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The purpose of this paper is to propose a nanodiamond-particle-loaded food-grade lubricating oil, a nanolubricant, that can be used over a broad range of loads in factories (low load applications like conveyor systems and high load applications like heavy machinery).

Tribological performance of the nanolubricant was studied at both load levels. A typical factory-sized conveyor belt used for beverage packaging (aluminium cans, glass and PET bottles) was employed for the low load range. Coefficients of friction and wear scars were measured and the lubricating performance was quantified. A four-ball tester was used to characterise the performance of the nanolubricant as per ASTM D2783/D4172. A comparison between the nanolubricant and baseline oils was carried out.

Results show an overall decrease in the coefficients of friction and wear scars for all packages at low pressures when the nanolubricant is used. They also show a better friction-reduction performance in the high load regimes. The results indicate that the nanolubricant is versatile in both ranges of loading.

The current protocols for lubrication in the food and drink factories involve the use of water-based detergents for the conveyor lines and industry-grade oils for the machinery. The use of a single and versatile lubricant for both ranges of loads may have a positive impact on the sustainability and environmental performance of the sector.

Beverage processing and packing factories need their mechanised conveyor systems suitably lubricated to avoid excessive friction between the containers and the load-bearing surface of the conveyors (e.g. belts or chains). Other areas of the conveying systems, such as motors, gears, rollers and bearings, also need suitable lubrication to prevent failure and lengthen their operating life. There is a myriad of lubricants and lubricating solutions for each of these areas independently, but there is no commercial lubricating fluid that could be used on both successfully.

Describes the latest robot, the IRB 340 FlexPicker, from ABB Flexible Automation that is designed for high speed picking and placing operations found in the food and beverage industry. The new gantry mounted robot is based on a triple arm configuration licensed from a Swiss company. The robot is available with a vision system developed by Cognex utilising the patented PatMax image analysis system that is able to tolerate a high degree of image degradation and is ideal for industrial applications where ambient conditions may vary. A variety of possible layouts for picking, collating and mixing products are described.

This study aims to examine how the just‐in‐time (JIT) principles can be adopted for the air travel industry with specific emphasis on the management and operations of terminal buildings in airports.

Three methods were adopted for the empirical part of this study. These included the observational walk‐through, interviews and survey questionnaires conducted in the Changi International Airport in Singapore. The evaluation for JIT application, as part of a larger study, includes the points of arrival and departure, the check‐in hall, immigration area, transit mall, gate lounges, food and beverage outlets, retail shops as well as other management initiatives that strive for continuous improvement. This paper focuses only on the check‐in hall.

Japanese businesses have been able to compete successfully in the world market in recent decades because of their total dedication to quality and productivity issues. This has been made possible in part by the guiding principles of the JIT concept which many Japanese businesses subscribed to. The JIT principles include waste elimination, pull production system, uninterrupted work flow, total quality control, top management commitment, employee involvement, long term working relationships with suppliers and continuous improvement. The JIT concept was specifically examined in this study in the context of the Changi International Airport through its planning processes and existing operations. The study was able to highlight the strengths as well as areas for potential improvements in the airport through the application of the seven JIT principles.

Beyond Japanese businesses, the JIT concept was also found to have benefited organizations in a wide range of industries including those relating to the built environment. The study covers major processes and procedures typical of the spatial management and operations of major airport terminal buildings which holds promising lessons for airport management worldwide.

The analysis shows significant potential in applying JIT principles for managing airport operations within the confines of the physical airport terminal buildings. It recommends that designers, project managers and asset managers should progress beyond the traditional “design follows functions” approach to adopt the more integrative “design follows JIT‐driven functions” approach.

The purpose of this paper is to review the most recent innovations in sensor technology for better quality in packaging. Checking for container seals, damaged product, contaminates as well as tracking product to meet government requirements.

In-depth interviews with both the exhibitors and integrators of sensors at the recent PackExpo show.

Sensor technology continues to address an ever increasing number of packaging applications including quality, safety, product tracking, correct labeling as well as counting, weighing and other more traditional applications.

Sensor technology advances with greater use of X-ray, magnetic detection and remote chemical monitoring that are addressing an ever increasing number of packaging applications including quality, safety as well as counting, weighing and other more traditional applications.

Customers will learn about the latest in X-ray, magnetic sensing and the application of vision, weighing and counting technologies for improved products as they pass through the packaging phase of production.

Statements by Lord Denning, M.R., vividly describing the impact of European Community Legislation are increasingly being used by lawyers and others to express their concern for its effect not only on our legal system but on other sectors of our society, changes which all must accept and to which they must adapt. A popular saying of the noble Lord is “The Treaty is like an incoming tide. It flows into the estuaries and up the rivers. It cannot be held back”. The impact has more recently become impressive in food law but probably less so than in commerce or industry, with scarcely any sector left unmolested. Most of the EEC Directives have been implemented by regulations made under the appropriate sections of the Food and Drugs Act, 1955 and the 1956 Act for Scotland, but regulations proposed for Materials and Articles in Contact with Food (reviewed elsewhere in this issue) will be implemented by use of Section 2 (2) of the European Communities Act, 1972, which because it applies to the whole of the United Kingdom, will not require separate regulations for England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. This is the first time that a food regulation has been made under this statute. S.2 (2) authorises any designated Minister or Department to make regulations as well as Her Majesty Orders in Council for implementing any Community obligation, enabling any right by virtue of the Treaties (of Rome) to be excercised. The authority extends to all forms of subordinate legislation—orders, rules, regulations or other instruments and cannot fail to be of considerable importance in all fields including food law.

