Protect product integrity or risk losing market share - PerkinElmer

The firm said it can help processors and regulators authenticate and protect integrity and quality of products whether the threat is known or unknown with targeted and non-targeted tools.

This is done through infrared, atomic spectroscopy, ICP-MS and other technologies.

Consumer value​

Greg Sears, VP general manager, organic business unit at PerkinElmer, said customers have an obligation internally to ensure products they produce are what they say they are and that translates directly into the commercial place in the market to make sure they can continue to compete.

“Those suppliers of food who don’t protect the integrity of their supply chain will ultimately not be able to compete because consumers will value their products less in the marketplace,” ​he told FoodQualityNews.

“Our customers want to know. They have a fundamental need to make sure the food they are producing and providing to the consumer base is in fact what they say. Therefore, they need equipment like ICP-MS because it can deliver the sensitivity. We see also infrared (IR) techniques being a big factor in the supply chain as well.”​

Customers globally are more interested in understanding and making sure the food supply chain is safe, said Sears.

“Both from a regulatory perspective but also from a commercial perspective​,” he said.

“So we see that there have been more and more regulations around protecting the integrity of the supply chain but our customers also believe that there is a commercial value in enhancing the integrity of the supply chain as well and they are using our instruments as well as part of that supply chain enhancement.” ​

Sears said the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) has had an impact on it domestically in the US but also global customers who feed into the US supply chain as suppliers or receivers.​

“It has heightened the awareness of the importance of food safety across the supply chain. It has had a practical effect of meeting the regulations but also a vibrational effect of making sure everybody has a heightened awareness of the issue.​

“So people have traditionally been less sensitive but this is where the regulations have taken effect because they provide a blanket layer of protection for all consumers.”​

Remote diagnostics for maintenance​

Customers don’t accept trade-offs, said Sears.

“They want high throughout, they want fast results, they want a high level of sensitivity and they want a reliable instrument that they can use in their operation,” ​he said. ​

“What we also see customers asking for more and more is to ensure that the complete experience is protected. What I mean there is the installation of the instrument, the calibration configuration but also post-installation. ​

“Do they have a partner who can help them manage the assets in the laboratory to ensure that they are also optimised and the service protection around the instruments and the assets. ​

“When something happens they need fast response because they value the operational uptime. Whenever the operational hours are they want the instrument running. What they all value is not having unplanned downtime and that is something we understand.​

“We have inserted remote diagnostics capability into our instruments to help the customer achieve those goals of high levels of operational uptime. The trend in the Internet of Things and intelligent device management clearly lay out that predictive capability is a path of where we are.”  ​

Sears said part of the challenge is delivering results that customers demand but making it easier to use.

“The informatics platform addresses that trend because it does enable us to collect and aggregate and deliver it to those subject matter experts who may not be in the lab every day,” ​he said. ​

“The market moves at its own pace. The informatics capability is one we have had for a while. We are bringing that with our instruments and demonstrating to customers what the possibilities are. ​

“We have some early adopters to the platform, pharma has been a very early adopter but moving outside of pharma the needs are very similar so we expect food manufacturers to adapt very fast.”​