Alfa Laval just published a brand new edition of the company’s renowned Pump Handbook. The 375-page handbook is free and contains scholarly information on basic pump functionality and in-depth guidelines for sizing and selecting the right pump type for optimum efficiency. The handbook is packed with real-life examples to increase its user-friendliness.
The first edition of the Alfa Laval Pump Handbook was published 25 years ago and soon became part of the syllabus at engineering schools around the world. The book also found its way into manufacturing sites, serving as a reference work to technicians in the daily operation of fluid handling processes.
Up-to-date on pump technology
Over the years, the handbook has gone through minor revisions, and in 2023, a major overhaul was undertaken to make the handbook up-to-date on the most recent technologies.
“We have worked hard to provide the global pump community with the most recent knowledge about pump functionality and leading-edge technologies that enhance pump efficiency to meet the sustainability agenda of societies and industries. Pumps are among the most power consuming devices in fluid handling processes, and the potential for energy savings is big, when you select the right pump from the start and maintain it along the way,” says Lars Sørensen, Manager, Product Management at Alfa Laval.
The authors of the book are all experienced pump engineers with extensive theoretical knowledge and hands-on experience from pump installations and training of technical staff in fluid handling industries.
Available online
The handbook is free and available online. It can be downloaded from www.alfalaval/PumpHandbook and contains a series of videos on for instance pump functionality, troubleshooting and maintenance guidelines.
The main chapters of the handbook comprise:
• Basic theory on pumping applications
• Pump types for different applications
• Pump sizing for maximum efficiency
• Pump specification
• Pump motors
• Troubleshooting
• Technical data and formulas
Ambit stainless steel fruit scrubbing machine (Photo: European Valuations)
Sponsored Post – On behalf of Sarah O’Toole, Kevin Coates & Jon Roden of Grant Thornton LLP, the Joint Administrators of Orchard House Foods Ltd, European Valuations present a second auction of late model and high spec fruit and food processing machinery previously used by Orchard House Foods Ltd. Orchard House Foods Ltd was one of the UK’s largest suppliers of prepared fruit, fresh fruit drinks and desserts to retailers, on-the-go food outlets, food service providers and manufacturers throughout the UK. The online auction on June 29th will include: Ishida DACS-G-SO15-24-WP-M-S Metal detector and checkweigher combi unit, Proseal GT1s pot forming machine with stainless steel tooling rack and various tooling, Ambit stainless steel fruit picking line, Ambit stainless steel fruit scrubbing machine complete with infeed conveyor, Hysyco CIP hygienic pipework and production cleaning system, Moody 13000L stainless steel storage tank, Promino 3000L stainless steel storage tank and much more. Viewing is by appointment only on June 27th.
European Valuations has over 130 years of experience in selling assets and providing consultancy advice. They pride themselves on delivering high-quality solutions that provide the best outcomes for our clients. They offer a range of services, from sale and disposal solutions for entire businesses to individual assets such as inventory or plant equipment.
Sponsored Post – On behalf of Sarah O’Toole, Kevin Coates & Jon Roden of Grant Thornton LLP, the Joint Administrators of Orchard House Foods Ltd, European Valuations present a major auction of late model and high spec fruit and food processing machinery. Orchard House Foods Ltd was one of the UK’s largest suppliers of prepared fruit, fresh fruit drinks and desserts to retailers, on-the-go food outlets, food service providers and manufacturers throughout the UK. Over 700 lots will be included in the online auction which closes from 10am on Thursday 1st of June. A great number of the assets were only recently purchased by the client, some lot highlights include: Ishida High speed 12 Head fresh fruit weighing system, Ishida CCW-R2-112WB-2D-15-WP-BE Single head 12 port fresh fruit weighing system, Dohmeyer DOH-TLT-8400-2X28 Cryogenic freezing tunnels, PND PL6M fruit peeling machine, Kronen Tona Rapide Apple Segmenter, Ishida DACS Checkweigher, Proseal GT2S Sealing machine, ICS Refrigeration plant, Proseal GT1S Sealing machine, Twin Head Ishida Potting Machine and much more. More stock is being added in the coming weeks. Viewing is by appointment only on May 30th.
European Valuations has over 130 years of experience in selling assets and providing consultancy advice. They pride themselves on delivering high-quality solutions that provide the best outcomes for our clients. They offer a range of services, from sale and disposal solutions for entire businesses to individual assets such as inventory or plant equipment.
