My food industry travels are lifelong and therefore both broad and deep. Writings cover many topics and functions, from R&D through IoT, with a special focus on operational tech and management.

• Packaging Machinery-as-a-Service Beats the Capex Budget Blues brings news of a breakthrough for fast-moving consumer goods (FCMG) operations: Outcome-based asset acquisition based on actual vs. forecast guesstimates. Discover the IoT/blockchain solution that converts operational data into dollars in real-time, and turns Capex financial risk into recurring Opex payments. (Packaging Digest)

• Equipment Rentals are Red Hot — Here’s Why is a Q&A with Rich Frain, CEO of Frain Group, a leading source for equipment sales, leasing and rentals of packaging and processing equipment. He reveals why rentals have steadily risen for years, and especially amid the uncertainty of the post-pandemic backdrop. (Packaging Digest)
• Anatomy of a rapid EDI implementation is a story about a major petfood’s supply chain success with SaaS-based supply chain software and placed in Food Logistics and Food Engineering magazines. (Nulogy)
• How will your brands manage outsourcing in five years? is a feature on operational strategy insights from a panel well represented by veterans of food brands. (Contract Packaging magazine)
• Predictive Analytics Helping CPGs Reach Individual Consumers, written for FoodOnline, tracked leading food and CPG analytics, aided by Big Data to crack the code of targeting individual consumers. (FoodOnline)

•  Packaging World’s Food Safety Playbook is a long-form e-book in a critical area of FDA compliance. I did planning, management, editing, writing (and ghostwriting)…and wrote and edited everything from the landing/registration page, to e-marketing copy and promotions. Plus: content management. (PMMI/Packaging World)
• Pepsi bottler shares secrets of OEE, Six Sigma, and, as the story goes, said bottler improved OEE scores 21 points, added more than an hour to daily productivity and covered its automation upgrade costs in one year. (Automation World; link)

From the archives…

• Milk: Processed to death? Engineer turned dairy evangelist Warren Taylor turned to minimal processing with support from mainstream industry leaders. (Food Processing)
• Software Puts Your Plant on Fast-Forward: Software that “lets you ‘TiVo’ your process?” Johnsonville Sausage’s ERP-to-plant data connectivity tools and tricks? And more. (Food Processing)
• Chocolate, nuts and co-packing success: A profile of $6.7-billion confectionery co-packer Warrell Corp., and its leader, Pat Huffman. (Food Processing)
• FPI applications of CIM alliances: What did the IT landscape look like in the early days of “Computer Integrated Manufacturing?” This article’s a throwback for the ages, using food processing industry (FPI) examples.
• Ask me for dozens more Here are 20 or 30 more articles on food plant operations, safety, sustainability…and on and on.

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