Food and Drink Engineering Committee

Retired

Martyn Ralph, is a recently retired, International Brewery Design Engineer.

He is a Chartered Mechanical Engineer, a member of the Institute of Brewing and Distilling and a member of the Brewing Engineers Association. Martyn worked for large multinational brewers and consulting engineers on five continents, designing breweries and acting as Owner’s Representative on multi-million dollar projects. He is a specialist in managing projects in third-world and developing countries.

His skills as a brewery engineer have also been used in the hygienic, non-brewing sectors, such as Dairy Processing, Baby Foods, Soft Drinks, Food, Toiletries and Polymers.

Martyn also worked as a Consultant for Micro-brewery owners including the Little Creatures and Mikkeller Breweries in London.

Keith Brewood is a specialist consultant to the food industry.

Keith is a Chartered Engineer and also a Member of the Institute of Food Science & Technology and a professional member of the Institute of Food Technology. Keith has a wide knowledge of the Food Industry gained from designing and building food factories worldwide to product and process development bringing new products to market. Keith has operated and managed food businesses at a senior level in technical, operational, commercial, marketing and CEO capacities.

Keith is a founding member of the British Contract Manufacturers & Packers Association.

Bill is a Chartered Mechanical Engineer and Chartered Environmentalist. Bill has a wide range of experience of energy, utility and process projects from the food and pharmaceutical industries.

Bill has previously served on the IMechE's Pharmaceutical Committee.

Managing Director, Koolmill Systems Limited

Alec is a pioneering visionary engineer and innovator.

He is the inventor of a radical disruptive cereal processing technology, Koolmill which will l transform an antiquate global industry that feeds 3.5 billion people daily. Koolmill addresses 16 sustainable development goals by minimising post-harvest loss, moving the rice industry to a more sustainable future.

With three UK innovation awards, Alec was runner up at the AGInnovation Showcase (USA-2016). In China, Alec, designated as a national expert, is on the Global Foreign Expert Recruitment Program and was the only UK recipient of the West Lake Friendship Award for Foreign Experts (2010).

Koolmill competed with supercar brand McLaren to win the UKTI Sponsored GREAT British Product Award in Beijing (2014).

Saudi Goody Products Marketing Co Ltd

Manufacturing Performance Redefined

Chief Engineer, Cranswick Foods

Project Engineer, Element Digital Engineering

Derek Chapman is a Mechanical Engineer working for Hubbard Products designing commercial and industrial refrigeration systems. He is committed to decarbonisation of the industry, overseeing projects to deliver zero emission transport refrigeration systems and the use of phase changing materials to improve duty cycle efficiency.

He is currently redesigning the Hubbard portfolio to make use of natural refrigerants, reducing the environmental impact of systems throughout their operational lifespan.

Reader, Imperial College Administration

Engineering Director, Briggs of Burton PLC

A Chartered Mechanical Engineer, and Fellow of the IMechE, with extensive experience leading major multi-discipline projects across a wide range of industries within the hygienic sectors including brewing, distilling, spirit storage & packaging, food and pharmaceuticals.

Willett Food Projects Ltd

Researcher - Air Conditioning & Refrigeration, Food Refrigeration Operations,
London South Bank University

Judith has 30 years’ experience of working on food refrigeration operations throughout the food cold chain. Her main areas of interest are related to efficiency and energy reduction as well as design and performance of refrigeration equipment.

Judith is President of the International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR) Commission C2 on Food Science and Engineering, Vice President of the CaRe (careers in refrigeration) working party and the cold chain in warmer climates working party. She is the UK's Institute of Refrigeration representative to the IIR.

Mars Inc

Lecturer in Food Safety/Food Innovation, Greenwich University

Ian is Business Development Director for Systems adi, specialising in delivering projects to the food & drink industry.

He is a Chartered Engineer and has extensive experience of successfully developing customer focussed teams delivering high added value engineering investments in both private and public sector organisations throughout the world.

