I recently toured our 2022 Plant of the Year in preparation for next month’s announcement and cover story reveal of our winner. While there, I had our July cover story in my head and filtered everything I saw through this question: “What is the state of food manufacturing today?”

Designed for food processors seeking a safer, more energy-efficient means to convey product with less spillage, breakage or downtime due to necessary cleaning and maintenance, the company offers 8" diameter tubular drag conveyors that provide these advantages with essentially double the volumes of 6" units. 

Designed for the company’s Iso-Flo vibratory conveyors, this auto diverter is suitable for bulk product and packaging distribution lines.

In January 2020, I started as the Editor-in-Chief of FOOD ENGINEERING’s sister publication, Refrigerated & Frozen Foods. At the time, I was looking forward to touring cold foods processing plants and learning about the industry firsthand, which in turn, would make our editorial content stronger, because I’d be writing from experience rather than second-hand information delivered via email and phone calls.

This month’s Dry Processing Products cover conveying and other equipment in the dry processing space.

Nol-Tec, bulk material handling equipment and systems provider, and Appcon, provider of powder process and conveying equipment and solutions for the bulk powder processing industry, have formed a strategic partnership to provide a larger selection of bulk material handling equipment and services to food and beverage clients. 

The company’s Changeover Champion vacuum conveyor piFLOWp SMART is a self-optimizing vacuum conveyor targeted primarily at industries handling many different materials and/or those in which frequent changes need to be made. 

Track rollers, which are also referred to as idler rollers, are motion transmission components designed to work with all varieties of tracks.

THERMOLuxme is a tubular chain conveyor with the addition of jacketed pipes containing cooling fluid to convey and cool material from 500°F to 110°F and can save food producers money by eliminating the cost and floor space required for a separate cooling stage.

At a glance, it might seem that most conveyors are doing their job as long as they shuttle items from one point to another. However, a number of other elements must be present for a conveyor to be efficient and productive in a food-processing environment, like hygienic design, cleanability, versatility, updated technology and more.