Chad Lim that even before the pandemic and the lockdowns that have occurred in various states, the size of Australia meant that the platform is ideal for companies who have a footprint in the various states.

“We have received feedback from customers saying how simple it was for them to collaborate from their own homes using the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. The virtual world knows no silos. To ensure the best outcome, there must be a strong link from ideation all the way to production. Having a digital thread throughout the design and manufacturing process is essential for today’s CPG manufacturers.”

Darghouth thinks that the 3DEXPERIENCE platform is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to packaging technology, and that Dassault Systèmes will provide companies with the advantage of bringing successful products to the market faster and with an end-toend approach to sustainability.

This supports a positive impact on consumers, the environment and to the business. F

3DEXPERIENCE is intuitive and easy to use. www.foodmag.com.au | September 2020 | Food&Beverage Industry News 17

INSTRUMENTATION

The small end of town to get quality instrumentation Food and beverage SMEs need good quality gear to make sure their plant and machinery runs smoothly. However, cost can be an issue. So, VEGA has a new product that is all quality, but comes in at an affordable price.

W

hen people think of VEGA, they look at it as the BMW of instrumentation – quality, but at a price. But VEGA can also develop Hyundai’s. We also develop ranges that are cost-effective, entry level products.”

So said John Leadbetter, senior managing director of VEGA Australia, when talking about the VEGAPOINT range of point level switches aimed at the food and beverage markets. VEGA has a reputation as a producer of highquality instrumentation, so for one of its products to have a starting price of $240 is not what some would expect, but there are several reasons for this according to Leadbetter.

“When we surveyed our customers, when they think of VEGA, they look at us as a higher end manufacturer of instrumentation,” he said. “However, we also develop ranges that are costeffective, entry level products.

“The other thing that we are mindful of is that the Asian market is developing products at 1/10th of the price of the US and European markets.

“That is why when we sat down three years ago to develop new products, we decided to aim them at the cost-conscious industry. And the food and beverage industry is cost conscious and one we didn’t have a big presence in. We needed to change that.”

Even Leadbetter’s own sales team asked him how VEGA could make a product so cheaply.

“I said, ‘go back to the year 2000, how much did you pay for a television?’,” he said. “Back then big plasmas and LEDs could be up $15,000. Today, you’d pay less than $1,000. The more we get advanced the cheaper the product becomes.

“When we look at a lot of products these days, like a mobile phone, the technologies get better and better.

The prices come down because of the competitive nature of those things. It is a natural progression. I won’t say we were tunnel visioned, but we were caught up in part of the market that we do very well in. We kept walking past other markets and wishing we had something for that. Now we have.

What it has done for us around the world, it has given our guys a new lease of life, because we now have new customers to visit.”

However, just because something is cost effective does not mean build has been compromised. Leadbetter knows that even though VEGA is aiming its products at a new market, quality is still king.

“The VEGAPOINT’s body is 316 stainless steel,” he said. “When you look at it, you see VEGA quality.

We’re not talking about something that weighs 50g, we are talking about a decent amount of weight because of the metal in there.”

One of the industries that VEGA Pricing is a key ingredient to the success of the VEGAPOINT switch.

18 Food&Beverage Industry News | September 2020 | www.foodmag.com.au

INSTRUMENTATION

VEGAPOINT switches have I/O link capability.

great, said Leadbetter, but there has been an issue outside the control of VEGA – something that is affecting most businesses.

“Feedback has been brilliant.

However, we released it in late January and early February. We sent demonstration back packs to all the sales reps around the world, which had the VEGAPOINT with batteries and all the other gear to show customers. Then, on the March 13 the world shut down, so we were fighting COVID,” he said.

Like a lot of companies, a little bit of a lateral thinking has gone a long way. Early on, when COVID-19 first hit, the VEGA team came up with the VEGAPOINT challenge, whereby the company’s sales reps around the world were challenged to upload a one-minute video on LinkedIn that showed an array of applications for the device.

“With restrictions, they were not

able to go to different sites, so a lot of it has been done on the kitchen table or bathroom or laundry or whatever,” said Leadbetter. “What this exercise highlighted was that we’ve got a little bit of sleeping giant with this product.”

As well as having FDA approval, there are also a lot of adaptors that can be fitted to the device so they can be used in a variety of applications within the food and beverage industry. Leadbetter said the VEGA team is looking forward to offering problem-solving solutions to the food and beverage industry.

“At the end of the day, we were saying to people that they were wanting to get rid of a certain problem, but they don’t want to spend $5,000 doing it,” he said.

“Now they have something that is $240, that with a little bit of self-tuning, you have got rid of any annoying issue.” F Feedback on the VEGAPOINT switch has been “brilliant”.

is targeting within food and beverage is microbreweries, an industry that has ramped up its footprint in the beverage space over the past decade.

VEGAPOINT’s key feature is to see through the viscosity and grime that can cover a switch when it is in a vat, to give process managers accurate information when it is needed, such as the level of product – something that microbreweries would know all about. Leadbetter illustrates how it works.

“I’ll use the example of honey,” said Leadbetter. “When you dip something in honey and you pull it back out there is a coating of honey on it. The way these switches work traditionally is you put it in, it switches, then you pull it out but it remains switched because the front of the switch is covered in honey residue. As far as it is concerned it is still immersed in the honey. With VEGAPOINT, we have given it a feature where you can push another button on your iPad and say, ‘that is called build-up’ and once it churns that out, your switch goes back to off again.

“In a real life situation, when you are dealing with sticky or

adhesive type products, build-up on the face of your probe is a natural occurrence. We can take away that annoying switch problem that most switch probes have.”

Another feature of these switches is that they have I/O link capability, which is important when it comes to process workers wanting to communicate with the device.

“The I/O link is giving them information constantly so their system’s re-evaluating and monitoring, everything,” said Leadbetter. “It’ll give information like, ‘ok, bin 101 looks like it has a deterioration in performance,’ or, ‘looks like we have more build up in that product than we normally have. Do we have a blend mixture problem?’

“A plant manager can access the information via their mobile phone.

They can look at the performance, change the settings without ever interrupting the cycle. I didn’t think five years ago I’d be programming something with a mobile phone.

What we have done is taken the simplistic, overcome a problem, and made it futuristic.”

Customer reaction has been www.foodmag.com.au | September 2020 | Food&Beverage Industry News 19

FOOD PROCESSING

Hygiene is key to the Bürkert range of solutions.

Bringing Industrial Ethernet direct to the field device with single-cable technology Newer technologies are helping food and beverage manufacturers meet increasing demand. Bürkert has a range of products that do just that. Food & Beverage Industry News explains.

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ustralian food and beverage industries have been recently challenged with increased demand. Existing processes have felt the pressures of the added workloads, and many are looking for new and innovative ways to upgrade their businesses into the future, without the high price tag.

Many sites are running on much older fieldbus technologies such as Device Net which has been superseded by new technologies.

The other issue is finding the level of support for Device Net set ups, as suppliers within the industry are phasing out this level of support in a movement that almost is forcing

businesses into new technology, whether they’re ready or not.

There’s no “one size, fits all” Every manufacturer is unique in their needs and requirements, and considering new automation technology can sometimes feel overwhelming. Which fieldbus do you upgrade to, if at all, or how can you introduce smart devices without having to overhaul the entire network?

What is welcoming is that we’re saying goodbye to the days of traditional, bespoke system installations. The long drawn out process of commissioning

20 Food&Beverage Industry News | September 2020 | www.foodmag.com.au

customised panels, taking 16-weeks to deliver are behind us.

Today’s age of fast connection and single-touch operation capabilities with standard networks and systems, will benefit a food and beverage plant from day one because it will offer many features including: • open network connectivity; • real time diagnostics; • expansion capabilities; • flexible process control; • automatic software updates; and • remote operating functions.

Within the food & beverage industry, the key to finding the best automation solution is a thorough analysis of each individual

part of the plant or installation.

By carrying out an in-depth analysis of the application, it can be determined if a centralised control system using non-intelligent nodes, will deliver the required performance.

Also, if the sheer size of the system means that the control has to be decentralised – using a fieldbus system working with field controls, intelligent valves and actuators.

Burkert’s range of hygienic equipment solutions for automation control When considering upgrading your systems to a fieldbus network

FOOD PROCESSING

Every manufacturer can find a unique solution to their needs.

solution, you’re embracing the now and the future.

So it doesn’t matter where you’ve come from, it’s where you’re going and who you’re on that journey with.

