Food Machinery Industry Research Articles

A Fuzzy Logic-Based Tool for the Assessment of Corporate Sustainability: A Case Study in the Food Machinery Industry

This paper develops a quantitative tool for the assessment of sustainability at the company’s level, taking into account its three key perspectives, i.e., economic, environmental and social. The proposed framework is grounded on fuzzy logic and in particular on a monotonic hierarchical fuzzy inference tool, as an effective means to gather the judgements and scores against the key performance indicators (KPIs) of each sustainability perspective into an aggregated index. In developing the fuzzy inference tool, we also solve some typical issues related to the assessment of sustainability, e.g., the identification of benchmark values to rate the company’s performance against each sustainability KPI. The architecture of the fuzzy inference tool was embodied in an ad hoc software developed in Microsoft ExcelTM (Microsoft Corporation, Albuquerque, NM, USA), which makes it easy to use the proposed framework in practical situations. The potential of the software tool developed is illustrated by means of a case study, targeting a food machinery company, for which the overall evaluation of sustainability is carried out.

Identifying and managing supply quality risk

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide a framework for identifying and managing supply quality risk (SQR).Design/methodology/approachThe research method began with a literature study to form a grounded model of how organizations identify and perceive SQR and associate various supplier quality management practices (SQMPs) with SQR sources. The second phase consisted of structured interviews at three companies in the food machinery industry in order to refine these concepts and examine causal relationships.FindingsThe findings from this study indicate that firms may be more likely to implement integrative supply chain practices when supplier or component sources of SQR are considered to be a significant threat. Conversely, market sources of SQR were generally not perceived as being significant, and therefore do not warrant as much direct intervention in their management.Research limitations/implicationsMost previous studies on supply chain risk focus on delivery disruptions. However, there is a lack of knowledge on identifying, assessing, and managing supply risk associated with quality. By addressing these issues and outlining future research directions the authors help provide a starting point for contributing to this line of study in supply risk theory and practice.Practical implicationsThe framework developed in this paper can aid supply chain professionals in understanding what constitutes SQR and providing insight to approaches for managing this form of supply risk.Originality/valueThis is the first empirical study that the authors are aware of that links various sources of SQR to specific SQMPs.

Analysis and Design of PLC-based Control System for Automatic Beverage Filling Machine

Automatic filling system is the main equipment in the food machinery industry. With the development of beverage industry and increasing demand of the filling system. The relay control method in traditional Filling machine has low automation and integration level and cannot satisfy the rapid development of automatic production. PLC control method has advantages of simple programming, strong anti-interference and high working reliability, has gradually replace the relay control method. In this study, hardware and software for the automatic filling system based on PLC control is designed, especially the injection section servo control system which adopts the servo motor driver metering pump is carefully analyzed and the filling precision is highly improved.

The effect of innovation on financial performance: A research study involving SMEs

Innovation has become a prime source for gaining a competitive edge in the market for all companies. This study seeks to investigate the effect of innovation of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) on their financial performance, as well as the effect of firm size on the impact of innovation. To examine empirically this relationship, data were collected via a survey of a sample of 98 SMEs belonging to the food machinery industry, and analyzed using a regression-based analysis. The empirical findings confirm that an increase in the innovation level increased financial performance. Specifically, they underline the relevance of the innovation developed in order to meet the customers’ needs as well as of those developed in order to differentiate from the competitors in improving the financial performance. Moreover, results suggest that in SMEs the level of technology adopted to develop innovation does not impact on the financial performance.

Open innovation and supply chain management in food machinery supply chain: a case study

Supply chains continue to growth in complexity, including numerous echelons and numerous players per echelon. Consequently, a company needs to integrate its activities with suppliers and customers, in order to survive. Innovation is a typical example of activity that a company should share with suppliers and customers. In particular, over the last few years, a specific concept of “open innovation” has been paving the way in the innovation management field. This paradigm describes a new approach to internal R&D management, which assumes that firms can and should use external ideas and internal ones, as well as internal and external paths to market, as they look to advance their technology. The aim of this paper is to provide insights toward open innovation practices in a specific supply chain, the food machinery one, moved by the consideration that there is little empirical evidence of open innovation strategies within this context. By means of case studies and semi-structured interviews, we examine a three-echelon supply chain, thus providing a picture of the adoption of open innovation in the food machinery industry. Results show that the actors that more adopt this new paradigm are manufacturer and customer, although all the three actors investigated agreed in defining the benefits derived from innovation and open innovation mechanisms. From this study, theoretical and practical implications can be derived and transferred to the whole food machinery industry. International Journal of Engineering, Science and Technology, Vol. 2, No. 6, 2010, pp. 244-255

An empirical investigation of innovation determinants in food machinery enterprises

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the main findings of an empirical study conducted in the Italian food machinery industry, on identifying the technological innovation determinants in small or medium enterprises.Design/methodology/approach – On the basis of a research framework, a study was carried out on 98 Italian firms operating in the food machinery industry, by means of a questionnaire survey. A statistical analysis was conducted on the data collected, in order to understand which are the most important factors influencing innovation and the relative effect on the innovation output of the various factors considered.Findings – The results of the statistical analysis conducted show that, in contrast with the trend of the industry investigated, great importance is attributed only to collaboration with universities and research centres. Network actors are not perceived as an important source of information for innovation, while universities, conferences and scientific papers are significa...

