Confectionery industry techniques

The determination of the thickness of the layers of fat and lean tissue in animal flesh is the most popular use of ultrasound in the food industry at present [5,6]. In fact there are over a hundred references pertaining to this application of ultrasound in the Food Science and Technology Abstracts (1969-1993). In contrast to most other applications of ultrasound in the food industry, which have rarely developed further than use in the laboratory, there are a number of commercial instruments available for grading meat quality [6, 30-32]. This application is based on measurement of time intervals between ultrasonic pulses reflected from boundaries between layers of fat, lean tissue and bone. Ultrasonic techniques have the advantage that they are fairly cheap, easy to operate and give predictions of meat quality of live animals. Other examples of thickness determinations include liquid levels in cans or tanks, thickness of coatings on confectioneries, egg shell thickness. 

That said some industries appear to value the use of strategy tools and techniques more than others. The top performance scores for both firm and function combined were recorded in the Basic Chemicals (0.80), the Confectionery (0.78), the Computer Hardware (0.76), the Media Entertainment (0.75), IT Solutions (0.73), and Construction (0.71) industry sectors. The lowest combined performance scores were reported in the Publishing (0.43), Transport Equipment (0.56) and Aerospace (0.57) sectors. In the middle performance rank came Power Water (0.62), Retail Financial Services, Telecommunications and Tourism Leisure (all scoring 0.63), Retail Distribution (0.65), Oil Gas (0.66) and, finally. Healthcare (0.69). 

Confectionery (0.76) were the most positive industry sectors about performance. Once again a pattern appears to emerge that is echoed in the strategy function survey. Sometimes, and especially at the firm level, industry sectors that do not normally use tools and techniques extensively - like Media Entertainment, Publishing and Tourism Leisure - are the very ones that report the highest levels of performance satisfaction when compared with those that use the tools and techniques extensively. 

This conclusion appears to be borne out by the findings related to functional level performance satisfaction levels. The industry sectors reporting the highest levels of satisfaction with tool and technique use related to functional improvements were Basic Chemicals (0.91), Computer Hardware (0.83), IT Solutions (0.77) and Confectionery (0.76). It would appear that these are sectors in which the level of competition is severe and the opportunities for mould breaking initiatives strategically are limited. In such an environment it is likely that tool and technique usage will be heavily weighted in favour of those that improve operational effectiveness and functional improvement. 

Table 9.9 outlines the findings from a series of questions focused on the extent to which tool and technique inadequacy or internal barriers where responsible for failures of implementation. At the group level only the Process/Combined (with 61%) and the Project/Combined (with 57%) groups blamed tool inadequacy more than internal barriers for failures of implementation. All of the other groupings tended to blame internal barriers rather than tool and technique inadequacy as the primary cause of failure. At the industry sector level there was a wider differentiation. Those most blaming tool and technique inadequacy included Telecommunications (88%), Oil Gas (76%), Basic Chemicals (64%) and Computer Hardware (59%). Those most blaming internal barriers included Aerospace (78%), Retail Distribution (75%), Tourism Leisure (71%), Retail Financial Services (68%), Publishing (67%), IT Solutions (57%) and Confectionery (55%). 

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