Prognosfruit Conference, Europe’s leading annual event for the apple and pear sector, is taking place in a few days with an outstanding programme. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Prognosfruit 2021 will again take place as an online event. The event will take place on 5 August 2021 in the morning with an attractive programme for delegates to find out the key factors that will shape the upcoming season with insightful views from industry leaders from Europe and around the world. Registrations are closing soon, and stakeholders and journalists are welcome to register via the Prognosfruit website.
The 46th edition of Prognosfruit will take place on 5 August in the morning (CEST) and will explore the upcoming apples and pears crop for the European Union and its immediate neighbourhood. Climatic conditions will once again be one of the key influencers of the 2021/2022 production outlook. To find out more about the season’s outlook, an attractive programme has been designed by the organizer for this year’s Prognosfruit Conference.
As part of the programme Philippe Binard, WAPA Secretary General, will set the scene for the upcoming apples and pears crop, while Helwig Schwartau, Market Analyst at AMI, will share a market outlook based on the crop forecast. Franz Ennser, CEO of Austria Juice, will provide the latest processing trends and Fritz Prem, Europäisches Biobst-Forum President, will review the latest organic production developments, an important aspect considering the European Union’s ambitions to significantly boost production and consumption of organic products as part of the European Green Deal and Farm to Fork Strategy.
Mr Binard stated that, “This year Prognosfruit will also have strong international connotations with review of other Northern Hemisphere developments. Experts from the USA, China, Russia and India will share their perspectives on the outlook and trends for the upcoming apples and pears crops in these other key Northern Hemisphere production regions”. Beside and as it was the case in previous Prognosfruit editions, an in-depth exchange of views in panels will take place with key representatives of the EU leading producing countries to learn more about the production specifics across Europe. The panel will also include a representative from the Southern Hemisphere for a broader perspective of the market switch between the Southern and Northern Hemisphere seasons.
Commenting on the 46th edition of Prognosfruit Dominik Wozniak, President of WAPA, stated, “We are increasingly producing and trading under an unpredictable climatic and market environment. Nowadays, late spring frosts, hail, drought, flood, evolving plant health conditions due to climate change as well as factors such as COVID-19 , market access uncertainties or Brexit are significantly influencing our day-to-day production and trading activities. Prognosfruit is the place to learn more from colleagues about how these factors will influence the next apples and pears season. Picking is expected to start this year a bit later than normal conditions. First estimations indicate more production than the previous two years, but we are all looking forward to hearing the consolidated Prognosfruit estimate for a better assessement”.
Luc Vanoirbeek, Chairman of COPA COGECA Fruit and Vegetables Working Group, concluded, “I am pleased that despite the constraints of the sanitary conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic and the impossibility to meet in person, Prognosfruit remains the lead annual conference on the agenda for the apples and pears sector.” This year marks the 46th edition of Prognofruit, an event with a long tradition of being a very professional and productive gathering for the apples and pears community. Mr Vanoirbeek added, “I am pleased that again this year we have a large attendance for this virtual format, but we are all looking forward to meeting again physically next year in Serbia if the sanitary situation allows”.
The programme of Prognosfruit 2021 and the online registration form to attend the conference are both available on the Prognosfruit website.
Smurfit Kappa has launched a new range of eBottle packaging solutions for the rapidly growing online beverage and liquids market. The new portfolio includes a variety of sustainable solutions for single and multi-pack products, including the Rollor bottle pack, BiPack, and Pop-up insert.
The surge in e-commerce due to the Covid-19 pandemic is evident across all sectors and the beverage market has also seen a significant impact. In particular, online sales for alcoholic beverages has increased by 34 % in Europe driving a demand for sustainable, durable and consumer friendly packaging that protects the product during shipment.
Key challenges for the beverage e-commerce channel are product damage, sustainability, consumer experience and the ability to accelerate growth using the right packing processes. Consumer research carried out by Smurfit Kappa also shows consumers are continuing to push for higher standards.
The research found :
Over two thirds (69 %) of consumers prefer paper-based packaging
Over half (59 %) of consumers want the parcel to be easy to open
1 in 10 consumers will reconsider re-ordering in the case of damage
Commenting on the announcement, Arco Berkenbosch, VP Innovation and Development at Smurfit Kappa Europe said: “Our new eBottle product range offers beverage businesses a suite of fit-for-purpose and bespoke packaging solutions which address the key challenges for their e-commerce channel. The innovative range, combined with our focus on e-commerce processes, supply chain and consumer experience, have all contributed to increased sales and greater efficiencies for our customers.”
