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Produce Show Daily 9 Wednesday, June 12, 2019 How Black Floral Foam Changes Design Possibilities By Sharon McGukin, Smithers-Oasis North America Design Director, AIFD, AAF, PFCI With one simple yet brilliant why-didn't- someone-think-of-this-before change, your floral design possibilities expanded. How? Black floral foam. Oasis Floral Foam Midnight is simi- lar to other foams, but with a new look. When dry, Midnight foam looks dark gray; it deepens to jet black when saturat- ed with water. Midnight offers maximum visual impact as an element of your design, often requiring less flower coverage. Does black foam really offer new design possibilities? 2015 World Cup winner Alex Choi of South Korea thinks so. Alex designed a flower wall back- drop for his 2018 AIFD Symposium stage presentation. The AIFD letters and background were formed from Midnight floral foam and surrounded in fresh gar- den roses. Alex was surprised to discover the wall required fewer flowers than usual. Allowing the black foam to show through the flowers added depth, creat- ed visual interest and left Alex with lots of excess roses. Black goes with everything. Black is a popular color choice because it is ver- satile, stylish and elegant. "Designers are always looking for new products," says Floral Educator Joyce Mason-Monheim AIFD, AAF, PFCI of Tucson, Arizona. "Midnight foam allows for more creative opportuni- ties." Not So Basic Black Basic black is often considered the ulti- mate in good taste. Midnight is the "new" black when it comes to dressing up your flowers for black tie affairs: it can be used in any style of design. It recedes visually inside a glass vase allow- ing flowers to catch the eye. There is no need to cover it with foliage; the black base becomes an element of the on-trend design, and it's a sophisticated look for party, wedding and sympathy designs. John Kittinger AIFD of Lexington, Kentucky suggests, "Midnight is a great new element for contemporary designs." Why Choose Midnight? "The convenience, speed of design and trendy new look appeals to a younger crowd," adds Smithers-Oasis Design Director Neville MacKay. A previous color foam product, Rainbow Foam, was dense and didn't hold water well. Smithers-Oasis Product Manager Cameron O'Neill con- firms, "Midnight foam holds water the same as the other Oasis floral foam prod- ucts. Each one-third block of foam holds one liter of water just as regular floral foam does. Each full block of foam holds three liters of water." "Midnight is a perfect mechanic for a black vase as the foam blends in with the container," says Smithers-Oasis Design Director Loann Burke AIFD, AAF, PFCI. "The black col- ored floral foam becomes an invisible part of the structure." Why Buy Midnight Floral Foam? The versatile floral foam can be used to support flower stems as a water source or cut into interesting shapes to add artistic flair to your designs. Midnight was developed in Europe as the black tie of floral mechanics and has received an overwhelmingly positive response from U.S. consumers. For more information, go to www.smithersoasis.com. New Product Stager from Triangle Improves Produce Bagging Speeds, Efficiency With thousands of machine installations throughout North America and the world, Triangle Package Machinery Company has a reputation for applying state-of-the- art innovation to help its customers become more competitive. Founded in 1923 by Louis Muskat, who introduced a packaging machine that more than dou- bled typical production of the day, today the family's third generation continues a tradition of innovation in packaging machinery. Triangle's packaging solu- tions for the produce industry include vertical form fill seal (VFFS) baggers, combination weighers and a rotary depositor/tray loading system. Many of Triangle's innovations have come from listening to its customers and helping them solve new challenges. Triangle's new product stager is one such innovation. The product stager is a new technology now available on all Triangle X-Series VFFS bagging machines, including heat seal or ultrasonic baggers. The challenge? How to eliminate or reduce product in the skirt (the top or bot- tom seal area of a bag), which was an issue faced by packagers of products like leafy greens or hash browns. Depending on the orientation of the product as it is dis- charged from scale to bagger, it may fall flat or on edge into a bag and through the bagger's sealing jaws. Mounted above the sealing jaws, the product stager closes on the film before the sealing jaws to catch product which would otherwise be stuck in the cross seal. This reduces leakers by reducing the occur- rence of product in the seal. Triangle's product stager can be installed with heat seal or ultrasonic seal jaws. With ultrasonic sealing technology – a cold seal technology – the sealing jaws seal right through product, which elim- inates product in the seal (PIS) by pushing it completely out of the seal area. In some cases, however, this can lead to product in the skirt. The stager allows users to close off the stream of product and catch any stragglers