Processing Equipment & Systems, Automation, Control

Production

Proseal launches new ‘revolutionary tray positioning system’

22-Jul-2020 By Anthony Myers

Tray sealing specialist Proseal claims to have launched a revolutionary tray positioning system that calculates the required tray-spacing set-up parameters for individual tray sealing tool-sets, eliminating the trial and error usually associated with...

Cyber attacks are even more critical in the ‘new normal’ of remote workforces

26-Mar-2020 By Jenny Eagle

IT and operational technology (OT) cybersecurity is even more critical in the ‘new normal’ of remote workforces, which create an additional burden on chief information security officers to remotely secure their production environments, according to Claroty...

Cocoa

The Sweet Consultant helps Colombian chocolate producer Luker on its global expansion

24-Mar-2020 By Jenny Eagle

Confectionery expert Andy Baxendale, aka The Sweet Consultant, has partnered with Colombian chocolate producer Luker to expand the supply of its products into the UK.

Sustainability

Cargill & Imaflora to support cocoa producers by restoring degraded farmland

23-Mar-2020 By Jenny Eagle

Cargill and Imaflora not-for-profit organisation have launched two projects supporting cocoa producers in Pará, to increase their productivity through environmental conservation and good agricultural practices.

Union Process partners with Chocolate Creations on its chocolate grinding attritor

23-Mar-2020 By Jenny Eagle

Union Process has partnered with Chocolate Creations, in Ohio, to install a Q2 series grinding attritor to produce large quantities of bean-to-bar chocolate.

The Academy of Chocolate to honor rising stars of the craft & sustainability of fine chocolate

13-Mar-2020 By Jenny Eagle

More than 100 producers from almost 60 countries have entered The Academy of Chocolate Awards, marking the continued growth of chocolate producers from across the world, including Bali, Estonia, Uzbekistan and Zambia.

Confiserie Bosch growth sees higher turnover of its Wibele biscuits

13-Mar-2020 By Jenny Eagle

Confiserie Bosch, which makes Germany’s Wibele, sweet biscuits from the region of Swabia, has experienced rapid growth in recent years and has turned to Ishida to increase turnover, delivering a 30-fold increase.

Beyond Good expands production opening a factory in Africa

11-Mar-2020 By Jenny Eagle

Beyond Good has opened a chocolate factory in Africa to coincide with its one-year anniversary.

Nestlé expands its KitKat Senses range investing in £8k of machinery

03-Feb-2020 By Jenny Eagle

Nestlé has expanded its KitKat Senses range with a two finger biscuit in more flavors.

ProSweets/ISM 2020

ProSweets/ISM to promote less plastic, renewable raw materials, lower packing weight & recyclability

23-Jan-2020 By Jenny Eagle

Less plastic, more renewable raw materials, lower packing weight and recyclability – these are the themes to be discussed at this year’s ProSweets/ISM show.

Processing special edition

Brighter Foods set for expansion as client demand for bespoke bars grows

12-Dec-2019 By Jenny Eagle

Brighter Foods, which makes a million bars a day for clients in the slimming, sport, organic, Free From and other niche categories, has partnered with Loma Systems to install an X5C X-ray inspection machine.

Bakery innovation

Constantia Flexibles opens first plant dedicated to producing sustainable packaging

28-Nov-2019 By Jenny Eagle

Constantia Flexibles has opened Constantia Ecoflex Ahmedabad, the world’s first plant designed to produce more sustainable and recyclable flexible packaging in India, focusing on its environmentally-friendly packaging EcoLam.

Ferrero adds 225 jobs at new 730k-square-foot distribution center

22-Nov-2019 By Kristine Sherred

The Pennsylvania facility, located outside the state’s capital Harrisburg, will help the confectioner manage its growing US sales of brands like Butterfinger, Baby Ruth and Crunch.

ABB prepares for future electricity distribution with NeoGear

23-Oct-2019 By Jenny Eagle

ABB Distribution Solutions has redesigned its low-voltage switchgear to launch NeoGear across Europe in 2020, following trials in Switzerland and China.

Pladis installs spiral cooling system to enhance quality of its cakes

02-Sep-2019 By Jenny Eagle

Snacking giant Pladis has partnered with Starfrost industrial freezing and chilling equipment specialist to upgrade its spiral cooling system.

