Automated Food Assembly Network and Food Manufacturing Engineering Group

• Visit our News section or subscribe to our RSS feeds( with conjuction with any RSS reader software)
• or copy our upcoming Events into your diary
• or register for free to gain access to the Proceedings from the previous meetings including Leeds meeting

• To promote world class research in the field and establish a strong UK engineering research community in this sector, including the Food Automation Centre sponsored by Yorkshire Forward
• To establish a focus for food automation research expertise and research facilities
• To maintain a comprehensive network that links academic researchers with those in the food-manufacturing and equipment providers and others with an interest in food automation
• To provide a forum that encourages collaborative research, the formulation of interdisciplinary research proposals, technology transfer and which promotes staff/student mobility between academia and industry
• To form an authoritative group of experts willing to inform Government and Research Councils on strategic trends in research directions
• To stimulate and promote high level training courses

• You are welcome to see the objectives of the Food Manufacturing Engineering Group (FMEG)
• and Member Pages
• or extend or update Links section with links to our associates

ENGINEERING SUSTAINABILITY - MINIMISING WASTE, WATER AND ENERGY USE IN FOOD MANUFACTURE - Part 2

Sustainable value chain analysis - helping the blind to see, Professor Andrew Fearne, Centre for Value Chain Research, Kent Business School, University of Kent.

To create a sustainable consumption chain, cost issues are critical and you need to look at the whole chain. However, there is more to look at than resource allocation, human interactions are important. Relationships along the chain have to move from adversarial to collaborative, the chain has to be rich in information, not fragmented and to be driven by pull from consumers rather than pushed by material flows. Understanding of customer needs is vital. A sustainable value chain needs the collaboration of different stakeholders, analysis of the chain, where is the value created, where can most gains be made? This must be communicated clearly to drive change and the whole chain reviewed to see if objectives were achieved.

Education for a sustainable future Dr Claire Barlow, Institute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge

What can engineers best gain from University? Students can be taught to think about problems and given a 'toolkit' of principles and a systems approach. Facts and numbers are important to explore problems. Biofuels have been suggested as a quick fix but is a greenwash. Sustainability will require a frugal approach to life, more emphasis on the common good and waste will be unacceptable. Economic analysis will have to be over longer periods. There are many problems requiring analysis, global versus local production is not a simple a problem, as many would like to think. Sustainability requires a systems approach. In Columbia, the Zeri Foundation remediated land with fungi to adjust the acidity of the soil, grew Caribbean pine and this increased the rainfall and water supplies, oil palms were planted and pine resin harvested, this supports 200 workers. Look at the system and see where greatest gains can be made. On energy, a student project saved a UK onion supplier £80,000 by embedding the need for savings in the consciousness of the workers and encouraging savings by allowing the workers to benefit from better social facilities. The first steps may be simple, use these to gain confidence.

Grail Robot Project Geoff Pegman, RURobots Ltd

The average food producer employs about 60 people, these staff are flexible, can cope with chaos, may have single product lines, products have short lives and the industry has orders, not contracts. Factories lack space and IT support. Grail is to provide an intrinsically safe, sensor driven robot than can recover from uncertainty. The robot will be lighter, more energy efficient and with less inertia. It will have scripts with outlines of tasks and work easier in restricted factory space. It is intended for a quick change-over and have hygienic design with fixing that will not penetrate the floor. The attention of the food industry was drawn to the EU Factories of the Future programme on sustainable manufacturing of 6million Euro.

Debate chaired by Mike Dudbridge

Many kinds of waste were identified. They included: ineffective use of labour, waste of time at changeover, waste of space in factories, leading to waste of energy and waste of cleaning water, waste of time in reworking. There is a need to get the system right first time. Who do SMEs approach for advice. Billington's saved a lot of money going to the manufacturing advisory service. To get things right, information must be captured at least on paper, but better real time by computer. There are standard interfaces eg Inova. Lean manufacturing will help competitiveness. Lean manufacturing will be included in the next meeting of FMEG on 17 November 2010.

• 
  Gain commercial and technical pointers for water cost savings
  
• 
  Learn about the latest technology and innovations that can assist food companies to be more sustainable with their water usage
  
• 
  Discuss legislation updates and best practice in water sustainability
  
• Develop contacts in both the food and water industries to further your drive to reduce costs and be sustainable

• Examine CAPEX/OPEX trade-off
  
• Understand plant operation optimisation
  
• Gain innovative process and engineering advice
  
• Learn how to reduce your water usage
  
• Discuss the potential benefits of anaerobic digestion in waste and wastewater treatment
  
• Consider drain management and how it can help you be more sustainable
  
• Hear about 'ice pigging' and how it can reduce your water consumption

Energy

Steve Barker of Siemens congratulated the Food and Beverage industry as the most receptive industry on energy use reduction. This reduction in costs, improves asset utilisation, reduces carbon footprint and increases profitability. Automation and allied techniques are important in the economical use of energy in manufacturing. The starting point is measurement and monitoring of energy and costs. A systematic approach is required and the simple measures leading to significant savings can cost little but save energy and money. For example a brewery saved £1million over 9 months. If the business does nothing, the costs escalate relentlessly, reducing competitiveness.

