< Previous20 Food & Drink International www.fdiforum.net MACHINERY AND EQUIPMENT SPOTLIGHT Shady Lane, Great Barr, Birmingham, B44 9EU England Tel: +44 (0)121 360 0155 Fax: +44 (0)121 325 1079 Our Services A dedicated rework area for a quick turnaround of sprockets, gears, pulleys, racks, etc. to your exact specifications. Custom Made Products In-house design with superb engineering and manufacturing capabilities enable us to develop your custom specification. For all your Power Transmission Solutions • Roller Chain • Gears & Sprockets • Timing Belt Drives • Clamping Elements • Inverted Tooth Chain • Inverted Tooth Sprockets • Sealmaster Bearings • Shaft Couplings • Freewheel Clutches • Torque Limiters • Overload Clutches • Sheargard Clutches Cross+Morse is a Birmingham-based manufacturer of power transmission products and solutions with over 100 years of history. The company operate in a 5000m2 fully integrated factory with a dedicated and loyal staff who have amassed a depth of technical expertise and engineering experience over their many years of continued service. Innovation is highly valued at Cross+Morse, which is why the company constantly invests in new machinery and technology as well as training programmes and apprenticeships to maintain the highest standards of quality and service it is well known for. With its in-house team of application and design engineers at your disposal Cross+Morse can provide bespoke technical solutions to your power transmission problems in the most cost-effective way. Have a specialised or ambitious requirement? Send your drawings and application details and Cross+Morse will do its upmost find the best solution possible. Its customers come from the widest range of industries and include original equipment manufacturers for packaging, conveying systems and material handling applications. It also exports its quality products all over the world, through our network of long-standing distributors or directly to the manufacturers and end users of mechanical power transmissions on every continent. Cross+Morse are certified to ISO 9001:2015 and have been for over 20 years. To find out more, visit www.crossmorse.com, email sales@crossmorse.com, or call +44 (0)121 360 0155. Cross+Morse – serving the industry for a century Power Transmission Solutions The Driving Force In Power Transmission sales@crossmorse.com www.crossmorse.com 16-20.qxp_Layout 1 25/08/2021 10:40 Page 5Food & Drink International 21 www.fdiforum.net LOADING BAYS AND DOORS © Shutterstock /Pavel L Photo and V ideo Loading bays and doors are rightly considered the first obstacle a company faces on the food and drink supply chain. Whether finished products are coming straight from the manufacturers to the warehouse, or from suppliers to the manufacturing plant itself. This is the first point at which savings in terms of time and efficiency, can realistically be made. It is perhaps unsurprising then, that despite the relative lack of excitement in loading bays and doors, that the industry is considered so important. The requirements of a company will likely always depend upon the size of the operation at hand. With larger companies often creating dedicated loading bays for trucks and lorries, while smaller-medium sized distribution centres favour the versatility of container ramps. Despite that however, there are always a number of aspects which will remain integral to all companies in the food and drink industry. One such example is tools to prevent the ingress of weather. No matter what you’re transporting, and how safely packaged it is the last thing you want in a factory or warehouse is snow, rain or other weather conditions forcing their way inside. The obvious concern here will be damaged goods and potentially The first obstacle As the first step in the supply chain, it’s important to get the loading process down, as efficiently and safely as possible. 22 Á 21-23.qxp_Layout 1 25/08/2021 10:45 Page 122 Food & Drink International www.fdiforum.net LOADING BAYS AND DOORS ruined perishable food products. But wet or icy conditions can also prove a danger for the staff working at the site. With heavy duty vehicles, heavy stock and materials handling equipment scattered around, a loading bay is perhaps one of the worst places for an employee to have a nasty trip or fall – so having as sealed an environment as possible is necessary. Traditionally companies might use dock seals and extendable shelters to cut out the inclement weather, but more advanced bays might have modular functions that mean the trailer actually comes further into the warehouse, leaving only the front half of the vehicle to become wet. Dock seals and shelters can also help protect ambient temperature loss, not only protecting cold storage facilities, but also reducing energy bills in terms of lost heat, or refrigeration. Another area which seems to prove prevalent across all business sizes is the need for some kind of buffer or protection for the building itself. Reversing vehicles can do an untold amount of damage if they manage to connect with the building itself. And no matter how skilled the driver, accidents can and will happen. Dock bumpers are a common method of mitigating this, allowing for some level of error to be made – but some companies are now looking more to alignment curbs to achieve a better result. Clearly these do not do much to prevent the vehicle from continuing to reverse into the building, but they do subtly correct and adjust the angle of the approach. Ensuring that not only does the vehicle hit the bumpers, but also can reverse quicker into the bay, saving the unloading teams more time. It’s not just arrival that presents problems for the workforce however, there have been numerous cases of vehicle drivers departing too soon, perhaps misinterpreting a signal. Or perhaps a signal