Ian has also worked in the pharmaceutical, water treatment, nuclear, data centre and aquaculture sectors and utilises this experience to assist customers meet their needs.

Managing Director, ValuPoint Ltd

Ed is a Senior Executive with global expertise in improving supply chain performance by applying Lean best practices. He leads the Solutions Division at Competitive Capabilities International. CCi combines digital solutions and advisory services to transform business performance.

With a career spanning almost 30-years in operations in the consumer goods and beverage industries, Ed has either run operations or led manufacturing transformations in Africa, Europe, Latin America, USA, Australia and China. He has worked on both sides of acquisitions to deliver sustainable benefits and integrated teams. In 2016, following the largest acquisition in UK history, Ed led the integration of ABInBev and SABMiller’s Supply Excellence Programs. At SABMiller, Ed spearheaded a global operational excellence program to improve performance across 80+ sites and deliver $500m in P&L benefits, and led the “Future of Work and Digitalisation in Manufacturing” program.

Centre for Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Research, London South Bank University

Honorary research fellow, School of Food and Advanced Tech, Massey

Project Engineer, Central Engineering, Warburtons Ltd

Graduate in Mechanical Engineering

PepsiCo

Director, Programme and Project Management - Operational Performance Improvement

Kevin has 40 years’ experience of leading engineering in the food industry both nationally and internationally. He has a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Birmingham, an MBA and has been a Chartered Engineer for over 30 years.

His background has covered all of the three main disciplines of engineering in high volume manufacturing; investment management, operational engineering and technology development. This experience has enabled Kevin to understand the practical aspects of delivering asset performance through managing large investment programmes, delivering operational efficiency improvements and the development and implementation of new technologies.

Having worked across Europe, Asia and the Americas, Kevin has a strong cultural awareness and believes that emerging technologies can be used to reduce the environmental impact of the food industry while improving the efficiency and quality of the food supply chain.

Warburtons Ltd

Keith Thornhill is Head of Food and Beverage Automation for Siemens Digital Factory Division.

He started his career completing an apprenticeship with British Rail Engineering Ltd in Crewe and entered the automation industry in 1986. After key business manager roles. Keith joined Siemens in 2001 as a Business Development Manager in the Siemens Motion Control group and latterly as Siemens Food and Beverage Business Manager identifying the productivity, efficiency and production flexibility benefits that automation technology and the digital enterprise will deliver to the food and beverage sector

He is the Chairman of Industry Advisory Board for the National Centre of Excellence for Food Engineering.

Senior Principal Engineer, Discovery & Disruption, PepsiCo International Limited, 

Stacie is a Senior Principal Engineer working at PepsiCo International based at their Global R&D centre at Beaumont Park, Leicester. Stacie is also a PepsiCo R&D Fellow.

Stacie leads the computational simulation and modelling agenda for PepsiCo in the UK and Europe. He previously worked in the Power Industry and spent 9 years working at General Electric and Alstom Power before joining PepsiCo back in the summer of 2017.

He holds a Masters degree and PhD in Mechanical Engineering. Stacie is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Stacie is also the Co-founder and Chair of the Food and Drink Industry Committee at NAFEMS (professional body for simulation engineers) and sits on the leadership board of the Food Consortium.

National Consultant Specialist UK & ROI, Spirax Sarco

Dan Wells is the National Consultant Specialist for Spirax Sarco, providing Educational; Technical and Commercial support for Steam-users; Consultant Design Engineers; EPCs and Contractors across the UK & ROI. Working closely with the Spirax Sarco’s Area Engineering & Project Teams, Dan has many years’ experience with a broad range of Industrial Applications – Including Food & Beverage. Areas of expertise include Decarbonisation of existing Steam networks and mitigating risk & improving product quality wherever steam is in direct or indirect contact with the process.

Senior Lecturer, Engineering Group, Harper Adams University College, Newport

Retired/Consultant