Water

Paul Tipper of United Utilities, the UK's largest water company, agreed that the strategy for water economy began with data gathering, so monitoring and metering, sub-meters are helpful and scrutiny of the bills. Simple measures are effective here too, button taps, trigger handles on hoses but the most important measure was to involve the staff and engage them in the activity with posters, stickers and consumption data to raise awareness. Effluent treatment can lead to product recovery, such as starch from the potato crisp process. Heinz found that the combination of two processes in canning saved 50% of the water use. An employee suggested that rather than washing beans to remove field dirt, a dry shaking process could be used. This was found to be more effective. McVities used a new wash belt system for biscuits and found this more economical on water use.

Debate

Samworths reported that metering and energy management were important items when planning new build and meters would be installed where real time software can be used to control usage better. Paul Tipper reported that the food and drink industry is the biggest user of on-site treatment and this could be of such high quality that the effluent could be returned to rivers and canals. Water companies had water efficiency teams and could assist with leakage detection. The water networks had sensors for pressure and flow meters. New measurement techniques were being developed. Economy in the food industry was important due to low margins. Marks and Spencer in Plan A champion economy. Retailers create specifications. These are passed down the food chain and other retailers are starting to follow this lead. Marel are now considering production loss of water in machine design. A success measure to avoid waste is the collection of particulates during meat processing. Drier cleaning could be more hygienic as water may spread pathogens and dry handling could be given more attention. Universities are working on process controllers, models of energy and water flow and fault prognosis. Educating the shop floor workers was important as was legislation in focusing management on these key issues.

Presentation downloads: Proceedings/FMEG Siemens meeting 23 June 2010

Optimising food manufacture for a sustainable future

Can a challenging future inspire innovation?

Sir John Beddington, the UK BIS department's chief scientific adviser, points to research indicating that by 2030 "a whole series of events come together":

• Demand for water will increase by 30%
• Demand for energy will increase by 50%
• The world's population will rise from 6bn to 8bn (33%)
• Demand for food will increase by 50%

Each problem combining to create a "perfect storm" in which the whole is bigger, and more serious, than the sum of its parts.  There are both challenges and opportunities for the food industry, increased production with less waste and minimising water and energy use.  What innovations does the industry require to meet the challenges and capitalise on the opportunities?

Technical challenges include:

• The reduction and transformation of waste and the economical use of energy and water.
• Awareness of the challenges that lie ahead in maintaining a sustainable food economy
• Defining a strong economic case for investment in new technology and automation for SMEs
• Identification of collaborative research projects in the UK and Europe for sustainable food manufacture

Objectives

• To identify inefficient use of energy and water and to prepare for a leaner, greener future
• To discuss ways of reducing waste and effluent from food manufacturing processes
• To review the business opportunities along the food chain and discuss investment strategies
• To seek research opportunities from the challenges of the 'perfect storm'

Speakers include Siemens on efficient use of energy, a water supply company (United Utilities) on the issues of water use and effluent.  Universities on education of engineers for sustainability and on sustainable value chain analysis in the food industry

Target audience: 

Senior decision-makers in food and drink manufacturers, food supply chain companies, equipment suppliers, system integrators, industry stakeholders and academics

Networking opportunities:

The programme links the industrial members of FMEG with the EPSRC Automated Food Assembly Network of University researchers from 18 Universities and with the Food Processing Faraday in promoting partnerships with food manufacturers, universities and equipment suppliers to improve efficiency and develop new ideas.  This is the seventeenth meeting of FMEG, for earlier meetings see www.afa-net.com

Venue:

Siemens, Sir William Siemens House, Princess Road, Manchester, M20 2UR 

http://www.siemens.co.uk

For Further information contact:

Jose Spring, FMEG secretariat, Tel: 0208 946 4078, Fax: 0208 946 4078,  Email: joseaspring@googlemail.com

• Only the members of the Industry Advisory Platform that have signed the Letter of Support may attend the Annual meetings of the IAP.


• A separate form must be completed for each registrant. Please make a copy if you need an additional form.


• An email message confirming your registration will be sent to you after your form is received.