to leave was given at a wrong time. In either case, the threat to the workforce as well as the products themselves can be high, particularly given that all loading bays are a few feet © Shutterstock /Kenneth William Caleno © Shutterstock /Air Images 21-23.qxp_Layout 1 25/08/2021 10:45 Page 2Food & Drink International 23 www.fdiforum.net LOADING BAYS AND DOORS off the floor at least. Given the heavy machinery and materials handling equipment that is used to remove goods from the back of a lorry, the injuries staff might receive if all of it suddenly shifts can be fatal. There are a few preventative measures which can be included here, from simple wheel locks to more complicated vehicle restraints – which can only be removed by the warehouse team, once the all-clear is given. Ultimately though, it is better communication that prevents more accidents in this manner. In terms of pure efficiency, the speed at which a door opens will likely be one of the bigger concerns. Enabling staff to access the docked vehicle as soon as possible, while also ending the process sooner so that the vehicle can depart. Roller shutters remain a popular choice here, and with recent technological advancements, the speed at which these can open and close is becoming ever increasing, with some models now opening at over thirty centimetres a second. An added benefit of a door which opens and shuts faster is also that it reduces energy lost in terms of temperature control, and as such can reduce bills. If however you’re running a temperature controlled warehouse, particularly in terms of refrigerated goods or cold storage, then the loading bay doors are going to be the biggest chink in the armour of the system. There are specialist options that can work in this regard too. Some of these doors might be made of lighter material or might include double entry systems to create a pocket of air between the two. But one way to protect your cold store area is to consider having air curtains installed by the entry points. Air curtains provide unrestricted access for transport purposes and prevent the different climates from intermixing, meaning that even as goods are unloaded, you are not compromising the internal temperature control. In typical cases these air curtains will not even have doors installed on them, just being simple openings that workers can pass through at will. But it would be a simple matter to have them installed on larger loading bays as well to cover the transport and delivery of temperature- controlled ingredients or goods. Ultimately the decision on what equipment to use will fall on the manager, which they will need to base on the company’s individual requirements. But failing to place adequate attention on your loading bays is clearly not possible. Any losses in terms of efficiency or time that is experienced at this first stage of the supply chain, will have subsequent knock-on effects all the way down the line. And for the food and drink industry, that is simply not acceptable. 21-23.qxp_Layout 1 25/08/2021 10:45 Page 324 Food & Drink International www.fdiforum.net MEAT, POULTRY AND SEAFOOD British meat, British seafood and British poultry – three products and industries that have always performed strongly. The world is changing, however, and globalisation has taken a hit from Brexit, while the UK Government has also been distracted by COVID and unable to dedicate time to unwinding the red tape. With industry groups desperately watching, the UK has done its best to keep things afloat and has even managed to flourish in some small ways. For one, the seafood industry remains a strong force in the food and drink industry, with salmon alone scoring as Britain’s highest export good – with £636 million worth of the fish sold across the globe. £500 million of which comes from Scottish waters. Brexit, however, is set to compound matters for the UK, with the seafood industry © Shutterstock /stockcreations British produce Meat, poultry and seafood are major exports of the UK and a strong part of its national identity. With that identity under fire by Brexit and politics, how is the industry faring? 24-27.qxp_Layout 1 25/08/2021 10:57 Page 1Food & Drink International 25 www.fdiforum.net MEAT, POULTRY AND SEAFOOD and fishers especially paying close attention to how the UK Government will handle negotiations and rules over who gets to fish how much in British waters. Current negotiations have failed to please anyone and may still see British waters fished by EU neighbours despite early promises. Beyond that, many farmers in the UK are worried about how trade deals will affect the meat industry, with lamb, beef and pork from the UK being shipped all around the world. Waters have begun to show less yield when it comes to seafood, however, leading to difficult political struggles such as that in China. Sustainable initiatives are being proposed by many, but unless individual fishing companies take the steps themselves, these are unlikely to go anywhere. The question becomes then, how far-sighted these companies can be. 26 Á © Shutterstock /Natalia Lisovskaya 24-27.qxp_Layout 1 25/08/2021 10:57 Page 226 Food & Drink International www.fdiforum.net MEAT, POULTRY AND SEAFOOD They already face lesser yields and tighter profits but a continued refusal to acknowledge the problem will inevitably lead to their own demise. Consumers are increasingly interested in the providence of the fish and seafood they eat and keep an eye on the sustainability of the fishing process. Now new EU legislative requirements have come into force which are also emphasising the importance of sustainable fishing – a fact post-Brexit Britain will be watching closely. In terms of export partners, the US remains the top destination for Salmon, buying almost £215 million. Closer to home however, France recorded a fifty- five