In the context of Industry 4.0, demand for automated processes is increasing.

So too is the demand for systems with intelligent field devices that can continuously exchange large volumes of (digital) process, device and diagnostic data with the higherlevel controller (PLC1).

The digitalisation of all production processes is leading to increased requirements with regard to digital data exchange between process valves and higher-level controllers/PLC. In conjunction with Industry 4.0, Industrial Ethernet is also becoming increasingly popular.

Reasons for this include the ability to access field devices directly from the controller level as well as hassle-free device installation supported by integrated Ethernet interfaces.

However, a field device with a fully integrated Industrial Ethernet interface is still a relatively costly option for most applications. To allow customers to exploit the advantages of industrial Ethernet even without a fully-fledged Ethernet device, Bürkert’s new combination of büS as a sub-bus system with the gateway Type ME43 for connecting control heads and fit-for-purpose devices to the

PLC using industrial Ethernet or fieldbus represents a cost-effective and solution.

Bürkert’s Type 8681 is equipped with a universal actuator adapter. This permits attachment to most hygienic process valves currently available on the market.

In combination with the gateway Type ME43, hygienic process valves can also be easily integrated in automation systems via Industrial Ethernet.

This control head is perfect for CIP applications, as we’ve experienced in Norco Dairy, who have utilised this decentralised technology in their new plant upgrade to control and manage

their processes.

Bürkert’s Type 8619 multiCELL, multi-channel and multi-fucntion transmitter/controller the ideal device for measurement and control and as well dosing processes in applications of water treatment plants (like boiler, cooling tower or reverse osmosis systems) and food and pharma plants.

Sophisticated electronics and state of the art control algorithms ensure that optimum process control is maintained at all times with minimal operator intervention and achieving highest quality.

Bürkert’s mass flow meters and controllers ever extending range offers high accuracy and repeatability

for gas dosing, fermentation and gax mixing processes.

In Type 8745, the thermal inline sensor is located directly in the main gas stream and therefore reaches very fast response times while causing a very low pressure drop. A direct-acting proportional valve as regulating unit guarantees high sensitivity.

Integrated PI controller ensures outstanding control characteristics of the MFC. Bürkert’s Type 8098 FLOWave flowmeter is based on SAW (Surface Acoustic Waves) technology and is mainly designed for applications with the highest hygienic demands.

FLOWave offers a range of integrated functions, including advantages such as flexibility, ease of cleaning, compact dimensions, lightweight design, easy installation and handling, and is compliant with numerous standards.

Optimal measurement results can be achieved with homogeneous liquids, free of air and solid particles.

Integrated viscosity compensation can be used for liquids with higher viscosity.

Australian food and beverage manufacturers supported by German engineering Bürkert has been supporting the essential industries of Australia for over 40 years. The company’s depth of knowledge for fit-forpurpose devices and networked structures is supported by local and global capabilities. F Industrial Ethernet is becoming increasing popular during processing.

www.foodmag.com.au | September 2020 | Food&Beverage Industry News 21

LUBRICANTS

Partnership is the perfect brew for Australia’s leading hop grower Maintaining a large fleet of vehicles requires great products to help companies do so. Here’s how hops grower Bushy Park Estates does it.

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ushy Park Estates, located in a scenic landscape 55 kilometres north of Hobart, is the birthplace of Australian hops. Built in 1867 by Ebenezer Shoobridge, the son of a hop grower from Kent, the farm has been supplying top-quality hops to the Australian and global brewing industries for over 150 years.

The farm is one of the three gardens where Australian hop grower,

Hop Products Australia (HPA), grows its six proprietary varieties plus a few open market varieties for brewers around the country.

With an area of over 250 hectares, the farm utilises on average 70 different vehicles, ranging from frontend loaders to tractors, trucks, cherry pickers and utility vehicles to manage its daily operations. With the farm’s busy schedule, the farm managers rely

22 Food&Beverage Industry News | September 2020 | www.foodmag.com.au

on Industrial Solutions’ Tasmanian business, WebsterBSC and Shell Lubricants, supplied by Viva Energy, to keep their vehicles and equipment in top shape.

Tom Parry, farm manager at Bushy Park Estates, said he’s very satisfied with the customer service support he receives from WebsterBSC, as well as with the performance of Shell Lubricants.

“WebsterBSC offers a brilliant customer service and Shell is known for brand quality. With Shell having such a wide range of oils for our vehicles and machinery on the farm, the partnership fulfills all of our needs. Outside of our general vehicle servicing routine, we also use a considerable amount of Shell Gadus grease in our picking machines, which we run five weeks of the year during

LUBRICANTS Industrial Solutions’ sales lead, Joshua Morrison, and Viva Energy account manager, Robert Clayton, at HPA’s Bushy Park Estates.

the harvest season,” he says.

Parry said one advantage for the farm in working with WebsterBSC is that they can receive a wide range of products from a single supplier, which adds convenience to their business.

“Working with WebsterBSC is very easy. We just call and order the oils we need and they are delivered to us on time. It’s also very convenient to be able to get a range of other products, such as the tractor oil filters and other tractor parts like sprockets, gears, and so on from a single supplier,” he said.

Joshua Morrison, the sales representative catering to the farm’s needs on behalf of WebsterBSC, says he has built a strong relationship with the farm managers at Bushy Park Estates over the last eight years, supplying a range of bearings, power transmission products and more recently, Shell Lubricants, to the site.

He said the transition to using Shell Lubricants for the farm’s ongoing vehicle and machinery maintenance and bearing re-greases was a smooth process, given Shell’s reputation as a top-quality product.

“The farm managers were looking for top-end lubrication products to enhance the performance of their vehicles and machinery. They were already familiar with Shell, as they had used Shell products previously and were quite happy with their performance,” said Morrison.

After an initial discussion, Morrison and Viva Energy’s account manager visited the site together to assess the farm’s requirements.

“After reviewing the oil and grease products and pack sizes that the farm was already using, we were able to get a good understanding of what the workshop needed. Whenever we visit a customer’s lubrication store, we always try to consolidate the number of redundant products being used.

But in the case of Bushy Park Estates, they already had the right number of lubricants in place, so there was no need for any reduction,” said Morrison.

Morrison said Shell’s highperformance Shell Rimula R4 L 15W-40 diesel engine oils, as well as Shell Tellus hydraulic fluids and Shell Spirax transmission oils are some of the key products he regularly supplies to the farm.

“We worked with Viva Energy to present HPA with a high-quality lubrication supply, usage and storage solution.”

This was an attractive proposition for the farm and workshop team, according to Morrison.

“This offer included a range of lubrication equipment, from oil pumps

"WebsterBSC offers a brilliant customer service and Shell is known for brand quality. With Shell having such a wide range of oils for our vehicles and machinery on the farm, the partnership fulfills all of our needs." to extract the oil from the drums right to the hose reels and oil guns for easy application in the servicing workshop.

It also offered colour-coded magnets for the oil drums and matched these with the colour of the lubrication equipment to help avoid any risk of cross-contamination,” he said.

Robert Clayton, Viva Energy account manager, said the colourcoding program is part of Viva Energy’s commitment to safety in lubrication storage.

“Using the colour-coded magnets and equipment makes it easy to differentiate between different lubricants being used in the workshop and reduces the risk of crosscontamination. It can also help save money and time by avoiding the risk of one lubricant getting mixed with another and going to waste.”

Clayton and Morrison continue to have a close relationship with the farm managers by offering a range of consultative post-sale services.

“The HPA team are very satisfied with the ongoing service they receive from WebsterBSC and Viva Energy.

This relationship ensures that as their business gears up during the harvest season and if they are also looking to acquire new equipment, they trust us to provide the right solutions at the right time,” said Clayton.

Post transition, the farm managers are able to easily identify the products

they require for specific vehicles or machinery using the Shell LubeMatch app. They can then place their order accordingly with WebsterBSC or ask our team any questions. Morrison also praised Viva Energy’s Technical Helpdesk for its high-quality customer service and expertise.

“If our team or our customers have any questions about Shell products or lubricants in general, we try to answer their queries to the best of our knowledge, or otherwise direct them to the Technical Helpdesk. They always respond promptly and help to educate us about different lubricant products, applications and specifications.”

Morrison believes the collaborative effort with Viva Energy to provide Bushy Park Estates with quality Shell Lubricants and a solution to improve their operations is an excellent example of WebsterBSC’s commitment to support the industry with quality products and services.

“At WebsterBSC, we are not interested in making quick sales.