R&D Personnel Career Routes: An Exploratory Study

This study, aiming at investigate the alternative modes of career development for personnel belonging to R&D staff, addresses the extent to which career anchors are applicable to R&D staff and to examine the relationship among career anchors, gender and age, with the final purpose to add elements of discussion to the long-lasting debate about this matter. With this purpose in mind, we developed a questionnaire survey among 309 R&D personnel employed at firms belonging to the food machinery industry in a Northern Italy district. The results obtained from the statistical analysis indicate that the R&D personnel’s career orientations is a predictor of their career routes preferences, confirming three possible career routes in R&D labs that were highlighted in previous studies.

Status, role and satisfaction among development engineers

Purpose – To identify the problematic areas relating to the current managerial practices in motivating engineers and evaluating their relative contribution to the overall level of engineers' satisfaction.Design/methodology/approach – Based on a conceptual model, an empirical study was conducted within 11 organizations operating in the food machinery industry in Italy. A survey was carried out on 376 development engineers staffed in these companies and a statistical analysis was conducted on the data collected in order to refine and operationalize the conceptual model proposed and to investigate the relative effects of the various factors considered.Findings – From the statistical analysis it emerged that job satisfaction can be split into three dimensions and that it is impacted by five factors related to managerial policies, perception of engineers' status and job‐related motivational mechanisms.Practical implications – The analysis clearly suggests that engineers in industry are generally dissatisfied a...

Innovation as a determinant of suppliers’ roles and performances: an empirical study in the food machinery industry

The basic premise of this study is that suppliers, in order to compete successfully in the marketplace, have to develop certain innovative capabilities that, in turn, depend on the type of relationship that is established with customers (in other words, the strategic role assumed by the supplier in the supply chain). Based on a study of 198 suppliers operating in the food packaging machinery industry, structural equation modelling has revealed that customers actually assign suppliers different roles and give them varying levels of responsibility in the product development and manufacturing stages. These roles are correlated to the supplier's distinctive innovation capabilities. Clustering analysis is used to divide the suppliers into homogeneous groups. Innovative capabilities are not only associated with traditional competencies in R&D and product/process innovation but also in supportive capabilities in the form of absorptive capacity, technological scanning, innovation-oriented culture, skills and know-how of individuals and managerial practices. The impact of different innovative capabilities (both technological and managerial) on critical performance factors such as price, quality, time and flexibility is measured for each type of supplier in turn. The research findings lend support to the hypothesis that the level of investment in technology and the acquisition of specific managerial capabilities are, to a large extent, a determinant of supplier–customer interdependence.

The analysis of customer-satisfaction-related elements of ISO 14000 implementation: evidence from the food machinery industry

Customer satisfaction is recognized as a major benefit of implementing and developing an environmental management system (EMS). Companies implementing ISO 14000 standards should adopt a strategic, proactive focus on the customer's requirement based on understanding which attributes of an EMS are more relevant to customers and meeting their needs. In the paper, an analytical framework for such a strategic analysis is presented. It is based on the utilization of the analytic hierarchic process (AHP) and consists of four major steps: (i) analysing the importance of the various elements of an EMS for the customers; (ii) benchmarking own performance against competitors; (iii) analysing the strengths and weaknesses of the company against competitors and (iv) defining customer-satisfaction-oriented plans. The effectiveness of the framework is tested with a real application to a large manufacturer of bottling machines and equipment that has recently implemented ISO 14000 standards. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

Patterns of technological innovation in subcontracting firms: an empirical study in the food machinery industry

This study examines changes in inter‐organizational relationships in the specific context of the food packaging machinery industry. The study presented in this paper has a twofold aim. First, to investigate how and to what extent the type of buyer‐supplier relationship is associated with specific supplier profiles (in terms of the technological as well as organizational set of competencies and skills). Second, to indicate the attributes of the best‐performing suppliers from the different groups identified. The study is based on a survey performed on 111 subcontractor firms located in northern Italy. More specifically, the study aims at evaluating the impact of a set of factors characterizing the competencies which subcontractors must have in order to succeed in this industry.

日本の食品機械業界に期待する : 環境の変化に食品機械業界は対応しているだろうか

日本の食品機械業界に期待する : 環境の変化に食品機械業界は対応しているだろうか