Food Processing - December 2007 - (Page 7)

E D I T O R ’ S P L AT E DEcEMbER 2007 • Volume 68, No. 12 www.foodprocessing.com 555 W. Pierce Road, Ste. 301, Itasca, IL 60143 Phone: (630) 467-1300 • Fax: (630) 467-1179 In a rare treat, Mars Snackfood U.S. opened its doors to our magazine. EDITORIAL EDITOR IN chIEF MANAgINg EDITOR NEWS & TRENDS MANAgINg EDITOR-DIgITAL DAVE FuSARO dfusaro@putman.net DAVID FEDER, RD dfeder@putman.net DIANE TOOPS dtoops@putman.net JILL RuSSELL jrussell@putman.net A peek at Mars TEchNIcAL EDITOR MARk ANThONy, Ph.D. PLANT OPERATIONS EDITOR MIkE PEhANIch PAckAgINg EDITOR kATE bERTRAND cONNOLLy DAVID JOy hOLLIS AShMAN, JAcquELINE bEckLEy REPRINTS MARkETINg cLAuDIA STAchOWIAk MANgAgER FOSTER REPRINTS 4295 Ohio Street, Michigan city, IN 46360 866-879-9144, Fax: 219-561-2019 claudia@fostereprints.com REguLAR cONTRIbuTORS REguLATORy cONSuMER uNDERSTANDINg N early side by side, where McLean, Va., meets Langley, stand the headquarters of Mars Inc. and the Central Intelligence Agency. One is extremely se- cretive; the CIA, on the other hand, divulges at least a little about its workings. Despite being a $21 billion global company, Mars has kept a very low profile over the years. With Hershey, Pa., just a hundred miles away from Mars’ Snackfood U.S. headquarters in Hackettstown, N.J., keeping chocolate trade secrets is almost as difficult as keeping cereal recipes proprietary in Battle Creek, Mich. Fortunately, Vevey, Switzerland, is half a world away. I think I’ve been knocking on the door at Mars for 15 years, wanting to visit headquarters, a plant or R&D center. I’ve offered Mars some kind of “company of the year” story several times, but always was turned down. I considered it a triumph a few years back when I got the corporation’s annual sales figures, off the record but semi-officially. So I was floored when Mars accepted our offer to be this year’s Processor of the Year. I heard the company was coming off a phenomenal 2006 that showed no signs of abating in 2007. Information Resources sales data seemed to confirm that. Plus, I caught them in a weak moment. They wanted to re-establish the Mars name after five years of being called Masterfoods, and that takes some marketing. Mars Snackfood U.S. had a new and gregarious president in Todd Lachman. And it was Mars Snackfood U.S. that was hitting the home runs and really wanted this honor. I didn’t know a great deal about the inner workings of Mars, but I did know the company has a high regard for inhouse manufacturing (I first learned that at a time when engineering departments at other food processors were being gutted and contract manufacturing was the rage). It helps when most of your products are high volume, although that usually limits your automation to dedicated machinery. But then there was this My M&M’S project, where the company was making its highest volume product in customized batches. Talk about flexibility. Maybe the capper was Mars’ flavanol research. Hey, any company that can turn chocolate into a health food has my vote. So take a look at our Processor of the Year stories in this issue – the overview story on p.14 and the manufacturing story on p.21. Come back next month for a look at Mars’ product development process. Our criteria for Processor of the Year are listed on our web site, but they include service. I regret we didn’t have space to write about Mars’ recent MVP (Mars Volunteer Program) Day. On Sept. 24, Mars encouraged all 12,000 associates at its 48 offices and factories across North America to do volunteer work in their local communities. Projects included refurbishing an animal shelter in Columbia, S.C., volunteering at the Food Bank for New York City and painting and landscaping the Boys and Girls Club in Cleveland, Tenn. Mars joins some distinguished company as our Processor of the Year. Kellogg was the recipient last year and Tyson Foods won in 2005. DESIGN & PRODUCTION gROuP ART DIREcTOR ART DIREcTOR ART DIREcTOR PRODucTION MANAgER STEPhEN c. hERNER sherner@putman.net JASON VARgAS jvargas@putman.net JENNIFER DAkAS jdakas@putman.net RITA M. FITzgERALD rfitzgerald@putman.net PUBLISHING PubLIShER kAy ROSS-bAkER kross-baker@putman.net ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF PRESIDENT AND cEO JOhN cAPPELLETTI VIcE PRESIDENT JuLIE cAPPELLETTI-LANgE VIcE PRESIDENT OF cONTENT kEITh LARSON VIcE PRESIDENT cIRcuLATION JERRy cLARk cIRcuLATION MANAgER PATRIcIA DONATIu EDITORIAL ADVISORy BOARD chERyL J. bALDWIN, Ph.D. Senior Scientist, kraft Foods gERRy gOMOLkA Vice President-Process Engineering The Stellar group Analyst, Ag Edwards & Sons Inc. Vice President-Engineering Sara Lee Foods National Food & beverage Industry Leader, grant Thornton LLP chRISTOPhER gROWE DAVE kRAMER DEXTER MANNINg WILLIAM MccAbE Vice President-Ice cream, Smith Dairy DON NugENT JAMES RIcE DARyL ThOMAS ELAINE WEDRAL, Ph.D. President/cEO, graceland Fruit Inc. VP & general Mgr.-china Operations, Tyson Foods Inc. Vice President-Marketing, herr Foods Inc. President (retired), Nestle R&D cente Dave Fusaro, Editor in Chief E-mail: dfusaro@putman.net DeCeMber 2007 FOOD PrOCessINg • 7 http://www.foodprocessing.com http://www.putmanmedia.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Food Processing - December 2007

Contents Editor's Plate NewsBites Rollout Food Biz Kids Processor of the Year: Mars Snackfood U.S. Mass Production Meets Custom Manufacturing Product Development: Bone appetit! Show Report: Pack/Process Expo and Worldwide Food Expo New Product Profiles Toops Scoops

Food Processing - December 2007

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