We believe that a long-term view on the total cost of ownership is what benefits our customers the most and that is why we focus on providing quality products and ongoing service that meet or exceed our customers’ requirements for longevity. This view resonates with the values that we share with Viva Energy, which is what makes us a great team.” F

Hop Products Australia workshop supervisor Damian Carr, Industrial Solutions’ sales lead Joshua Morrison and Viva Energy account manager, Robert Clayton, at HPA’s Bushy Park Estates. www.foodmag.com.au | September 2020 | Food&Beverage Industry News 23

Can Save Food Packaging Design minimise food waste?

Author

Nerida Kelton MAIP, Executive Director, Australian Institute of Packaging (AIP)

The AIP offers up an array of ideas on how packaging designers can help reduce food waste.

When designing packaging make sure the on-pack and off-pack communication is reviewed before printing.

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id you know that 34 per cent (2.5 million tonnes) of all food wasted occurs in the household, followed closely by 31 per cent (2.3 million tonnes) in primary production? In economic terms, food waste in Australia has become a $20 billion problem that sees each person waste on average 298 kilograms of food a year.

While the primary function of packaging is to protect, contain, preserve and transport a product, the function of intuitive Save Food Packaging Design to minimise food waste, is only now being discussed.

As a core participant of the Fight Food Waste Cooperative Research Centre, the Australian Institute of Packaging (AIP) has been working on guidelines that will help packaging technologists to design Save Food Packaging to minimise food waste from paddock to plate. This is by using innovative and intuitive design features that can contain and protect, preserve, extend shelf life, and can be opened and resealed easily, provide consumer convenience and portion control – while also meeting global sustainable packaging targets.

The intuitive ways that packaging can save food include: • Design to contain and protect

the product from spoilage and damage from the manufacturer’s warehouse and the various stages of distribution. This design aspect needs to cover primary, secondary and tertiary applications and how it is transported to the consumer.

Considerations need to include palletisation and stabilisation, transport packaging and load utilisation, tamper evidence, shocks, vibrations, temperature, moisture, infestation, and chemical contamination.

Tip: As a part of your packaging design ensure simulation testing is undertaken to better optimise the carton design with regard to physical-chemical protection and mechanical protection.

• Design to preserve, enhance product appeal and extend shelf life. Considerations need to include improved barrier packaging and processing, retention of nutrition, skin and MAP packaging, as well as active and intelligent packaging.

Tip: Improve your use of active and intelligent packaging (temperature, O2 and CO2 sensors) to assist retailers and consumers understanding of shelf life issues with the packed product. There are “Smart label sensors” now being developed to assist the detecting of spoiled foods.

• Design to provide convenience to not waste food in handling.

24 Food&Beverage Industry News | September 2020 | www.foodmag.com.au

Considerations need to include portion control, ease of opening, re-closing, dispensing and inclusive design. Designing packaging that offers an effective resealable pack, to protect the product from spoilage after multi-use occasions (a necessary feature for flexible packaging) is just one design feature that can be effective.

Tip: Review portion control and changing the size of packs.

Understanding your consumer’s requirements and providing smaller sealed portion packs. i.e. 500gm meat packs that could be provided in dual 250gm sealed packs.

• Design to promote and communicate to consumers how to handle, store, prepare and reuse food products.

Consideration must include usage and storage instructions, date labelling – including Best Before, Use By and Good After and on-pack communication. On-pack communication can include everything from why the product is packaged a certain way to extend shelf life, resealable functionality, any intuitive design features, all the way through to preparation and leftover ideas.

Tip: Review your on-pack and off-pack communication. Provide information on pack, or using a QR code, so that consumers can access helpful information on shelf life, storage conditions and recipes for products past their Best Before coding.

Information on food safety and freshness including opening, resealing, closing and dispensing could also be communicated, in addition to ideas for using or storing leftovers.

• Design to meet 2025 National Packaging and Global Sustainable Packaging Targets.

Consideration must include a balanced approach to ensure that the packaging meets all necessary sustainable packaging guidelines

and true recyclability of the packaging in the country in which it is sold. Save Food Packaging Design needs to link to the Product Waste principle in Sustainable Packaging Design.

Tip: Increase your usage of Lifecycle Assessment Tools to better understand the role of your packaging, food production and food waste.

Industry pilots Save Food Packaging Design The AIP will be shortly rolling out the industry pilot phase of the Save Food Packaging CRC project, which will be a critical step in finalising the key criteria and guidelines needed for the industry. If you would like to be a part of the pilot project, please contact the AIP as everyone has a role to play.

Once the Save Food Packaging Guidelines are finalised, the AIP would like to see: 1. The new Save Food Packaging Guidelines used as a standard for all packaging technologists and designers.

2. More companies being recognised for their Save Food Packaging innovations through the Packaging Innovation and Design (PIDA) Awards and the international WorldStar Packaging Award program.

3. More local best practice, awardwinning Save Food Packaging innovations showcased across Australia and New Zealand.

4. Improved consumer education and engagement projects to change the narrative around packaging’s roles in minimising food waste.

I would encourage everyone to build these guidelines into new product development processes, as simple changes to design can potentially prevent unnecessary food waste in the households. F

SEPTEMBER 2020

Bundaberg Brewed Drinks’ CEO John McLean:

on the company, the town and the people

PLUS: Food & Beverage Industry Award winners announced | A new way to design packaging

FOOD & BEVERAGE INDUSTRY NEWS

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WOMEN IN INDUSTRY

From babies to bottles When Kylie Jones decided to change careers, she found a lot of cross-pollination between roles.

Food & Beverage Industry News explains.

G

oing from how to keep a baby’s nappy dry to developing new alcoholic beverages for the masses may seem a bit more than just a sea change for some, but not for Kylie Jones.

Jones has what some would call a dream role as the product development manager for liquids and packaging at spirits and beer manufacturer Diageo. Jones, who has been nominated in the Mentor of the Year category for the 2020 Women in Industry Awards, started out working for Kimberly-Clark on its Huggies brand.

After graduating from university with a Bachelor in Applied Science (Hons), Jones was the lead on the product development team for Huggies when, just over a year ago, she decided on a career change. Part of that change was

"I have amazing experts on my team who are packaging and liquid technologists who know so much. To me it is not so much about knowing all the intricacies about their technical work, it is about knowing the right questions to ask them to help support them, and to make sure they are free to do their work the best way that they can." driven by Kimberly Clark closing down its factory, the other part was Jones wanting to test herself in a new arena. But why did she choose beverages, and how hard was it getting the job?

“I asked my boss the same question as to why they offered me the job,” said Jones. “While I admit I didn’t know a lot about drinks and packaging, I did know a lot about

Captain Morgan is one of Diageo’s biggest brands.

26 Food&Beverage Industry News | September 2020 | www.foodmag.com.au

innovation and working with big brands. And that is something I am really passionate about.

“I also have leadership skills, experience with the innovation side and a technical mindset – and that is what I am really passionate about.

I think you can learn the technical stuff. I have amazing experts on my team who are packaging and liquid technologists who know so much. To

me it is not so much about knowing all the intricacies about their technical work, it is about knowing the right questions to ask them to help support them, and to make sure they are free to do their work the best way that they can.”

One of the reasons Jones targeted the food and beverage sector as her next move was because from a manufacturing perspective, Diageo does a lot of innovation with big brands. She wanted to continue to work with well-known brands, and from a manufacturing perspective, the food and beverage industry has the best chance for longevity. What does a typical day look like for Jones? Testing, making up new types of drinks, and more testing.

“My team’s job is to the commercialisation of liquid and packaging innovation,” she said.

WOMEN IN INDUSTRY

Kylie Jones at work developing new flavours for Diageo.

“There are generally other people involved in the innovation of the liquid, but we do that sometimes.

Then the marketing team will say, ‘We want the packaging to look like this’. And my team will make sure the packaging meets those parameters. We will work with suppliers to test new materials and design new bottles, or trial them on the production line. We make sure that we can run the new bottles with different designs and special labels with embellishments on them.

“We do a lot of premium readyto-serve drinks. One amazing product we launched recently was a Tanqueray Flor de Sevilla Gin which is a blood-orange gin with soda,” she said. “My team helped make sure we had a bottle that looked amazing for a liquid that looks and tastes fantastic.”

One of the biggest challenges Jones found moving from nappies to alcoholic beverages was the speed at which beverages work. The innovation process is a lot quicker and the timelines come around a lot quicker, too. When the decision is made to do a new flavour, the team has a very fast turnaround.

