14 October 2015

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The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) and Sheffield Hallam University will host a packaging engineering innovation workshop for the food and drink industry at the National Centre of Excellence for Food Engineering on 2 November 2015.

This pioneering event aims to bring together manufacturers, packaging and machinery suppliers, engineers and researchers to identify priority projects and develop a long-term vision for improved food and drink packaging.

The main goal of the event is to deliver a step change in food and drink packaging engineering performance over the next five years. The workshop will also provide a great opportunity to explore options for pre-competitive collaboration and identify funding opportunities for these to create smarter packaging, radically improve productivity and meet consumer demand.

Hosted at the National Centre of Excellence for Food Engineering (NCEFE) at Sheffield Hallam University, the workshop is free to attend for companies and individuals working within food and drink packaging engineering.

Martin West, Head of Integrated Business Planning, Premier Foods and Chair of the Food Engineering Innovation Group at NCEFE, said: “The Centre of Excellence has received strong industry backing from food and drink manufacturers to help industry improve manufacturing processes for the future. Packaging plays an essential role in this and innovations in packaging and the information it carries have much potential to reduce environmental impacts and increase productivity.

“This event is a unique opportunity for manufacturers to work side by side with packaging and machinery suppliers in a pre-competitive space and help shape and drive the innovation agenda in food and drink.“

Martin Howarth, director of the NCEFE at Sheffield Hallam, said: “The new Centre prides itself on its links with local businesses, and can also boast enormous strength and flexibility in its packaging design expertise. This event works with partners to identify projects that build on our early successes as a Centre and explore areas of shared practice and innovation.“

The National Centre of Excellence for Food Engineering has been established with strong support from the food and drink manufacturing sector in order to deliver world-class capability and competitiveness of the UK food and drink industry. The Centre is based at Sheffield Hallam University and its physical state-of-the art infrastructure will be completed by 2017.

Notes for editors:

• The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) is the voice of the food and drink manufacturing industry – the UK's largest manufacturing sector.
• More information about the event and how to register available here
• The National Centre of Excellence for Food Engineering (NCEFE) initiative is part of Graduate Excellence, a partnership between FDF, the National Skills Academy for Food & Drink and Sheffield Hallam University. Graduate Excellence has received co-investment from the UK Commission for Employment and Skills through the Employer Investment Fund. For further information on partnership, visit the Graduate Excellence web page
• NCEFE aims to support industry growth through helping the sector to improve manufacturing capability, provide engineering solutions for energy and waste efficiencies, deliver packaging innovations through leading-edge technology and skills solutions to inspire the next generation of food engineers. Companies that have pledged their support for the NCEFE via contributing equipment, facilities, mentors or advisers are: apetito, The Authentic Food Company, Bradman Lake Group, Cargill, Coca Cola Enterprises, Dalehead Foods, Endress & Hauser, Festo, G's Fresh, General Mills, Ivensys Operations Management, Mars Chocolate UK, McCain Foods, Nalco, Nestle, PepsiCo, Premier Foods, Rockwell Automation, Schneider Electric, Spirax-Sarco Engineering, Star Refrigeration, Tate and Lyle Sugars, Warburtons and William Jackson Food Group.

For more information contact:

FDF press office Press.Office@fdf.org.uk 020 7420 7140

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