Fortress Technology, which provides detection, inspection, and automated testing systems to help potato producers find and eliminate dangerous contaminants before and during processing, is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, with founder and president Steve Gidman highlighting the key changes apparent today.
When Steve set up the business in 1996, he said production was predominantly “high-touch”.
“A typical packaging line often required between 10 to 15 operators to closely monitor equipment and make manual adjustments to inspection equipment settings,” he said. “In this era, metal detection was largely reactive rather than proactive. Attention was only really directed to inspection machines if an alarm sounded or the production line stopped.”
The introduction of the Food Standards Act 2000, European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in 2002 and the US Food Safety Modernisation Act 2011 brought about key changes.
“Modern plants are defined by high-speed automation, with machines processing 200 to 300 packs per minute and requiring minimal human intervention,” Steve said.
While staff originally calibrated a machine and performed tests manually, few employees now need to manage more high-priority systems.
“On a high-speed line, asking an employee to manually insert and retrieve test pieces is a liability risk and inefficient,” Steve said, adding that the need to mitigate safety risks and minimise human errors helped shape the development of the company’s Halo automatic testing system.