“We are a lot more agile here,” she said. “With Huggies, the development took a lot longer. In some respects it was a bit more technical but I felt it wasn’t at such a fast pace. Personally, there’s challenges with regard to not being familiar with some of the technical sides of the industry as much as I

was at Kimberly Clark. It’s nice when you know the technical side because you feel confident, but I have an amazing team and I trust them so I’ve learnt to work with and support them.”

Although the technical challenges are different, Jones sees herself

as a research and development professional, so it is just a matter of taking those skills from one industry to another. However, there was one side effect of her career change she didn’t see coming.

“As a scientist it is particularly challenging because I feel that part of being a scientist is that you have your area, and suddenly I don’t have an area,” she said. “I am part of a programme called Superstars of STEM, which is a governmentfunded program run by Science and Technology Australia for women.

When the program started, the first cohort had to have a PhD. In the second cohort they opened it up to women with industry experience, which is how I got in. It was quite challenging when I first started in the programme because I started at Huggies and then a month later I changed industries and I felt really lost because I didn’t have my science any more. I felt like I was in a programme for women scientists and I didn’t have my familiar science background.”

However, what Jones did learn from that was that there is value having scientists across industries.

What she brings besides a strong knowledge of textiles is also leadership and problem solving and they are traits common among all graduates everywhere, she said.

That is a really important message for industry that scientists can be valuable for companies, she said.

Overall, Jones is very happy she made the change. She loves most things about the job, especially the daily challenge of developing new products for the market.

“It’s a lot of fun. On my very first day in the job I thought ‘I can’t believe they’re paying me to do this’,” she said. “We get to play around with liquids, look at the colours and other things like that. Diageo does consumer research which is very interesting, plus my team does sensory and shelf life studies, and work with flavour houses to get ingredients. We make sure we can process new innovation on the production lines and that they’ll run without impacting line speeds and quality.

“I love seeing the projects my team and I have worked on going on to shelves or at Dan Murphy’s.

It’s amazing.” F

Jones started her career working for the Huggies brand. www.foodmag.com.au | September 2020 | Food&Beverage Industry News 27

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2020 Food & Beverage Industry Awards: And the winners are...

D ue to the COVID-19 pandemic the Food & Beverage Industry Awards event had to be delivered online, but that didn’t stop a plethora of entries coming in from all corners of Australia – and what an impressive array it was.

All judges were impressed by the standard of entries, with all categories having a lot of entries. That in itself caused issues as brands and names were culled from the various nominees list, even though they were very good products or innovations.

These criteria have been well thought out and to the consternation of organisers more than one entry was struck off due to not meeting the requirements.

That being said, every finalist was worthy of being on the nominee

list in their category, with each story on how they got to where they are being insightful, and in some cases surprising.

One common theme among this years’ entries, unsurprisingly, was the determination and ability to change with the times as the world was enveloped in a pandemic. It showed that not only is the industry chock-full of people with great ideas, but also the resilience to get on with the job when trouble strikes.

As one judge put it: “Overall, every entry was of a high nature and probably spoke to the quality of Australian manufacturers being able to be innovative. Not just with the products they are building, but the way they are presenting them in terms of marketing and branding and going that next step around

sustainability as well with packaging.

I was really impressed with the way Australian manufacturers are connecting with emerging trends and being able to be agile and develop products quickly, and even before doing so, they are conducting a lot of market and consumer research to validate and justify the path they are going down.”

On the following pages you will see the winners in each category, starting out with Start-Up of the Year and Best of the Best. All of these companies and products, and how they got where they are today, make for great stories.

All at Food & Beverage Industry News would also like to give a special thanks to premium sponsor Heat & Control, as well as Food Innovation Australia who helped organise and provide judges for the event. F

Judges:

Marisa Bidois

Fiona Fleming

CEO Restaurant Association of New Zealand

Managing Director Australian Institute of Food Science & Technology

Kevin Gilbert

Christopher Morley

President Baking Industry Association of New Zealand

Global Manager Premium Food and Beverages High Growth Export Services Australian Trade Investment Commission (Austrade)

Michael Lee Group Manager Science and Innovation Meat and Livestock Australia

Mark Dennien Acting President Baking Industry Training Australia

Meredith Epp Industry Partnership Manager Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation

Jessica Beard Export Manager Australian Made

Janos Kaldy Dairy Industry Association of Australia

2020

Winners: Start-up of the Year and Best of the Best v2 Food

Convenience Product of the Year Collagen Beauty Flavours – Nutra Organics

Executive of the Year Cassandra Spies – Twisted Healthy Treats

Export Product of the Year Coco Luxe Coconut Water – Coco Luxe Life

Foodservice Product of the Year

Rod Arenas General Manager Commercial Food Innovation Australia Limited

Lupin Flake – The Lupin Co

Innovative Technology of the Year sponsored by Heat & Control 2DBarcode – GS1

Collagen Flavours - Convenience Product of the Year

2DBarcodes were also a big winner in the awards.

Locally Sourced Product of the Year Brookie’s Slow Gin – Cape Byron Distillery

Retail Product of the Year v2 mince – v2 Food www.foodmag.com.au | September 2020 | Food&Beverage Industry News 29

2020 FOOD & BEVERAGE INDUSTRY AWARDS

Start-Up of the Year And Best of the Best v2 Foods The CSIRO has had a huge influence on v2 Foods.

S

tart-ups can be notoriously hard to get off the ground. Some might argue that v2 Foods had a head start on other companies due to the backing of Hungry Jacks’ maestro Jack Cowin, who has heavily invested in the company. Yet, that would be doing a disservice to the hard work that those on the coal face have put in getting the company up and running.

The company was borne out of Cowin seeing a gap in the market with plant-based foods. Having contacted some of the bigger brands in the US, he felt – due to reasons of price and quality – that he could do a better job by starting anew. But he needed a partner, and not just any partner. Enter the CSIRO. The CSIRO and Cowin put together Main Sequence Ventures as the holding fund, which in turn formed v2 Foods. They hired R&D hotshot Nick Hazell and asked him to

start putting plans in motion to get the company up and running.

“They asked him ‘can you make a great tasting product that behaves, cooks and looks and tastes like beef?’” said Andrew May, chief growth officer for v2 Foods. “Six months later we had 56 prototypes and a v2 Whopper that was at Hungry Jacks. That was the start but not the main thing. We wanted to offer plant-based meat into the mainstream in terms of taste, quality and prices so that it’s not just appealing to vegetarians, but any of the 50 per cent of Australians who are looking to reduce their meat intake.”

Hazell brought in a lot of experts – as either employees of v2 Foods or consultants – that had a “think big” business mindset, but also had the ability to go agile, allowing the company to work with speed, accorind to May. “We looked at going after a new flavour, rather than going and trying to mask the current flavours that comes through from protein from legumes or from plants,” he said. “You can do it by adding flavour to it, or going back to the very start with flavour science.

“Having the CSIRO attached to the company as a research aspect helped. There are over 2,500 PhD scientists on tap. Rather than us having to build entire resources, we looked into tapping into the organisations that are around us. Whether that be existing burger manufacturers from the production side of things, or CSIRO scientists looking into flavour development or meat science; we could quickly get to the experts in that field and adapt the science to go into their systems rather than try and build it from scratch.”

The company went through a $35 million Series A raise in November 2019, which helped it improve the product. That gave it the money to scale up and buy a production facility in Wodonga, which was finished in November and is going into mass scale production of the company’s v2

30 Food&Beverage Industry News | September 2020 | www.foodmag.com.au

Plant-based gyoza is just one of the many uses of v2 mince. mince.

“What we are doing is referred to as category creation,” said May. “There’s not a lot of time when you can say a new category in the food space has been created. There have been a few in the past like margarine, plant-based milks like almond and soy – you’ve see an huge uptake in that in the past 10 years in particular.

But where they are actually changing the make-up of the product and trying to get consumers across from something that already exists – an animal-based protein whether that be beef, pork or chicken – and trying to communicate that rather than just taking an animal and serving it on a plate, we are creating something from scratch “The big thing that we find is the surprise they get when they taste the product. They sit there and ask ‘how is this made from plant and how long before you can get it here?’”

The judges were impressed by the standard of the entries in the category.

“The quality of applications across the board was very good, which made the judging challenging,” said judge Mark Dennien, who is acting president of the National Baking Industry Association.