Dinant Yummies brand awarded Safe Quality Food certification

19-Aug-2019 By Jenny Eagle

Dinant snacks, which produces Zambos, Ranchitas, Taqueritos, Zibas, Del Rancho Cappy under the Yummies brand, has received the internationally-recognized SQF certification for its Safe Quality Food program.

Uncle Joe’s Mint Balls wins first major US deal

24-Jul-2019 By Jenny Eagle

Uncle Joe’s Mint Balls has secured its first major order for the US to supply $64,000 of sweets to Cost Plus World Market, which has 257 speciality/import retail outlets across America.

Mondelēz & 3P Innovation create world's first Cadbury Dairy Milk 3D printer

22-Jul-2019 By Jenny Eagle

Mondelēz International and 3P Innovation have created the world's first Cadbury Dairy Milk 3D printer.

Givaudan & Bühler to accelerate market access for food start-ups in Switzerland

17-Jul-2019 By Jenny Eagle

Givaudan and Bühler have joined forces to accelerate market access for food start-ups in Switzerland.

German processing & packaging machinery sales see lower growth rate in 2019

05-Jul-2019 By Jenny Eagle

The production of food processing and packaging machinery in Germany rose by 8% in 2018, the highest in a decade, according to VDMA (Food Processing and Packaging Machinery Association).

AIPIA Summit

Systech anti-counterfeiting & product authentication expands into Food & Beverages

03-Jul-2019 By Jenny Eagle

Systech, primarily known for its serialization, traceability, anti-counterfeiting, pharmaceutical regulations and supply chain technology, has expanded into Food & Beverages introducing its UniSecure platform at AIPIA.

Guest blog

Why traceability in food production and processing is also a profit opportunity

04-Jun-2019 By Anthony Myers

End-to-end traceability in the food supply chain can do more than safeguard against potential disasters, particularly at the processing stage. Geoff Furniss, Head of BBC Technologies at TOMRA, explains how.

Linx Printing Technologies expands in the US

17-May-2019 By Jenny Eagle

Linx Printing Technologies has appointed a number of channel partners in North America to expand support for its product portfolio.

Bosch packaging: Four growing trends in snack bar production

16-May-2019 By Jenny Eagle

Healthy snacks in the form of bars are flying off the shelves, according to Bosch Packaging.

GEA vertical bagger reduces breakage of fragile candies

08-Apr-2019 By Jenny Eagle

GEA has launched a vertical form-fill-seal packaging (VFFS) bagger that reduces breakage of fragile candies, available for the UK confectionery and bakery sectors.

Proxenta & Confitería Caibarién to produce sweets, cakes & waffles in Cuba

02-Apr-2019 By Jenny Eagle

Slovak financial group Proxenta has partnered with Confitería Caibarién to produce sweets in Cuba.

Bühler: ‘No-one can manage the task of sustainable food production on their own’

20-Mar-2019 By Jenny Eagle

Bühler has joined the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), a CEO-led organization of over 200 companies working together to accelerate the transition to a sustainable world.

South African population growth will increase consumption of snacks, confectionery, French fries

14-Mar-2019 By Jenny Eagle

tna is tapping into South Africa’s flourishing snacks and confectionery sectors hiring Matthew Walters as branch manager to head up its African operations in Johannesburg.

Swizzels Matlow speeds up reject time on its ‘Drumstick Squashies’ thanks to TOMRA

13-Mar-2019 By Jenny Eagle

Swizzels Matlow has installed a TOMRA Nimbus optical sorter to automate the sorting process of its ‘Drumstick Squashies’ to improve turnover time.

MPC sees demand grow for non-GMO, natural ingredients in snacks, confectionery & beverages

06-Mar-2019 By Jenny Eagle

Malt Products Corporation (MPC), which manufactures malted barley extract and sweeteners, has seen increasing demand for non-GMO and natural, nutritious ingredients.

Lindor develops 4-in-1 processing machine for caramelized dried fruit flakes

18-Feb-2019 By Jenny Eagle

Lindor has developed a machine for a German fruit processor, which mixes, coats, dries and roasts sweetened fruit flakes.

Haas expands in India thanks to Bühler acquisition

14-Feb-2019 By Jenny Eagle

Haas has expanded in India thanks to the Bühler acquisition last year, adding an oven manufacturing plant to its service and support facility in the country.

