Food Manufacturing

Etiquette and the art of innovative manufacturing...

Lucky girl that I am, I found myself recently at an awards dinner at a very fashionable restaurant in London, chatting with some of the captains of industry over fine wines and gourmet food. It's funny how, at the least likely moments, the strangest things can occur to you. And so it was that, as everyone was ripping open their bread rolls with their bare hands, showering crumbs over the table, I wondered why it is that etiquette dismisses use of a knife as thoroughly bad form.

12th June 2008

Learn about the latest in Profibus, Profinet and Profisafe

The Profibus & Profinet UK User Conference 2008 will present a comprehensive, multi-stream educational programme that will lead users through Profibus and Profinet from the basic technology through to its use in real-world industrial and process applications. Covering the latest developments in Profibus, Profinet and Profisafe technology for factory and process automation, the aim of the conference is to assist companies making the transition from conventional to fieldbus systems as easy (and jargon-free) as possible.

26th May 2008

HBM Academy offers free Information Days

The HBM Academy will be providing free Information days in Warwickshire during June 2008. Participants can benefit from technical training from the Academy Team, plus there are opportunities to attend chargeable workshops where practical experience can be gained with HBM's products.

7th May 2008

Praxis condition monitoring to be shown at MAINTEC

The Praxis partnership between FAG Industrial Services (F'IS) and Corus Northern Engineering Services (CNES) is continuing to add value and prevent costly production downtime in many sectors of UK industry. The partnership provides plant engineers and maintenance managers with a comprehensive condition monitoring offering that includes hardware, software and services for vibration monitoring, acoustic emission monitoring, oil analysis, thermographic imaging, training and consultancy.

14th April 2008

Measuring the environmental costs of going green...

As I write, the cost of crude oil has just hit $1.14 a barrel. And there's no sign of the price coming back down any time soon. The pundits are predicting a price peak of around $1.50 through the year, and are warning to expect a minimum hovering price of $1.50. Driving up to friends at the weekend, I was struggling to find petrol prices below £1.10 per litre, and those in the know seem to think that we could well be paying £2.00 or more by the end of the year. That's a pretty frightening prospect. So perhaps it's finally time to do the environmentally responsible thing and switch over to a hybrid vehicle. At the very least, I'd be able to get in and out of London without contributing to either the planet's greenhouse gases or the Mayor's coffers.

3rd April 2008

3M tapes now available through Anixter Components

Anixter Components has been appointed as a UK distributor for 3M's range of adhesive tapes and has added 3M's filament, masking, waterproof cloth (duct), double-coated, double-coated foam, and transfer tapes to its existing adhesive lines in the 2008/09 catalogue. OEMs in manufacturing industries, from food and beverage to electronics, can now benefit from a wider choice of adhesives.

27th March 2008

Stainless steel products to be shown at Foodex/Meatex

Sugatsune's range of 304 and 316 stainless steel hardware products is featuring in the company's presentation on stand U335 at the Foodex/Meatex exhibition that is taking place at the NEC, Birmingham from 6-9 April 2008.

14th March 2008

Increasing demand for packaging machinery equipment

IMS Research forecasts that EMEA sales of packaging machinery equipment will increase to EUR13billion by 2012. Beverage packaging is expected to grow the fastest.

11th March 2008

Fastening exhibition includes Vampire jet dragster seminar

The Fastening & Assembly Solutions Exhibition will take place at the RAF Museum Cosford, near Wolverhampton, on 29 April 2009 and provides UK manufacturing professionals with an abundance of opportunities for immediate cost reductions and design improvements.

27th February 2008

Balancing real analysis with the urge to tinker...

If there is one thing more frightening than an industry that appears to have no idea what it's doing, then it's an industry that appears have no idea what it's doing but where no one gets paid unless they actually do something. I'm talking, of course, about dentistry, and if you detect a touch of bitterness here then it's because I'm giving you all this from recent first hand experience. Certainly there is nothing funny about dentistry, which makes you wonder how the BBC 'comedy' series My Family has run for so many years, because the only thing that could be deemed even vaguely amusing in that is the dentistry.

2nd February 2008

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