“The winner was able to put more detailed evidence behind the criteria questions so were able to get those extra points.” F

Finalists:

17 Rocks Garlicious Grown Lakanto Australia Minjums Foods Savio Healthy Innovations Seedsations

S PON S OR E D BY

Convenience Product of the Year

2020

Collagen Beauty Flavours - Nutra Organics

W

inning is nothing new for Nutra Ogranics. Last year the company won in the now defunct category of Health Food of the Food & Beverage Industry Awards for its Collagen Beauty bars.

It is a family-owned health food company that specialises in premium, organic wholefood products and doesn’t use artificial colours, flavours, synthetics or ingredients.

All of its products are also gluten free. It is also a company that does not rest on its laurels and knows that even though it has an award-winning product as part of its inventory, it has to continue to move forward in the health category.

There were several reasons why the company decided to develop the new product. They saw a lack in the market of 100 per cent natural flavoured collagen products that use clinically proven ingredients from skin, hair and nails. Nutra Organics decided that it was time to spread its wings.

However, there was another reason why the company decided to go from bars to the flavoured powder.

While the flavoured powders are new to the market, they do have provenance from one of the company’s most popular products.

“With the original Collagen beauty powder, we received a lot of feedback form people that they loved it, and they loved it in their drinks – coffee etc,” said Nutra Organics marketing manager Jemma Quinlan.

“However, they also wanted to have it just with water for when they’re on the run or at work.

“We have over 100 products and that is our number one. We launched in October last year and it has already come in at number two.

Our nutritionist took six months to develop it.”

Nutra Organics said it uses the only clinically proven collagen

available that has been shown in multiple studies to target collagen regeneration specifically within skin.

Using Verisol collagen peptides, together with the essential vitamins needed to support collagen production in wholefood form (Vitamin C, zinc and silica), the flavours are an ingestible product for targeting collagen regeneration in skin, hair and nails. They are gluten-, dairy-, and refined sugar-free.

One of the keys to its success is how it manages to keep its flavour.

While a lot of similar products rely on sugar – not just refined but brown or raw – Collagen Beauty powder goes for a sweetener that means there is less than 1gm of sugar per serve – monk fruit.

Plus, the sample sachets are 100 per cent home compostable, and will fully biodegrade within 26 weeks.

The 300g tubs are fully recyclable, made from recycled plastic and are BPA free and contain 25 serves.

They are sturdy, durable and airtight to ensure quality and keep a long shelf life of 18 months. F

Collagen Beauty Flavours builds on the company’s other range of well-known products

Finalists:

Consumers just add water to the product.

Fable Range – Fable Food Co. Jarrah Honey Drinks Products – Jas Refresh Keto Crackers, Garlic Bread – Keto Kitchen Corner Natural Beef Bone Broth Range – Australian Bone Broth Co. Upple – Savio Healthy Innovations www.foodmag.com.au | September 2020 | Food&Beverage Industry News 31

2020 FOOD & BEVERAGE INDUSTRY AWARDS

Executive of the Year Cassandra Spies - Twisted Healthy Treats

T

en years ago, Executive of the Year, Twisted Healthy Treats CEO Cassandra Spies, had her young children in tow at the local supermarket looking for a tasty treat that was not loaded up on sugar. She didn’t find much, and thus an inkling of an idea was born that has turned in to a fully-fledged business that is now exporting to different parts of the world.

Initially, the business had five company-owned stores in several Westfields’ outlets, and it was more

of a community frozen yoghurt concept. What Spies saw from having those stores is that people liked to take her product home and enjoy it in the comfort of their own home. She made a decision to move out of the retail space, which she found a hard place to make any money in, and moved the business to 100 per cent wholesale, which is where it is today.

Recently during the COVID pandemic, it managed to finalise an export deal with retail giant Costco,

Twisted Healthy Treats’ CEO Cassandra Spies.

which was just as well as another aspect of her business fell over.

“A large part of our business is in school canteens,” she said. “If you asked me five years ago ‘tell me a business that would never be impacted by global events?’ I’d have said ‘school canteens’. You don’t think anything would impact school canteens, but that business went to zero overnight.”

To be an effective leader, you need to be able to not just get people to do what you want, but also garner their respect. Two of Spies’ top lieutenants have been with her almost since the inception of the company, but she knows that is takes more than that to makes sure the company is running smoothly. Spies is also quick to point out that the success is built on a team effort.

“I would say I am very passionate and very fair,” she said. “I absolutely understand that it takes a team of people who truly believe in your vision as a CEO and founder to be able to achieve any level of greatness. There are things that me

and my team have done together that I would absolutely there was no way in the world I would have been able to achieve on my own.

“I’ve had a wonderful group of people surrounding me that were prepared to follow me into battle each and every day. As a small but emerging manufacturing business, I’m incredibly proud of the fact that we have been able to export our product to the US in April, May and June of this year and had some success in that market which is incredibly exciting.” F

Twisted Healthy Treats are exported to the US. 32 Food&Beverage Industry News | September 2020 | www.foodmag.com.au

Finalists:

Andrew May – v2food Kylie Martin – GF Oats Australia Nick Psahoulias – Beckhoff Automation Tara Lordsmith – Murray River Organics

S PON S OR E D BY

Export Product of the Year

2020

Coco Luxe coconut water - Coco Luxe Life Coconut water targets a specific market.

Exporting is hard work according to Jodie Evins.

O

ne of the reasons Jodie Evins got into the coconut water market was because like a lot of people who want to make a mark in the FCMG arena, she saw an opportunity. Before Coco Luxe coconut water came into existence, there were no local brands that were mixing both the supplement market and coconut water market together.

Evins decided to fix that and Coco Luxe coconut water was born – and she targeted a specific market.

“We designed it with three things in mind – functionality, flavour and feed,” she said. “With the feed part referring to Instagram. It was designed as good as on the shelf and in your fridge as it in a Gucci handbag. And it is never out of place, and we design it with those consumers in mind, which is the shareable, fashion-forward at-home fridge merchandiser.”

Evins was the CEO of another coconut water company briefly for about two years. She looked at the operating side and felt the company was ignoring a huge growing change, which was adding supplements to the water.

“Whatever you are doing, people want more in it for the same amount of money and it’s got to do more for them,” said Evins. “I wanted to tackle the functionality component which is not easy because there’s a lot of rules and regulations with what you can put around with juices.”

That did not stop Evins from moving forward, and once the local market had been satiated, it was time to look further afield, and thus the export market was targeted. It didn’t take long for Evins to get interest for overseas distributors.

“We launched in China where I went to an expo and got a distributor on day one and thought ‘what just happened?’ It was quite surprising,” she said. “We’ve got a really cool distributor over there, and we are in 400 stores in Shanghai within four

months. We were on Taobao and the Little Red Book websites.”

Coco Luxe Life was also looking to push the product the product into the US, only for COVID-19 to have an impact. Evins said it has not been easy, but the wait has been worth it, with the result being her coconut water is in almost 400 stores the US. “We were supposed to launch in March this year, in protein stores and it got pushed back because of COVID,” said Evins. “We only just launched three weeks ago in some of the larger retailers. We are in about 80 independent stores in Florida, 62 in New York, and 240 Texas.”

This was not lost on one of the judges Chris Morley from AusTrade.

He was very impressed with all the entries, but especially so when it comes to the exporting aspect.

“Exporting is hard work on its own. When you go to the consumer level and you’re thinking about getting your product on shelf and in the consumer’s hand, and getting that repeat purchase, they are phenomenally difficult at times, and the way the nominated companies have connected with consumers, speaks volumes of how they do business,” he said.

“That criteria was done particularly well. Consumers are really concerned about what they are putting into their body, and the way that these nominees connected with that issue, and provide a solutions, was brilliant. Hats off to them.” F

Finalists:

Choc Love Bites – Slim Secrets Protein Powder – Steggall Nutrition Ready to Drink Milk Tea Range – NineCha Aust PL

www.foodmag.com.au | September 2020 | Food&Beverage Industry News 33

2020 FOOD & BEVERAGE INDUSTRY AWARDS

Foodservice Product of the year Lupin flake - The Lupin Co Lupin is an ingredient that has a myriad of uses.

C

hefs and other foodservice consumers are always looking for the next big thing, but in the case of lupin, it has been around in many forms in Australia for well over a century.

It came from the Mediterranean and was mainly used to stabilise the soil in Western Australia that had been decimated by land clearing.

Farmers had been motivated by the state government to clear the land and grow wheat but the westerly winds off the Indian Ocean caused dust storms galore.