Take a look behind the scenes of Bühler’s CUBIC innovation campus

08-Feb-2019 By Jenny Eagle

Consumer eating habits will change in the coming decades and we will have to find new sources to provide humankind with sustenance in the future, according to Bühler.

Flavor

Guittard Chocolate expands flavor quality work in Ghana, Ivory Coast, & Indonesia

01-Feb-2019 By Jenny Eagle

Guittard Chocolate has expanded its flavor quality work in Ghana, Ivory Coast, and Indonesia, to protect and preserve the flavors of each country’s cocoa, to address the negative implications of 'incremental degradation' of cocoa flavor, as...

tna appoints CEO to grow the company to the next level

28-Jan-2019 By Jenny Eagle

tna has promoted Jonathan Rankin to CEO, having recently returned to the company as Chief Sales Officer (CSO).

Sacmi to debut Packaging & Chocolate division at ProSweets 2019

23-Jan-2019 By Jenny Eagle

Sacmi will debut its Packaging & Chocolate division for the first time at ProSweets 2019.

Enjoy Life Foods installs X-ray machines for metallized film packaging

17-Jan-2019 By Jenny Eagle

Enjoy Life Foods has partnered with Loma Systems to install four X5C X-ray machines at its baking facility in Jeffersonville, Indiana, US.

Cut To Size Plastics to distribute low-friction plastic liner for F&B

16-Jan-2019 By Jenny Eagle

Cut To Size will distribute Wefapress’s low-friction plastic liner for high-temperature applications, in Australia.

Ism/ProSweets 2019

Ammeraal Beltech to exhibit at ProSweets following Megadyne Group merger

14-Jan-2019 By Jenny Eagle

Ammeraal Beltech will exhibit at ProSweets for the first time, following its merger with Megadyne Group last year, now known as AMMEGA.

Minebea Intec AR miRemote to meet Industry 4.0 demands

07-Jan-2019 By Jenny Eagle

Minebea Intec talks about why it has launched an augmented reality (AR) tool called miRemote in response to Industry 4.0 demands.

DreiMeister chocolate spills onto street after delivery tank defect

12-Dec-2018 By Jenny Eagle

DreiMeister chocolate factory in Westoennen, Germany, called firefighters after a ‘technical defect’ in one of its delivery tanks led to chocolate spilling out onto the streets.

Processing

Bühler to create Consumer Foods segment in 2019

12-Dec-2018 By Jenny Eagle

Bühler will create a Consumer Foods segment in January 2019 combining its chocolate, nuts, bakery and coffee business with Haas, which it acquired last year.

Acquisitions

Bartek Ingredients for beverages & candies acquired by TorQuest Partners

03-Dec-2018 By Jenny Eagle

Bartek Ingredients has been acquired by TorQuest Partners, private equity firm.

Rousselot partners with Baker Perkins on tests to accelerate gelation process of gummies

14-Nov-2018 By Jenny Eagle

Rousselot has partnered with Baker Perkins on tests to accelerate the gelation process of gummies from 24 hours to 5-10 minutes.

Ibizkus Wines joins campaign to save Ibiza’s dying almond trees

31-Oct-2018 By Jenny Eagle

From Ibizkus Wines selling a limited edition almond wine, to an art auction at Sotheby’s, artist Sophie Stinglhamber is on a mission to save the dying almond trees of Ibiza.

Confectionery processing innovation

Videojet Scan2Run removes potential human errors from print jobs

18-Oct-2018 By Jenny Eagle

Videojet Technologies has introduced an optional Scan2Run functionality for its 1860 continuous inkjet (CIJ) printer, to reduce operator-induced coding errors.

Processing innovation: Pack Expo 2018

tna’s new equipment allows more snacks and confections to be seasoned

16-Oct-2018 By Douglas Yu

tna has upgraded its on-machine seasoning system to allow more types of snacks and confections to be seasoned.

Processing innovation: Pack Expo 2018

Candy production equipment companies bet on booming cannabis industry for growth

16-Oct-2018 By Douglas Yu

The cannabis industry had never been a major customer base for the candy production equipment company, Savage Bros, until three years ago when it sold10 depositors to the US edible manufacturers for about $200,000.

Processing innovation

MacIntyre Chocolate Systems launches New Generation Refiner/Conche Range

16-Oct-2018 By Jenny Eagle

MacIntyre Chocolate Systems has launched a New Generation Refiner/Conche range for more flexible and enhanced control of the refining process, with an improved design and easier maintenance.