Manufacturing

EcoFarm panel looks at supply chain challenges ( EcoFarm ) PACIFIC GROVE, Calif. — Organic farming and marketing is not getting any easier, and a panel of organic supply chain experts at EcoFarm 2020 said the causes include regulations, competition and escalating consumer expectations. The Jan. 24 panel, moderated by Thomas Nelson, regional director with Kitchen Table Advisors, Guinda, Calif., featured two organic suppliers, a wholesale distributor and a retailer. Panelists said there are several challenges for their businesses. Qiana Cameron, buyer with Veritable Vegetable, San Francisco, said Department of Transportation hours-of-service regulations for truck drivers, amplified by electronic logging...

California Giant collaborates on sustainability ( File photo ) California Giant Berry Farms, Watsonville, was busy in 2019 with sustainability programs, but the origin of those efforts came many years ago, according to the company. California Giant partnered with Measure to Improve in January 2019 to advance its agenda to become a True Zero Waste Certified company, according to a news release. The company eliminated wax in corrugated packaging in 2009 to enable the berry trays to be recyclable, and later cut the amount of paper used in strawberry trays by 12% and paper for pallet stability tie sheets by...

Do or die - Nissan takes the axe to the house Ghosn built YOKOHAMA, Japan (Reuters) - Nissan (7201.T) is planning aggressive cost cuts to deal with an unexpected slump in sales as the expansionist strategy it inherited from fugitive former Chairman Carlos Ghosn flounders, four people familiar with the plans said. FILE PHOTO: Nissan's Ariya concept car is displayed during the Tokyo Motor Show, in Tokyo, Japan October 23, 2019. REUTERS/Edgar Su/File Photo Japan’s second biggest carmaker is set to eliminate at least 4,300 white-collar jobs and shut two manufacturing sites as part of broader plans to add at...

Athenahealth’s take on HIMSS20 trends: primary care disruption, AI and competitive data access The executive director of research at the cloud IT giant describes what CIOs and other healthcare leaders should be looking for at the global conference in March. By Bill Siwicki Jessica Sweeney Platt, executive director of research at athenahealth, has quite a lot to think about in her role there. She has to stay on top of all of the fast-changing trends across healthcare, and dig deep into all sorts of clinical and administrative details to help guide the company’s strategy. Healthcare IT News asked Platt for some perspective...

Food Manufacturers Top Two Improvement Priorities Operational improvements that impact food manufacturers the most continue to focus on automation and robotics. Automation and Robotics are Top Two Operational Improvements for Food Manufacturers According to “2019 Trends and Advances in Food Packaging and Processing,” when looking at developments in operational improvement data over the last two years, automation installations retained the leading position, with more than half of food manufacturers using automation to fill gaps in worker availability. Robotics rose to the second position on the list with 2 in 5 food companies deploying robotics currently, compared to 1 in 5 companies two...