before the jaws close. In heat seal applications, the stager has helped customers improve produc- tion by increasing bagging speeds 20-50 percent. One produce customer, for instance, saw bagging speeds increase from 50 to 75 bags per minute. Similar successes have been achieved with ultra- sonic sealing applications. About Triangle Package Machinery Company Triangle Package Machinery is a U.S. manufacturer of vertical form fill seal (VFFS) bag machines, com- bination weighers, horizontal car- toning/bag-in-box systems, and tray loading/depositing systems. Founded in 1923, Triangle is headquar- tered in Chicago, Illinois, and offers a 120,000 square foot facility that houses its entire manufacturing process from raw material fabrication through complete machine testing and checkout. Triangle also provides superior after sales support, training, documentation and online trou- bleshooting, as well as spare parts service. For more information, call 800.621.4170, stop by booth #16015 or go to www.trianglepackage.com. 1. Work with a network of growers. For consistent supply, it's a good idea to work with geographically diverse grow- ers. Watermelon is a nomadic crop with harvest times varying by location. Typically, the first U.S. watermelons of the season come in April from Florida and Texas. As the season progresses, the harvest moves in waves toward northern climates. Working with multiple growers gives you a larger supply and reduces the chances of a region creating problems. Keep in mind how summer weather issues can impact supply. For example, if you work with only a single grower in Florida and a hurricane wipes out their crop, you need a backup option. Having a network of growers is essential. Robinson Fresh offers consistent global supply with produce grown in over 40 countries with the strongest growing sea- sons. 2. Make plans, but plan to be flexible. During summer surges, it's probable something will go wrong with your fresh supply chain. But since you can't know exactly what (or when), you need to have proactive backup solutions ready. When, for example, a severe storm hits your main distribution center, an already- established multipronged supply chain Four Steps (Cont'd. from p. 1) could mean the difference between unin- terrupted watermelon orders and a three- day out of stock situation. 3. Prepare your fresh supply chain for success. Watermelons are a challenging item to move through the supply chain – they are bulky and can be awkward to transport, with harvest times all over the map (liter- ally!) from April to September. That's why it's important to work with a grow- er-shipper that emphasizes accurate lead times and stays in constant communica- tion with you about crops, fill rates and correct product availability. They should also monitor the weather and keep you updated if melons from particular regions will arrive from the field earlier or later than anticipated. 4. Analyze now for a better tomorrow. Use this year's summer surge as an opportunity to improve your fresh supply chains for the future. Completing a qual- ity supply chain analysis can go a long way toward making next year's summer surge planning even better. After the sea- son wraps up, take the time to analyze what worked well and what didn't; then, implement changes as necessary. For more information, visit www.robinson fresh.com or stop by booth #12010. customer. All this inefficiency means orders take too long to pick up, and a convenient option becomes an inconven- ient hassle. That's the kind of aggrava- tion and anxiety that can drive away cus- tomers who don't have the time or patience to deal with it. It's this less-than-perfect scenario that inspired the development of 2019's Kitchen Innovations Award recipient, the AXCESS 2000.H Pick-Up Station from Apex Supply Chain Technologies ® . The industry's first heated, self-serve order pick-up station was specifically designed to make the "last inch" handoff of digital orders more convenient for customers – and more efficient for employees. The lockers feature a smart, two- sided design, meant to be strategically located so that employees can load orders from the back, while customers pick up in front. More importantly, it's a fast, Take Order Pick-Up (Cont'd. from p. 1) self-serve experience for busy people who don't have time to wait in line. The real genius of the order pick-up station is that it continues the fast, effi- cient experience that begins with the dig- ital order process. Once an employee places the order in the compartment for pick-up, the customer receives a text or email with a unique code. Then they can skip the line and go straight to the pick- up station, where they scan or enter their code. The secure compartment holding their order opens, they grab their order and are on their way in seconds. Just as importantly, the AXCESS 2000.H also makes order pickup less dis- ruptive and more efficient for restaurant operations. The flow-through design makes it easy for associates to load orders from the back, and they don't get in the way of customers picking up at the front. For more information, go to www.apex supplychain.com/foodservice.