However, it wasn’t until Western Australian scientist Dr John Gladstones highlighted some of the more nuanced attributes of the crop in the 1960s that people turned their eyes towards

it as a possible source of protein.

And it’s only been in the past 20 years that companies have started commercialising it.

One such company, aptly named the Lupin Co, has been a champion of the product for the past two decades, and its Lupin flake took out the Foodservice Product of the Year.

Company founder and managing director, David Fienberg, is very animated when talking about his favourite protein.

“Back when we first started the plant-based protein movement didn’t have the momentum that it has at the moment,” he said. “Then diabetes and obesity really became a massive issue and with lupin only have four per cent carbohydrate, so it was a standout when

34 Food&Beverage Industry News | September 2020 | www.foodmag.com.au

you combined it with high protein and dietary fibre.

“We then started to look at what else it could offer and found that the amino acid profile was unique and balanced. We decided we needed to take it to a global market and put it against our peers.”

Fienberg acknowledges that it has been hard to get it into the foodservice industry. Even though people know about high protein, low carbohydrate, and lupin’s gluten-free status, it hasn’t been until recently, and some innovative chefs starting looking into lupin-based products, that it started getting traction. Even so, although it is becoming more mainstream there is it still has a long way to go, according to Fienberg.

“People understand the whole thing about high protein, low carbohydrate, but they don’t understand that lupin brings a lot of that in one package,” he said. “They don’t have to look any further than using lupin as a basis for food rather than go and supplement it with other ingredients to make really delicious food.

“The thing about lupin is that it doesn’t have that characteristic flavour like a lot of other ingredients. For all Lupin is gluten-free and is only four per cent carbohydrate.

intents and purposes it is neutral in flavour. However, it carries flavour well, which is another positive for chefs. If they want something they can add their own special flavouring and finishes to, and they don’t want something overpowering then lupin is a good start.”

The lupin flake is small and flat and hydrates in three minutes. It is as versatile as is the and can be used in a myriad of dishes – from toppings and crumbs, through to baked goods.

Because the flake collapses quickly, it is hydrated quickly and can be used accordingly.

“When you look at the UN sustainable development goals, lupin brings a whole lot of stuff to the table,” said Fienberg. “It reduces chemical use on farms, it dramatically improves soil health. It reduces the pressure on the planet like no other plant.”

Finalists:

Limited Edition Range Quandong Extract – The Australian Superfood Co. v2food – v2food

S PON S OR E D BY

Innovative Technology of the Year 2DBarcode - GS1 Australia

2020

Sponsored by Heat & Control

The 2DBarcode will allow more information to be put on products.

T

raceability has always been an issue in the food and beverage industry. No one knows for sure why the number of people with allergens is increasing – whether it is because there are just more people around, the way produce is now grown, or some other factor – but whatever the reason, consumers want more information. And while the amount of information needed has increased, the size of food and beverage products has almost remained the same. In some cases, companies are reducing packaging to individual sizes, so there is even less room.

Enter the 2DBarcode from not-for-profit organisation GS1. Apart from the amounts of data embedded in them, the smaller 2D barcodes present manufacturers with extra valuable on-pack real estate. This can be used to include greater branding, product and regulatory information.

“One of the major challenges to achieving increased food safety in retail is the sheer volume of data

in the supply chain, received from multiple sources and in disparate formats,” said Andrew Steele, account director retail at GS1 Australia. “To date, the retail sector at large has not had the necessary tools to address this challenge in the context of today’s market conditions and operational realities.

“The 2DBarcode is addressing this challenge for the retail environment as it enables multiple data elements to be available at point-of-sale. This includes product batch/lot number, serial number, best before date, use-by date, pack date, weight and price. Much more than the traditional 1D linear barcodes that are being used today.”

The barcode also changes the game when it comes to recalls.

Before the introduction of the codes all associated products had to be removed from the supply chain and disposed of, even if they weren’t affected. The result was unaffected products were removed from sale, which is a

high cost for manufacturers. The ability to pinpoint specific batches within the supply chain also allows manufacturers to trace products back through the production line, making it easier to identify the source of contamination.

Product packaging often contains multiple barcodes and symbols that are intended to meet the need for more data and that serve varied purposes. Unfortunately, they cause consumer and supply chain confusion and don’t always communicate with each other.

“2DBarcodes can help solve many of today’s retail business problems in the areas of meat, seafood, deli, dairy and bakery as well as packaged fruit and vegetables because one small barcode can reveal a wealth of information that just can’t be squeezed onto a traditional linear barcode,” said Maria Palazzolo, CEO of GS1 Australia said.

Some big names in retail are already getting onboard, including Woolworths who went live in mid

August, with the national rollout of GS1 DataMatrix 2DBarcodes on selected meat products.

“The (2DBarcode) trial was a complete success and demonstrates that 2DBarcodes have immense potential. We’re excited to see how they can improve food safety across the entire Woolworths network,” said Richard Plunkett, Woolworths’ general manager of business enablement said.

In the near future, consumers will access the information contained within 2DBarcodes on their smartphones. F

Finalists:

LinX tubular Linear Motor – ANCA Motion PolarDry – Spraying Systems Co. Special Vacuum Head – SMC Corporation VentX Stretch Film Slitter – Omni Group

www.foodmag.com.au | September 2020 | Food&Beverage Industry News 35

2020 FOOD & BEVERAGE INDUSTRY AWARDS

Locally Sourced Product Brookie's Slow Gin - Cape Byron Distillery

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family-run business run out of Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Cape Byron Distillery is always looking for and developing new products. One of its niches is using indigenous fruits, which is what Brookie’s Slow Gin does. Director and co-founder of the distillery, Eddie Brook, knew from an early age about the Davidson Plum, the main ingredient of its award-winning entry. Deciding that its slow gin could do without the sloe berry, Brook and chief distiller, Jim McEwan, decided to use the Davidson Plum, which has proven to be popular with not just critics, but the public, too.

A mixture of 25 native botanicals go into making the gin, but it is the

aforementioned Davidson Plum that gives it the edge of similar fare.

“I used to do a lot of work with different English ways of doing things,” said Brook. “When you look at some of the characteristics of those fruits, they are similar to the Davidson Plum. I wanted to make a spirit in the same style, but also showcase what we’ve got in terms of native ingredients from the rainforest.”

Brook admits that supply can sometimes be an issue, and with the popularity of the gin taking off, the company is always looking for new supplies.

“The exciting thing is we get to purchase them all from the Northern Rivers and a little bit from Southern Brookie’s Slow Gin is distilled in the Northern Rivers region of NSW.

Queensland,” he said. “We can pick up another four or five tonnes from there. However, the issue in the future might be supply.”

It takes a bit of patience with the plum trees themselves when they are first planted, as they don’t start producing fruit for a few years.

“A Davidson plum tree will start producing fruit after three or four years, depending on season,” said Brook. “This season we had a huge dry season coming into it. We got a splattering of rain and some of the harshest conditions, and this has been one of the biggest crops the Northern rivers have had for Davidson plums over the past five years. Every grower coming into it was quite concerned. But it’s actually when the plants become stressed they do really well in these conditions.”

One of the reasons the gin scored highly with judges was not only its pedigree, but also how the distillery itself handles the production process.

As well as sourcing the plums themselves from local growers – and therefore reducing emissions – any

leftovers once the distilling process has finished gets sent to businesses in the area. These businesses use them as ingredients in their products, such as soap and candles. Any other leftovers are then put in a compost pile, which is used to rejuvenate the various plants in the botanicals and orchard in the farm.

Cape Byron Distillery also do whiskey and other gin products, and intend on using native ingredients on future iterations of products it comes up with. F

Finalists:

Apple Flour – Sensory Mill Cricket Protein Powder Acheta Domesticus – Edible Bug Shop Limited Edition Range – The Australian Superfood Co. Macadamia Non-Aerosol Spray Oil – Coconutts Enterprise Pty Ltd

The Davidson Plum - a key ingredient in the gin.

36 Food&Beverage Industry News | September 2020 | www.foodmag.com.au

S PON S OR E D BY

Retail Product of the Year

2020

v2 mince - v2 Food v2 mince has a lot of science behind it.

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lant-based proteins have been around for a long time.

However, it is only in the past 18 months to two years that a few companies have started ramping up production and ideas around the protein. v2 Foods is a new company that has some pretty heavy backing from the CSIRO and Hungry Jacks entrepreneur Jack Cowin.

However, getting backing is one thing – making a company a success is another. And trying to spruik a start-up that is also entering a new category is no easy task, which is one of the many reasons the company’s v2 mince is not only the Retail Product of the Year, but also gets the Best of the Best gong.