Given the emerging nature of integrating blockchain into food traceability systems, this study aims to investigate the intention to participate in a blockchain-based Halal traceability system through a united model that consists of Halal orientation strategy, institutional theory and diffusion of innovation theory.

A sample that consists of 143 Malaysian Halal food and beverage manufacturers was drawn from Halal Malaysia Official Portal using the simple random sampling technique. The responses were collected from the key managerial personnel with experience and knowledge on the Halal supply chain using phone interviews. Subsequently, the partial least squares structural equation modelling approach was then used to analyse the theoretical model.

The manufacturers would go through a chain of the process before deciding to participate in the traceability system. Firstly, the manufacturers which practice a comprehensive Halal orientation strategy will be more perceptive towards the institutional pressures that demand them to participate in a traceability system. Secondly, in response to the pressures, the manufacturers would evaluate the technological characteristics of the system and subsequently develop their perceived desirability. Thirdly, the manufacturers with favourable perceived desirability shall decide to participate in the system.

This study advances the current literature of Halal supply chain, information systems, operations management and blockchain through an integrated model that could explain 73.19% of the variance in intention to participate.

The British countryman is a well‐known figure; his rugged, obstinate nature, unyielding and tough; his part in the development of the nation, its history, not confined to the valley meadows and pastures and uplands, but nobly played in battles and campaigns of long ago. His “better half”—a term as true of yeoman stock as of any other—is less well known. She is as important a part of country life as her spouse; in some fields, her contribution has been even greater. He may grow the food, but she is the provider of meals, dishes, specialties, the innovating genius to whom most if not all British food products, mostly with regional names and now well‐placed in the advertising armentarium of massive food manufacturers, are due. A few of them are centuries old. Nor does she lack the business acumen of her man; hens, ducks, geese, their eggs, cut flowers, the produce of the kitchen garden, she may do a brisk trade in these at the gate or back door. The recent astronomical price of potatoes brought her a handsome bonus. If the basic needs of the French national dietary are due to the genius of the chef de cuisine, much of the British diet is due to that of the countrywoman.

FlexPalletizer IRB 640 is the name of a new palletizing robot developed by ABB that meets the special needs of the consumer goods industry, and particularly those of the foodstuffs and beverage sector. A total of 1,200 palletizing cycles per hour and a handling capacity of 160kg are among the performance features that ensure fast pay‐back of the capital investment. Modern software tools not only increase productivity, but also lower the cost of operating the robot. PalletWizard, for example, allows users to create their own palletizing programs off‐line and requires no special knowledge of programming. It works in a PC environment and allows the robot to be kept in production while new work cycles, etc., are being created.

The connotations, associations, custom and usages of a name often give to it an importance that far outweighs its etymological significance. Even with personal surnames or the name of a business. A man may use his own name but not if by so doing it inflicts injury on the interests and business of another person of the same name. After a long period of indecision, it is now generally accepted that in “passing off”, there is no difference between the use of a man's own name and any other descriptive word. The Courts will only intervene, however, when a personal name has become so much identified with a well‐known business as to be necessarily deceptive when used without qualification by anyone else in the same trade; i.e., only in rare cases. In the early years, the genesis of goods and trade protection, fraud was a necessary ingredient of “passing off”, an intent to deceive, but with the merging off Equity with the Common Law, the equitable rule that interference with “property” did not require fraudulent intent was practised in the Courts. First applying to trade marks, it was extended to trade names, business signs and symbols and business generally. Now it is unnecessary to prove any intent to deceive, merely that deception was probable, or that the plaintiff had suffered actual damage. The equitable principle was not established without a struggle, however, and the case of “Singer” Sewing Machines (1877) unified the two streams of law but not before it reached the House of Lords. On the way up, judical opinions differed; in the Court of Appeal, fraud was considered necessary—the defendant had removed any conception of fraud by expressingly declaring in advertisements that his “Singer” machines were manufactured by himself—so the Court found for him, but the House of Lords considered the name “Singer” was in itself a trade mark and there was no more need to prove fraud in the case of a trade name than a trade mark; Hence, the birth of the doctrine that fraud need not be proved, but their Lordships showed some hesitation in accepting property rights for trade names. If the name used is merely descriptive of goods, there can be no cause for action, but if it connotes goods manufactured by one firm or prepared from a formula or compsitional requirements prescribed by and invented by a firm or is the produce of a region, then others have no right to use it. It is a question of fact whether the name is the one or other. The burden of proof that a name or term in common use has become associated with an individual product is a heavy one; much heavier in proving an infringement of a trade mark.

To study the advantages of a modular approach to packaging‐machine design.

Introduces the modular approach of this German company, with particular emphasis on its packaging robots and vision system. Uses a selection of food and pharmaceutical applications to illustrate the flexibility, capability and throughput of these compact packaging lines. Briefly, mentions other innovative features of the company's product range.

The company has reduced its top‐loading range of packaging machinery to just seven modules, of which a two‐ and a four‐axis robot greatly assist operational flexibility. A patented counterflow conveyor system unites products and packing boxes in a space‐saving layout. The de‐central control system reduces installation costs and assists trouble‐shooting.

Illustrates the power of robot technology in achieving a new approach to a particular type of automated machinery.