I recently saw a very successful example of sales and operations planning (S&OP), whereby manufacturing, distribution and sales have been welded together into a high level of demand fulfilment.

Haulier Aardvark International is using Ekeri side-loading refrigerated trailers for handling a variety of ambient, chilled and frozen products around Europe. The trailers provide the versatility required in loading awkward product loads and adaptability when returning with chilled and frozen products.

Tesco’s announcement that it has signed a multi-year contract to purchase thousands of radio frequency identification (RFID) readers and antennae is a clear indicator of the retailer’s ambitious roll-out plans for the technology, claims a senior analyst with market intelligence firm Analytiqa.

• Andrew Niznik has returned to Southwall Indian ready meals producer Noon Products as technical director after a spell running an Indian restaurant in Sweden. He was Noon's senior technical manager prior to his departure early in 2004.

Q What was the first product you worked with?

It has been six months since Improve, the Sector Skills Council (SSC) for the UK food and drink industry, was officially launched, and in that time it has already addressed key training issues manufacturers are facing. In November it developed a new industry-recognised apprenticeship with Coca-Cola Enterprises and it is currently undergoing research to discover the full scale of the shortage of science and technology staff in the industry.

In a nutshell: Chocolate manufacturer and retailer that has grown to become a common sight on the high street. With a turnover of £180m and around 4,400 staff on the payroll, it is certainly the biggest chocolate company of its kind.

It's not every day that a food and drink company (chocolate manufacturers aside) has people begging to work for them. But for smoothie and juice maker Innocent Drinks it's all part of a day's work. A quick glance at the company's internet message board says it all. Take, for example, a message posted in June last year which reads: "I may be only a lowly student but PLEASE give me a job! I worship you all."

A recent report from the IGD shows that a third of people don't eat fresh vegetables because it requires too much effort to prepare them.

A health and safety training guide covering all aspects of the workplace has been published by Highfield to help reduce the number of workplace accidents.

Contact: Euromonitor International, Tel: 020 7251 1105

Contact: Blackwell Publishing, Tel: 01865 776868

Novel Food Processing Technologies is the latest reference book from Marcel Dekker, exploring the most recent applications in food processing and preservation.

Companies looking to install air ducts in their plants should consider fabric ducting over conventional metal ductwork and grilles, says Air Diffusion Technology.

Britvic Soft Drinks has recently installed a new Sika floor at its manufacturing plant at Rugby.

Compressor manufacturer CompAir has extended its oil-free offering with the introduction of a new range of water-injected single screw compressors, designed for applications where there is a need for high quality 'active' air -- air that comes into direct contact with the process it serves.

Pickles and chutney manufacturer Bennett Opie has found a cost-effective solution to its cooling and heating problems by installing a new Breezair system at its Sittingbourne plant.

KP Nuts has recently installed a new Flowcrete floor at its Rotherham plant to aid production during the festive period.

Producer of high performance fire protection materials Promat has launched a premium range of fire-stopping materials for building specifiers and contractors.

With the recent fire at Premier Foods' Branston Pickle plant bringing the issue of fire safety to the forefront of manufacturers' minds, Eurobond Laminates has improved the quality of its FireMaster panels.

Rudy Menzhausen, project manager for Lorien Engineering Solutions in Staffordshire, has a client base that includes Grampian Country Foods, Cadbury and Interbrew. He says the biggest challenge with plant design is the extreme cost-consciousness of the client, plus the fact that they want their project delivered quickly.

While celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay may be able to charge around £40 for his recently launched gourmet ready meal of braised belly of pork with pomme puree au moutarde, sadly the same is not the case for most manufacturers. The price of most ready meals is moving rapidly downwards due to fierce competition among the major retailers.

When Christine MacCallum joined Loch Fyne Oysters 20 years ago she never dreamed that she would one day become a part-owner in the business -- along with all 119 of her colleagues. The change came about quite suddenly in 2004 when staff were asked to vote on a deal that secured the firm's future by placing it in the hands of its employees.

For the food and drink industry -- one of the UK's biggest employers -- the Pensions Act 2004, which comes into force in April this year, is of major importance. The act aims to strengthen pension scheme members' protection, but does little to ease the financial burden on employers.

Crisis management specialists cite two classic cases to illustrate the best -- and worst -- corporate responses to product contamination incidents.

Seafood safety: With over euro 14m to spend, some 70 organisations from 16 European states are co-operating on one of the biggest ever research products into the safety and nutrition of seafood. Named SEAFOODplus, the project aims to reduce health problems and increase well-being among consumers throughout the European Union (EU) by demonstrating that fish is good for you. The research is divided into six different areas. These include: human nutrition; consumer behaviour and well-being; safety; seafood from source to consumer; aquaculture; and traceability.

A piece of plastic pipe just 50mm in diameter is saving a soft drinks manufacturer over 200l of valuable product between batch changes. But the i-Pipe is no ordinary bit of tubing. It is an intelligent electronic device that detects and remembers the chemical signature of food and drink products and continuously monitors them for any changes. By fitting it into a processing line, the i-Pipe will instantly detect any changes in the chemical makeup of a product as it flows by, and spot the interface between different products.