Most foods in their rawest state are easy to figure out. Meat is usually cut from the animal after it has been slaughtered, while the likes of flour and sugar are processed to become what they are.

However, when you try and make a new protein from scratch that tastes, looks and smells like another protein, there is a whole lot of science involved.

Fat from coconut gives it the mouthfeel and the juiciness. There are amino acids that make up the taste of beef and those amino acids are flavour precursors in plants – they allow the flavours to develop.

The colours come from things like beetroot or burnt caramel or burnt

sugar, and that gives the patties the brown look so they look the same as beef.

“Once you add all these things together with sunflower oil to make it juicy, people can’t imagine being in a kitchen putting all those things together and see how it got to that stage,” said v2 Food’s chief growth officer Andrew May. As well as there being science behind the mince, there is also an environmental platform that is being taken into consideration.

“We’ve got two options on this planet with the population growth,” said May. “One is to change what we eat in terms of the amount of meat, which at the current rate is not sustainable. Or the second change is the way we eat in terms of having a meat substitute that meets the criteria of the original form. We’re saying you need to find something that delivers great taste at a good price and cooks the same as meat proteins.

“If we give them something that makes them sacrifice what they love, or pay a premium, straight away you will find people who are ready

to drop out. Our goal is to remove all those barriers and have people realise they can eat this type of food once or twice a week instead of using animal mince. That will help on a world scale once we start to extend internationally.

“We are constantly trying to improve v2 in terms of health benefits. What we are trying to do is give this food the same nutritional benefits as red meat, but with the added benefit of dietary fibre and other goodies from plants.”

Judges were impressed by the nominees and the effort that has been put into the products they are producing.

“All the entries showcased their passion for the food and beverage industry with many recording strong sales in such a short time,” said judge Michael Lee, general manager science and innovation at Meat and Livestock Australia. “This demonstrated innovation both in terms of on-trend new product and marketing developments as well as agility in their business models in response to COVID-19.” F

v2 mince cooks and tastes like real meat.

Finalists:

BADASS – Badlands Brewery Our Family Table Gluten Free Range – Land of Plenty Food FREE Organic Lager – FREE Brewing Co Kombucha Yoghurt – Roar & Tonic Lakanto Monkfruit Sweetener – Lakanto Australia Simson’s Pantry High Protein Low Carb Wrap – True Foods www.foodmag.com.au | September 2020 | Food&Beverage Industry News 37

AFGC

The role of trade in keeping the world fed Exports are still a priority even though COVID-19 is having an impact on food security. Here’s why.

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he Australian Bureau of Statistics recently released data that proved that COVID-19 hasn’t destroyed our global trade, even though it has definitely complicated things due to geopolitical developments. Supply chain dependencies and priorities within countries changed and restrictions were placed on the export of critical items as countries began to navigate the spread of COVID-19 In 2020, food and beverage exports have increased 5.8 per cent, led by seven per cent yearon-year increase in food product manufacturing. The results are in – demand for safe, high-quality, Australian-produced food still remains strong in these uncertain times. This is great for our food manufacturers and growers, the essential businesses keeping the supermarket shelves stocked.

Trading in the current environment A strong international trade system is crucial to maintaining global food security. The fact is that trade stabilises food prices and supply volumes and thereby helps improve social stability, particularly in countries with higher levels of poverty, or where there are more variable agriculture production conditions. During the 2007-08 food price crisis, restrictions by countries on exports of certain commodities led to increases in world food prices and intensified the impact on food insecurity and poverty. So far, during the current COVID-19 pandemic, such crises have been averted and the trade flows have continued.

According to an ABARES study, Australia is ranked among the most food secure nations globally and as one of the top 10 countries for food affordability and availability.

It should also serve as some comfort to Australian consumers that we are not going to run out of our everyday supplies and food that we need.

Cocoa makes up part of the 11 per cent of food goods Australia imports.

About 11 per cent of the food and beverages Australians consume by value is imported. Many of these are ingredients that Australia is unlikely to produce in any quantity for the foreseeable future. Cocoa, for example, which is used in making chocolates. For Australians to continue to have a Tim Tam with their tea or coffee, the country must continue to trade and import those key ingredients.

As the pandemic continues, some grocery shortages might occur, but this isn’t a sign of a lack of food. For example, in Victoria the shortages are due to temporary disruption to

38 Food&Beverage Industry News | September 2020 | www.foodmag.com.au

logistics and operations to ensure compliance requirements set out by authorities. Australia produces enough to feed the entire population three times over – Australians do not need to panic.

Global challenges and what we should do?

What can we do to make sure Australians continue to be spoilt for choice and have access to our preferred grocery products?

We can learn. The first step is Australia must continue its efforts in strengthening global trading systems and work with international trading

partners to achieve resolutions to interruptions to global supply chains.

Special arrangements need to be secured for two-way trade under crisis conditions.

When Australians refer to business as usual and the future hopefully waiting for us post COVID-19, the country needs to remain committed to working on securing trade agreements with a focus on getting equivalent access.

In any future, a secure, rulesbased international trading system backed by reliable supply chains is a must for stability and security of food supply. F

MARKETPLACE

Deal activity slows to a trickle C orporate activity in the food and beverage industry has slowed down significantly mainly due to a loss of investor and consumer confidence following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. The rapid increase in positive tests for coronavirus in metropolitan Melbourne has negatively impacted the performance of food businesses in Victoria and has also impacted investor sentiment. The foodservice industry has been significantly impacted by the forced closure of hospitality businesses. Four transactions were reported over the two and a half months to 7 August 2020.

ASX listed Eneco Refresh announced the acquisition of JB’s Purified Drinking Water, a business that delivers water in 15-litre containers to businesses and residences.

Beston Food Group announced the sale of its dairy farms in Mount Gambier to Aurora Dairies. The dairy farms were sold for a cash consideration of $40.4 million. The

sale includes a supply agreement whereby Beston secured 100 per cent of the milk produced from the farms for a period of 10 years, with an option to extend. Beston will use the proceeds to pay down debt and fund production expansion.

ROC Partners has acquired an undisclosed shareholding in tomato grower, Flavorite Group.

Flavorite is based in the Gippsland region and is the largest hydroponic grower of tomatoes in Victoria, supplying product to the east coast of Australia. Flavorite also supplies capsicums, cucumbers and blueberries.

Buderim Ginger sold the company’s ginger and tourism business assets to the Himstedt family for a consideration of $13 million. The assets sold include the Yandina-based ginger factory, associated ginger brands and the business operations in Fiji.

The outlook for corporate activity over the next few months is uncertain. An important determinant will be the length of

the stage 4 lockdown restrictions in Melbourne and whether the number of positive coronavirus cases in other states can remain under control. Comet Line is hopeful that

in time circumstances will stabilise providing buyers and sellers will more comfort on the future and a higher level of confidence to progress acquisition discussions. F

Date

Target Name

Acquirer

Sector

29 May 20

JB’s Purified Drinking Water

Eneco Refresh

Non-alcoholic beverage

11 Jun 20

Beston Food Group – dairy farms

Aurora Dairies

Dairy

15 Jul 20

Flavorite

ROC Partners

Fresh produce

6 Aug 20

Buderim Ginger – ginger division

Himstedt family

Packaged food

Ben van der Westhuizen and David Baveystock are directors of Comet Line Consulting, an advisory business that specialises in acquisitions and divestments within the Australian food and beverage industry. For more information, visit www.cometlineconsulting.com.au.

Commodity Outlook WHEAT – Prices to remain low reflecting abundant global supply.

COARSE GRAINS – barley prices to fall because of high world production.

OILSEEDS – prices to fall, reflecting constrained global demand and high production.

SUGAR – prices to fall due to higher world production.

BEEF, VEAL AND SHEEP MEAT – cattle prices to rise as herd rebuilding reduces supply. Saleyard prices of sheep meat to remain high with drought-depleted flocks restricting supply.

DAIRY – milk prices to fall due to global production increase and demand shocks.

Source: Department of Agriculture and Water Recources (ABARES), Agricultural commodities, June 2020

www.foodmag.com.au www.foodmag.com.au| |September November 2020 2019 | Food&Beverage Industry News 39

DAIRY REPORT

Global dairy commodity update August 2020 cheese demand in Europe as well as prospects for increased exports, while acute tightness in the US cheese situation will gradually alleviate.