per cent jump in their demand for British Salmon, importing £110 million worth. A newer market for the fish, China also showed a forty per cent increase in demand, with £65 million being exported to that part of Asia. The meat and poultry industries face their own problems, however, particularly in the UK with twenty-five per cent of UK abattoirs failing `dirty meat` checks. The knock-on reputational costs of this will be felt by both manufacturers and retailers and highlights the importance of independently vetting supplies for quality, rather than going with the cheapest solution. Farmers are now looking towards more sustainable – and hygienic – methods of rearing and keeping chickens, with many suggesting that the situation was exacerbated by the poor conditions many animals find themselves within. An infection does spread easier, after all, if the victims are cramped into enclosed spaces with little room to breathe or move. This is proving a contentious point in politics with regards to the US – speaking specifically of chlorinated chicken and bleached eggs, both of which can carry higher levels of contagion compared to UK meat, but which can be mass-produced significantly cheaper. Many manufacturers and farmers in the UK are worried what this might mean for the industry, while animal welfare groups worry it may force a return to overcrowding and cruel treatment of farmyard animals. Brexit red tape is not helping matters either. Complicated Brexit checks, legislation and rules surrounding COVID have caused a drop in trade between the UK and the EU, specifically to the tune of £2 billion in the first quarter of 2021. This is solely related to the food and drink industry and doesn’t represent drops in other sectors. The figure represents a whopping forty- seven per cent drop on exports in Q1 2020. Dominic Goudie, head of international trade at the FDF said, “The loss of £2 billion of exports to the EU is a disaster for our industry and is a very clear indication of the scale of losses that UK manufacturers face in the longer-term due to new trade barriers with the EU.” It’s not all doom and gloom for the meat industry, however. Due to loosening restrictions with regard to hygiene, exports to China are up twenty- five per cent in the first quarter, with meat such as pork being particularly attractive to the Chinese market. China is the UK’s second most profitable market, with five per cent of the UK’s exports going there. Singapore comes in third at three per cent while our top Non-EU trade partner remains the Us with eleven per cent of goods exported. All together, these three countries account for £719 million of exports Beyond China, more needs to be done to make British goods appeal to wider audiences, to the middle-east, to further flung regions and markets that have been neglected. © Shutterstock /Alexander Raths 24-27.qxp_Layout 1 25/08/2021 10:57 Page 3Food & Drink International 27 www.fdiforum.net MEAT, POULTRY AND SEAFOOD cle-ReadRecy C® BrAVOCRY taina tin the Bagdy Shrink and bility within reach e industry to be Find ou *Degree of recyclability depends om/re tin the ratory- clabilit erials a E/RIC4 r an EV uct pro s on the specific product configuration or components i ecycle-ready-bag e industry to be -certified with global ty protocols, these new are 100% compatible with 4 recycling streams and VOH barrier for enhanced otection and performance. intended for recycling fferent, so results may vary. and the scope and availability of appropriate local recycling facilities. Based on results achieved for Sealed Air deliverables. All facilities and systems are dif © Shutterstock /Bjoern W ylezich 24-27.qxp_Layout 1 25/08/2021 10:58 Page 428 Food & Drink International www.fdiforum.net DUST CONTROL © Shutterstock /Sergey Butin Done with dust Done with dust 28-31.qxp_Layout 1 25/08/2021 10:59 Page 1Food & Drink International 29 www.fdiforum.net DUST CONTROL Legislation introduced back in 2002 rationalised workplace assessment for fire and explosion hazard identification and the methods of prevention or mitigation. The Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmosphere requires that all workplaces where substances that could give rise to fire or explosion are handled or stored must be fully assessed and protected. Included among these is dust which, if not controlled and mitigated correctly, can prove fatal. The most disastrous dust explosion in the food industry occurred back in 2008 when sugar dust ignited at the Imperial Sugar Company plant in Georgia, USA. The subsequent explosion claimed the lives of fourteen people and left another thirty-eight injured. It has since become a cautionary tale for the dangers of dust. In this example, it was sugar that resulted in catastrophe, but the vast majority of dusts can explode in the right conditions; from flour, spices, starches, to powdered foods such as custard, instant coffee, dried milk and protein powders. At $4.7 billion, sports nutrition powders make up seventy per cent of the sports nutrition category in the US and there’s been similar market growth in parts of Europe and here in the UK. With more powdered products being processed than ever before, it’s critical that manufacturers are not only aware of the dangers but understand the various ways they can minimise ignition sources, reduce the presence of dust and its exposure to workers. As we’ve already touched on, dust can be hazardous to worker health, especially when exposed to skin. But it’s on the respiratory system where exposure has the most Dust and powder particles on the production line present one of the deadliest challenges for food and drink manufacturers to overcome. Fortunately, there are a myriad of solutions at hand to preserve workplace and employee health and safety. 30 Á 28-31.qxp_Layout 1 25/08/2021 10:59 Page 2Next >