A monkey called Crucial Kevin keeps a watchful eye on Gavin Neath, chairman of Unilever UK, who took over from Cadbury's John Sunderland as president of the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) in January this year.

Callington-based pastry products manufacturer, Ginsters has an interesting buying story as it sources over £7m worth of raw materials from suppliers within a 20-mile radius of the bakery. This local buying policy hasn't happened overnight, it has been a lengthy process that has required constant collaboration and the establishment of strong relations with its suppliers.

I've been with Bottlegreen pretty much from the start. I joined 15 years ago when it was literally a cottage industry.

On-shelf availability (OSA) has attracted much industry attention over the past 12-18 months and is the subject of a new IGD report.

Tesco's inexorable rise continues apace. The latest round of superb trading figures from Britain's biggest retailer will give chief executive Sir Terry Leahy cause for some justifiable smugness.

French filling specialist Serac will be showing off its Canopy monobloc to an international audience at Interpack in April, with a focus on its compact design and hybrid filling technique.

After snacks and ready meals, cereals will be the next major sector to outsource packing and other operations in a big way, according to one entrepreneur.

What two uses can a 40ml polyethylene terephthalate (PET) container, plus closure, be put to? (Clue: we are excluding any medical applications).

Changes to German packaging laws will have a far-reaching impact on markets for biodegradable plastics in the whole of Europe, according to the international industry association.

Spring is around the corner, you are well into the New Year, for many of you the budget process is out of the way -- and now you're faced with the challenge of how you really are going to deliver it. So, what are you going to do differently to get it right this time? You may be able to deliver the numbers this year without doing things differently, but are there opportunities to exceed expectation and build for the years beyond this financial year?

Pursuit Dynamics expects sales of its newly launched PDX Sonic steam-based fluid processing system [Food Manufacture December 2004, p18] to top 200 a year for liquid food processing alone, as processors realise the benefits the system can offer.

Coatings and seasonings expert Bowman Ingredients has developed a line of spice blends designed to add authentic flavour and visual appeal to prepared foods, such as meat joints and barbecue products.

A new all-round egg replacer, designed to remove the cost and hazards of handling eggs in food manufacture and foodservice, has been launched in the UK.

Those companies considering differentiating their brand by adding vitamins, minerals or herbs, should be warned that national law throughout the European market is both diverse and confusing.

It's widely known that fish, particularly oily fish, is good for you. Packed full of essential fatty acids, research shows it can help prevent heart disease. Sadly, however, fish has suffered from bad press in the last few years. Scares about toxicity levels, fish farming practices and news of depleted fish stocks have dented its image.

Unilever has gone back to basics with its Knorr brand to tap into the growing market for aspiring chefs looking to cook from scratch.

Chinese Food is being given a more healthy image by ready meals manufacturer Oriental Express Frozen Foods (OEFF).

Chocolate giant Cadbury Trebor Bassett is continuing to breathe new life into the chocolate category with the introduction of two new products to its burgeoning range.

Heinz is hot on the heels of Unilever's recently launched Carb Options product offering with the launch of its own lower carb range of food. Both ranges have been developed to make following a low-carb diet as easy as possible.

Brakes has unveiled a huge expansion to its Healthier Choices range of products, with new launches in salads, sandwich fillings, ready meals and desserts.

Tilda has made a major overhaul of its £9m microwaveable rice brand Rizazz, introducing five new flavours and new packaging.

The company has launched 15 new products and smartened its packaging to create a more modern feel to its flagship brand. A further £5m has been earmarked for a national advertising campaign.

A new on-line form to instantly notify authorities of a product recall has been introduced by the Food Standards Agency.

A new website devoted to the annual £606m vegetarian market has been launched by the Food and Drink Federation.

The operator of a rendering plant that handles poultry waste from East Anglian processors has been fined £9,000.

A new brewery on the island of Mersea near Colchester in Essex is the latest independent to announce it will start production in 2005.

Portuguese workers in the eastern counties, many of whom are employed in the poultry processing and other food industries, could get their own local consulate if councils agree.

Organic milk processors have received a boost from research that showed their product contains higher levels of vitamins, essential fats and antioxidants than non-organic.

Functional food and drink companies will pull the plug on research and development (R&D) if proposals for nutritional profiling are adopted by the European Union (EU), a leading manufacturer has warned.

Chief executive of Arla Foods Neil Davidson will retire from the company on September 30.

Canterbury Foods' Stoke-on-Trent factory has become the first in the UK to achieve the British Retail Consortium (BRC) standard for the manufacturing of halal meat-based products.

Specialist Welsh baker Memory Lane Cakes has sold a parcel of surplus land at its Cardiff site for £2.35m.

ACR Logistics has won an extended contract with Scottish Courage to manage its primary distribution for Herefordshire-based brewer Bulmers.

Dorset-based brewer Hall & Woodhouse has sold its Panda children's soft drinks brand to Nichols, which shed its food manufacturing business last year to concentrate on beverages.

The judges of the latest Community Partnership Awards of the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) have narrowed down the entrants to 16 finalists in four categories.