Smurfit Kappa also offers a host of automated solutions to optimise packaging processes in addition to the eBottle range. The launch of this new product portfolio is the latest addition to its range of Better Planet Packaging, designed to be more sustainable and coming from a renewable and recyclable raw material. Businesses are already benefitting in the alcoholic beverage segment.
InterDrinks is an eMerchant selling more than 2,500 different types of beers and beer products. Smurfit Kappa introduced a flexible and unique packaging solution that accommodates all the various sized products sold by InterDrinks. It also includes automated assembly that mounts the packs as required.
Herwin Wichers, Market Development Director at Smurfit Kappa said: “The online European alcohol beverage market is worth EUR 5.6 billion and we want to help companies take advantage of the real growth and opportunity in this segment. As a result of the implemented packaging and automation solution by InterDrinks, it has increased its packing and filling capacity by 66 %, allowing it to fulfill more orders, faster.”
Fi Europe co-located with Hi Europe has announced they are postponing the live event to 2021 and are transitioning to virtual for their 2020 event.
Over recent weeks and months, the Fi Europe team has been in discussions with key industry stakeholders and partners to stay abreast of the challenges facing the F&B industry due to COVID-19. While the event was set to take place this December with Informa’s AllSecure guidelines incorporating the highest standards of hygiene and cleanliness, the decision to postpone the live event and transition to virtual was taken as a result of the global nature of the event.
Fi Europe co-located with Hi Europe is a truly international event which brings together key industry players from all over the world. Given international travel is only returning gradually, stakeholders and partners felt it was difficult to ensure the same level of participation typically expected at the live event, and thus the Fi Europe team made the difficult decision to transition to a virtual format in 2020, with the expectation that they will return to Frankfurt as a best-in-class physical event from 30 November to 2 December 2021. The following year the show will take place in Paris.
For 2020, the Fi Europe team are transforming Europe’s largest F&B exhibition into a unique digital experience and expo. Fi Europe CONNECT 2020 is a virtual event designed to give the F&B community access to the global F&B ingredients industry, tools and collaboration opportunities they require to meet their business objectives.
Attracting over 8,000 attendees at their virtual event which will shape the future of the F&B industry, giving the community the chance to stay up to date with trends through 100+ on-demand and 16+ expert sessions and to use Fi Europe’s data-driven matchmaking service to find the most relevant buyers for customers’ products and solutions.
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated Canadian usage of e-commerce with online grocery being one of the main benefactors. The latest research from Mintel reveals that by mid-April, almost four in 10 (37 %*) Canadians were shopping more online, with 22 %* of Canadians specifically noting they were buying more groceries online due to COVID-19, including 10 %* of seniors (those aged 65+).
Physical grocery stores have a big challenge to encourage consumers to come back into stores and spend time inside. Mintel’s research shows that as of mid-April, 70 %* of Canadian shoppers were making less frequent trips to the grocery store than usual and in the middle of July, 71 %** were limiting the time they spent in the store. Consumers were also doing what they could to protect themselves: 67 %* said they were taking extra precautions when shopping in stores, e.g. wiping down their carts, keeping their distance from other shoppers. These protective behaviours are continuing, at the end of July, half (50 %***) of Canadians continue to be worried about the risk of being exposed to the virus, driving two-thirds (64 %***) of consumers to limit the time they spend in-stores.
Carol Wong-Li, Associate Director, Lifestyles and Leisure said:
“The challenge grocery retailers face now and in the months to come will be to convince consumers to come back into stores and shop for longer periods of time. Encouraging consumers to do so will have a positive impact on the ‘act of discovery’. Consumers will need to be encouraged to slow down and re-engage in spontaneous behaviours like browsing and trying new products, reminding them that shopping pre-COVID was a leisurely enjoyable activity, not what it is considered now – more ‘mission-minded’ with safety remaining at top of mind for consumers.
“The current uncertainty surrounding the virus remains unhelpful to the grocery shopping experience as much of it tends to be tactile, using touch and smell to assess the freshness of produce or sampling. Grocery retailers will need to replace the tactile experiences with more visual incentives to gain people’s interests, which will open up opportunities to enhance the in-store shopping experience in a safe way. Examples include providing QR codes that can be scanned by mobile phones to access full recipes or how-to cooking videos. Ultimately, leveraging platforms popular with Canadians like scannable signs that bring up recipes and/or cooking videos on Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube will work well to enhance the shopping experience while in-store.”