Oceania markets have been buoyed by sustained demand for WMP from China. But in this and other developing regions, butterfat and cheese demand are highly exposed to restricted food service demand, while buyers make hand-to-mouth commitments for ingredients.

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– will be increasingly vulnerable to the effects of recession. The ongoing impacts of “trading down” by shoppers and reduced discretionary spending will weaken overall demand and increase price sensitivity.

Global protein and fat prices will generally be driven by the risk of stock-build in SMP and butter as milk supplies expand and cheese producers try to match demand.

This risk is highly contingent on the sustainability of growth in

40 Food&Beverage Industry News | September 2020 | www.foodmag.com.au

Butter

SMP and NFDM spot values were steady through July as recovery from the COVID-19 continues.

Global butterfat prices continue to converge, as Oceania markets weakened due to poor demand. EU and US butter and cream prices were steady with improved retail butter demand.

Whole milk powder

Whey

Spot values have improved through July with NZ prices lifting through the month as GDT prices jumped, now selling at premium to EU product. Stronger Chinese demand at GDT events in July saw values jump significantly.

Whey product prices have steadied in both the EU and US after falling in June, as COVID-19 shifted production from cheese. The whey complex generally remains in oversupply with weak demand for higher concentrate products and expanding cheese output in the US. Dry whey prices weakened recently despite the improved trade volumes. F

Skim milk powder hile dairy commodity markets in major producing regions have generally weakened, specific factors continue to influence prices, creating diverging trends. Fundamentals are likely to steadily worsen in the coming months as milk supply expands faster year-on-year (YOY) and demand slows as recession takes hold.

The YOY declines in trade are getting smaller, aided by lower prices for fats and milk powders.

The coming months will likely see a continuation of major trends seen here recently – weaker cheese and butter trade due to COVID-19 exposures, alongside improved powder demand at attractive prices.

The “staggered reactivation” of food service sales is playing out. COVID-19 restrictions will continue to ease but the re-opening of foodservice outlets (seen in the US, Australia, and parts of EU) will be disrupted by “second wave” outbreaks. As was the case on the way into dealing with this pandemic, Government approaches will vary as they navigate choices between health and economic impact. This will ensure a slow and bumpy recovery in food service channels while business and tourism travel will remain limited until well into 2021.

Milk production growth in the EU and US is increasing, while domestic demand – sustained by strong grocery channel sales for cheese and butter

remain under pressure. There will be a slow recovery in foodservice trade with the dire COVID-19 situation likely to extend mobility restrictions.

Government purchases are likely to continue but at much smaller volumes and income subsidies are expected to taper in Q4, affecting household incomes.

Cheese In the US, overall cheese demand will

Milk production growth in the US and EU is increasing.

NEW PRODUCTS

Katronic KATflow 150 clamp-on ultrasonic flowmeter The KATflow 150 is designed for flexibility and performance, providing the user with a comprehensive specification and a list of configuration options. The practical modular design and the wide variety of different transducer types available ensure this instrument is suitable for everything from simple water flow measurements to energy flow monitoring and automated process control.

The KATflow non-invasive flowmeters work on the transit time ultrasonic principle. This involves sending and receiving ultrasonic pulses from a pair of sensors and examining the time difference in the signal. Katronic uses clamp-on transducers that are mounted externally on the surface of the pipe and which generate pulses that pass through the pipe wall. The flowing liquid within causes time differences in the ultrasonic signals, which are then evaluated by the flowmeter to produce an accurate flow measurement.

The key principle of the method applied is that sound waves travelling with the flow will move faster than those travelling against it. The difference in the transit time of these signals is proportional to the flow velocity of the liquid and consequently the flow rate.

Since elements such as flow profile, type of liquid and pipe material will have an effect on the measurement, the flowmeter compensates for and adapts to changes in the medium in order to provide reliable results. The instruments can be used in a variety of locations, from measurements on submarines to installations on systems destined for use in space, and on process flu ids as different as purified water in the pharmaceutical sector and toxic chemical effluent. The flowmeters will operate on various pipe materials and diameters over a range of 10mm to 6,500mm.

AMS Instrumentation & Calibration (03) 9017 8225 www.ams-ic.com.au

DAS’ NS-216 unmanaged 16-port Industrial 10/100 Base-TX Ethernet switch ICP Australia has introduced the DAS’ NS-216 unmanaged 16-port Industrial 10/100 Base-TX Ethernet switch.

The NS-216 has 16 Ethernet ports that support 10/100 Base-TX, with a 10/100M auto-negotiation feature and auto MDI/MDI-X function. It can connect 16 workstations and automatically switches the transmission speed (10 Mbps or 100 Mbps) for corresponding connections.

All Ethernet ports have memory buffers that support the store-andforward mechanism, which assures that data can be transmitted properly.

The NS-216 supports advanced network standards to optimise network performance, reduce maintenance costs, and secure network safety.

The flow control mechanism is also negotiated. There are link/data rate LEDs for each port to aid troubleshooting.

Key features: • supports operating temperatures from -25°C ~ +75°C; • full duplex IEEE 802.3x and half duplex backpressure flow control; • power input 12-48 V DC wide range redundant power inputs; • automatic MDI/MDI-X crossover for plug-and-play; and • DIN-Rail mounting, wall mounting.

ICP Electronics Australia (02) 9457 6011 www.icp-australia.com.au

www.foodmag.com.au | September 2020 | Food&Beverage Industry News 41

NEW PRODUCTS

Increasing diagnostics for roller conveyor systems With the new EP7402 EtherCAT Box from Beckhoff, the control architecture and cabling of roller conveyor systems become more efficient. With the high IP67 protection rating, this compact motor controller for BLDC motors is suited for conveyor tasks in intralogistics and assembly technology as well as in the packaging, food and beverage industries.

The EP7402 EtherCAT Box offers two outputs with integrated motion controller for the direct connection of 24 V DC conveyor roller motors or other BLDC motors (up to 3.5 A). Eight additional digital inputs/outputs enable connection of e.g. photoelectric switches and communication between the different box modules in operation without a PLC. The EP7402 takes over the complete control of a roller motor independently of the conveyor or motor manufacturer. The control of the motors is sensorless. Maximum rated current, acceleration or deceleration ramps and various other parameters can be configured, allowing optimal adaptation to different applications.

In conveyor operation the EP7402 can also be operated without a PLC and provides functions such as Zero Pressure Accumulation (ZPA), single or block discharge. Further EtherCAT devices such as digital and analog I/ Os, barcode readers or safety devices can be connected to the additional EtherCAT junction. The EtherCAT Box with IP67 protection rating measures only 174mm x 60mm x 36.5mm and can be easily mounted in standard C-channel or L-brackets on the conveyor frame. It requires no additional protective covering, which saves additional installation space. Power supply and EtherCAT communication take place via a single cable with a B23 ENP hybrid connector (28 A/45 °C current carrying capacity).

Beckhoff Australia Ph (02) 8069 2333 www.beckhoff.com.au

Winmate’s M101S 10.1-inch IP65 rugged tablet PC Winmate’s M101S 10.1-inch IP65 water and dust-proof, rugged tablet PC comes with a robust set of features designed to withstand industrial use while providing high-tech solutions that increase productivity, improve safety and reduce operational costs.

The dual camera design allows for clear images with its 8MP main camera and 2MP webcam. An optional barcode or RFID reader can be implemented into its design for additional functionality. Equipped standard with a hotswappable battery design, a high capacity battery pack is optionally available.

Two programmable function keys are located on the top right and bottom right on the rugged tablet.

The processing power comes from Intel’s Core i5-7200U Kaby Lake processor paired with genuine Intel Graphics for high performance. The tablet features an In-Plane Switching (IPS) with direct optical bonding and projective capacitive touch screen, which is outdoor viewable and offers 1920 x 1200 pixel resolution.

Weighing at just 1.25kg the M101S delivers lightweight mobility in a rugged tablet designed for use in Field Services, Vehicles, Logistics and warehouse management.

Key Features: • 10.1-inch 1920x1200 IPS LED panel with P-Cap touch; • powerful performance with Intel Core i5 Kaby Lake Processor; • IP65 water and dust proof; • optional barcode or RFID reader; • dual camera design: 8MP main camera/2MP webcam; • hot-swappable battery design/optional high-capacity battery pack; • two programmable function keys; and • with optical bonding for sunlight readability.

42 Food&Beverage Industry News | September 2020 | www.foodmag.com.au

Backplane Systems Technology (02) 9457 6400 www.backplane.com.au

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