Innovation center to spur development of hygienic food processing solutions

A new innovation center launched by Charlottetown Metal Products and FPS Food Process Solutions on Prince Edward Island, Canada, will focus on the development of hygienic food processing solutions.

The 10,000-square-foot center will help strengthen partnerships with universities and colleges, government agencies, suppliers and food processing customers, according to a news release.

Renovations are expected to be completed during the next year.

“This investment will enable rapid acceleration of new product development and reduce time to market of several technologies we have currently in concept phase,” Kees Jansen van Rosendaal, FPS director, new product development, said in the release.

The first project to be completed was a state-of-the-art, end-to-end solution for packaged food products, according to the release. That project features a 40-foot conveyor loop to handle the transfer, alignment, merge and diverge of packaged food products to and from chillers, freezers and other processing equipment.

Current projects focus on full process line solutions for operational efficiencies in energy utilization, process automation and increasing production yields.

Process engineers, design engineers, controls specialists and technicians are among the 165 employees currently on staff, with 10 additional positions planned.

Business development service Innovation PEI has provided financial support for the center. CMP is also receiving advisory services and research and development funding from the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program.

“I am delighted we have this opportunity to re-invest company profits into innovation,” Trevor Spinney, Charlottetown Metal Products president, said.

“We are working hard to build a better future with advanced food processing machinery and process line solutions.”

Canadian-headquartered FPS Food Process Solutions, established in 2010, has more than 900 employees and a combined 780,000 square feet of space in 19 global locations.

Charlottetown Metal Products, a subsidiary of FPS, has manufactured hygienic processing equipment for food manufacturers around the world for more than 65 years.