Food processing is certainly no cheap venture. You have equipment purchase and maintenance expenses, recruitment, hiring, and training costs, employee wages, and bills to keep the facility lights on. Before you know it, your expense list can look pretty overwhelming and your mind immediately goes to worrying about how to keep your company profitable.
Fortunately, there are some key ways your facility can go through a cost-effective transformation that reduces your food manufacturing costs.
Adopting environmentally-friendly tactics and upgrading your food processing equipment can help reduce food manufacturing costs.
1. Take Advantage of Automation
The unemployment rate across the country is at a significant low point. While this is great news for our economy, it means you need to offer competitive wages to get people to come work for you. On top of that, you have to invest in retaining those employees and spend even more on recruiting, hiring, and training when employees leave for new opportunities.… Read more
Pasteurized milk or raw milk? Proponents for milk pasteurization argue that the process slows the growth of dangerous bacteria to prevent contamination and keep people safe, while those in favor of raw milk are suspicious of the pasteurization process and claim that it kills important nutrients we need.
There are many questions about pasteurization and if it’s safer than raw milk. Get answers to some of the most common milk pasteurization questions.
With so many myths and theories floating around out there, what’s actually true about milk pasteurization? Here are some frequently asked questions about the pasteurization process and milk production.
1. When Was Pasteurization Invented?
Pasteurization was invented in 1864 as the solution of a problem with wine going bad during the fermentation process. France was facing this problem until the 1800s, and no one knew why – until Louis Pasteur. He found that the reason wine was spoiling and having a nasty, sour taste was because microorganisms were converting the alcohol content into acetic acid.… Read more
As daily news continues to roll out about the trade war that began with President Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs, manufacturers have quickly found themselves between a rock and a hard place. Or, maybe more appropriately, stuck between the U.S. and the world powers where they get a majority of their steel and aluminum from.
So, what have been some of the immediate effects from the Trump administration’s economic face-off with the rest of world? And what can food and beverage manufacturers expect moving forward? Let’s take a look.
U.S. food and beverage manufacturers rely heavily on steel imports. Find out how the latest steel tariffs will impact this industry.
How the Trade War Started
Citing a need for increased national security, the Trump administration imposed 25 percent tariffs on imported steel and 10 percent tariffs on imported aluminum in March on China, Russia, India, Japan, and Turkey. The tariffs were then extended in April to the EU, Canada, and Mexico.… Read more
Natural disasters, unexpected requirement changes, limited resources, technological problems, and other events you could never see coming. All these threaten your supply chain and food processing equipment. And when you’re dealing with something has fragile as food, supply chain disruptions and mistakes can affect people’s health and safety.
So, what can plant managers do to mitigate as many supply chain risks as possible? Here are 5 ways to keep your food manufacturing on track and running smoothly.
Having reliable equipment can help make sure your food processing supply chain runs efficiently.
1. Be Strategic with Your Supplier List
Every player in the supply chain has his own job to do. When one player doesn’t show up or has a bad day, it disrupts all the other players’ and their ability to do their own jobs effectively. There can be any number of reasons why a supply delivery would be delayed, but in order to minimize those disruptions, consider your supplier list carefully.… Read more
What if you could identify a part of your equipment that needs maintenance or replacing before it actually breaks and disrupts the rest of your supply chain? Or what if you could quickly and easily collect your data, saving you hundreds of hours that could now be spent on smarter analyses and more strategic operating decisions? This is the beauty of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIot). Here’s how the IIot is changing the game for food processing and can benefit your business.
What is the IIot?
You’ve probably heard the term “IIot” and wondered what it meant. You know technologies like Amazon Echo, WiFi door locks and other “smart” home appliances are meant to make your home safer and more connected, but you may be questioning how that applies to food processing. Well, similar to these “smart home” devices, there are technologies like sensors and cloud-based software that are designed to make food production operations more connected and efficient.… Read more