A renewed appreciation of shelf-stable products
The essential nature of food at home has not been lost, as of the beginning of May, almost half (48 %****) of consumers said they had made groceries a higher spending priority at the height of the pandemic, while over a quarter (28 %*) agreed that they were less-budget conscious than usual when it came to buying groceries. Shelf-stable products became a star performer, with 43 %* of Canadians saying they were buying more groceries that would stay fresh for longer like frozen, canned and boxed food.
“An area that was once stigmatized for being less healthy, the centre of the store where shelf-stable items tend to be, has been revitalized due to the uncertainty associated with the pandemic. Preventative measures put in place, like mandatory restaurant closings, led Canadians to cook more from home – providing a boost to shelf-stable products,” continues Wong-Li.
Stressed out Canadians indulge in comfort food
The link between food and comfort is undeniable amongst Canadians: nearly half (46 %*****) of Canadians eat comforting foods as a way of managing stress. During the pandemic, the importance of food in addressing elevated levels of stress was seen with a third (33 %*) of Canadian women reporting that they were eating more indulgent food like chocolate, ice cream or pizza to help them cope with the situation.
“As the uncertainty of the pandemic is set to be the reality for the near future, functional claims – including specific ingredients that help with stress relief or improving sleep – will matter more to consumers now and in the months to come,” concludes Wong-Li.
*500 internet users aged 18+, April 13-17, 2020, Global COVID-19 Tracker – Canada **500 internet users aged 18+, July 13-17, 2020, Global COVID-19 Tracker – Canada ***2,000 internet users aged 18+, July 23-31, 2020, Global COVID-19 Tracker – Canada ****500 internet users aged 18+, May 11-15, 2020, Global COVID-19 Tracker – Canada *****According to Marketing to Gen Z – Canada, June 2020
The latest research from Mintel* reveals the online grocery market is forecast to grow by 33 % in 2020 to reach an estimated value of £16.8 billion, up from £12.7 billion in 2019. This phenomenal rise follows four consecutive years of slowing growth: in 2019 growth fell to a historic low of just 2.9 %. The market is set to be worth £17.9 billion by 2024, growing by 41 % over the five year period.
Online shopping behaviour as a whole
This comes as Mintel reveals a dramatic change in online shopping habits over the COVID-19 lockdown period, habits that Mintel believes could prove lasting. In the very early days of the spread of the coronavirus in the UK, before social distancing measures were announced, 7 % of Brits increased the total amount of online shopping (both food and non-food)**. In the space of fewer than two months, online shopping has seen a dramatic boost with the number of consumers who say they’ve increased their online shopping rising to 36 %***.
Meanwhile, 50 % of Brits have tried to limit the time they spend in-store, while a further 9% have used click-and-collect more ***.
Nick Carroll, Associate Director of Retail Research at Mintel, said: “Over the course of just a few months, COVID-19 has had a seismic impact on Britain’s grocery sector. The pandemic is giving a significant short-term boost to online grocery services, as shoppers look to avoid stores and limit their contact with the outside world. However, the impact will last beyond the crisis. Shopper numbers in the online grocery market have plateaued in recent years as retailers struggled to get new customers to try these services. The outbreak is bringing a new audience to online grocery, and this should boost the market long term with strong growth forecast through to 2024. While there is currently a significant disruption to the online grocery market, with some retailers not accepting new customers, this will ease in the short-term as more capacity is brought online.”
Over 65s still face challenges shopping online
The current guidelines, which ask those aged 70 and over to remain at home, mean that older shoppers are more heavily reliant on having groceries and other goods delivered. But while some older Brits are experienced in ordering online, they are by far the minority. Less than three in 10 (28 %) UK internet users aged 65+ were online grocery shoppers prior to the COVID outbreak****. However, Mintel’s latest research shows that 37 % of over 65s have increased the amount of online shopping they’ve done since the outbreak began***.
But while some Brits are going online for their grocery requirements, many are relying on the kindness of friends and family – as a quarter (24 %) of consumers aged under 44 say they have been helping friends/family and/or neighbours with their shopping.
Nick Carroll, Associate Director of Retail Research at Mintel, said: “Older generations that had previously shied away from online grocery have, effectively, been forced to change their habits in the face of social distancing measures. While there has been a rise in online grocery shopping among the over 65s, the reality is a significant number of consumers in the older age groups have no experience shopping online for groceries and/or are not digitally native. There is a real need to ensure access to online grocery deliveries for older consumers. We’re seeing some retailers already thinking of easier ways to order goods, including phone orders for next-day delivery.”
* Mintel’s latest estimates as of 23 April 2020; subject to change based on ongoing research and economic shifts. ** Research conducted 28 February-13 March *** Research conducted 16-23 April **** Research conducted in December 2019