The European Commission (EC) plans to harmonise rules which require different packaging for similar products sold in different European Union (EU) states.

More than 70 years of making Mars bars in the UK could end as privately-owned Masterfoods considers shifting production.

An attempt by brewer Coors to link up with Scottish Courage and Carlsberg to supply and service bar equipment has been blocked by the Competition Commission.

The Department of Trade and Industry is giving local authority trading standards services an additional £825,000 over three years from April to support regional co-ordination.

Only two in 10 people believe what the industry says on food safety, according to a survey by BMRB International.

Milk Link Ingredients, part of the farmer-owned dairy business Milk Link, has secured new contracts with Kensey Foods and Melton Foods, both of which are part of Samworth Brothers.

Up to 600 workers face redundancy at the end of this month following Unilever's decision to sell its Grimsby Birds Eye ready meals plant to cold storage company Alpine Coldstores.

Arla Foods, the UK's biggest milk processor, has gone back on its pledge not to screw down the price paid to suppliers.

Manufacturers and retailers could be on a collision course with the Food Standards Agency (FSA) unless agreement can be reached on product recalls under the European Union general food laws which took effect this year.

Multinational food firms are becoming too big and powerful and are threatening the fight against poverty in developing countries, claimed ActionAid.

Speciality fine food and confectionery distributor Fosters Traditional Foods has been bought by a new company, with backing from venture capitalist 3i and the Royal Bank of Scotland.

A contract to supply students with Proper Cornish pasties looks likely to be extended following successful trials at Nottingham and Derby universities.

A campaign has begun to make food security an election issue.

Farmers in England are making up for lost agricultural income by diversifying into profitable non-farming enterprises.

The European Union (EU) has extended its ban on the import of live poultry and fresh poultry products from eight Asian countries until September 30.

A new grouping of the five sector skills councils (SSCs) in the food and drink industry is to set down guidelines for meeting new European Union (EU) hygiene rules.

Andrew Brown, a former md of RHM's Manor Bakeries is acting as interim director of the Federation of Bakers, after John White stepped down.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) director Geoffrey Podger has moved from Brussels to EFSA's new offices in the centre of Parma, Italy.

McMullen has plans for a new brewhouse at its site near the centre of Hertford, which has been its base since 1827.

UK own-label manufacturers should capitalise on opportunities in European markets, where the own-label share of the food market continues to grow at more than 10% a year, said the Food From Britain (FFB) consultancy.

Premier Foods has revealed that last October's fire at its Bury St Edmunds plant cost around £10m in lost sales.

Inter Link Foods has made its biggest takeover, of Yorkshire Cottage Bakeries It claimed to be now the UK's second largest baker after RHM's Manor Bakeries.

Global farm assurance standards for meat and cereals will be published this month in an attempt to harmonise national schemes.

Food and drink manufacturing has the worst record of any industry for equipment downtime and stoppages, according to a survey by a leading supplier of maintenance software systems.

The soft drinks division of Princes may close its Kidlington, Oxfordshire plant, which employs 110 people, and consolidate chilled fruit juice production at its Manchester factory. Production of carbonates in Glasgow, employing 88, may be transferred to Bradford. The canning line at Glasgow would not be affected.

Nestlé has confirmed that 57 jobs are to go at its Cuddington, Norwich factory which produces yoghurt brands such as Ski, Munch Bunch and Sveltesse.

Northern Foods' Green Isle Foods is to invest euros 22.6m at one of its two factories at Naas in County Kildare, Ireland to boost pizza production, mainly under the Goodfellas and San Marco brands, largely for export to the UK.

Uniq Prepared Foods is considering cutting up to 180 jobs at its Spalding salad factory following the loss, from April 2005, of an annual £12m contract with the retailer Sainsbury.

Thames Valley University (TVU) hopes to launch what it claims will be the first course in the UK for chefs working in, or hoping to work in, product development.

The failure of new European Union (EU) rules to insist on processors tracking material through their own processes has left the way open for a food safety disaster, claimed a traceability expert.

Gangmasters and others which supply temporary workers for businesses such as farms and food manufacturers will need to have a licence by around August 2006, according to the chairman designate of the new industry watchdog, the Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA).

Manufacturers, retailers, caterers and public sector representatives will this month discuss setting up a sustainable food centre for London, which might include processing and warehousing.

Warburtons has reopened its Wednesbury bakery which was destroyed by fire in January 2004.

Leading toxicology experts will gather in Rome this month to discuss the latest research on the toxicity of acrylamide in food.

Claims by the chairman of the Society of Food Hygiene Technology (SOFHT) that there is little scientific evidence to justify manufacturers cutting salt levels further has been branded "complete balls" by a leading heart specialist.

Liberty Process is establishing itself as the UK & Eire representative of Lee Industries which manufactures the Lee/Groen range of steam jacketed cooking vessels.

Prepared foods producer Geest has gone live with a new real-time performance management (RPM) software system at its site at Sutton Bridge in Spalding, Lancs.

Automated heat sealer helps expanding ready meal producerGrowing demand for its frozen ready meals has led North Yorkshire-based St Christopher Foods to replace its heat sealing machine with a Vision 182 model from Packaging Automation.