Way Down Under

Despite its corporate name, there is not a hint of so-called fortress mentality at the Toronto-based Fortress Technology Inc., a leading Canadian manufacturer of high-performance metal detection and other product-inspection technologies for applications in the food, beverage and other consumer product industries requiring zero tolerance for product contamination.

In fact, the family-owned company has been a poster child for Canada’s success in the global marketplace, having expanded its manufacturing footprint and other business operations to the U.K. and Brazil over the years to create a true global market presence, backed up with world-class technology and product innovation that have enabled it to succeed mightily in the European and South American markets.

Earlier this year, Fortress Technology continued building on its globe-trotting reputation with another major global acquisition aimed at building its business in the geographically distant markets across Oceania and Asia Pacific regions.

Founded in 1998, New Zealand-based Dynamic Inspection is the country’s only manufacturer of inline food-grade metal detectors—as well as X-ray inspection and checkweighing equipment—for the dairy industry, primarily for milk powder applications.

Having integrated Fortress metal detector technology from its inception, the Dynamic Inspection team is already equipped with a comprehensive understanding of the equipment, software features and approach to harmonizing global food safety—paving the way for what should be a seamless integration of the two companies’ core competencies and business philosophies.

With this in mind, Canadian Packaging magazine recently caught up with Fortress Technology’s regional sales manager Eric Carr to explain the mutual benefits and competitive advantage this landmark acquisition is expected to deliver.

How long has Fortress Technology been associated with Dynamic Inspection Limited?
A: Dynamic Inspection was founded around the same time as Fortress Technology. We have been supplying metal detection technology to the New Zealand based firm and sharing our respective design and application experience since their inception. Fortress Technology’s chief executive officer Steve Gidman and Dynamic founder Bob Philpott fir met over 40 years ago, sharing their mutual interest in metal detection and food safety.

What were the synergies between the companies which underpinned the long relationship?
A: There are three predominant factors, starting with a mutual passion for building the highest-quality and best-performing metal detection systems, which are custom-designed to suit each end user’s specific needs.

This goes hand-in-hand with a shared customer focus to ensure that the systems are simple to operate, maintain and support—resulting in delivering systems with the longest service life and lowest total cost-of-ownership.

Above all, it is the understanding that providing responsive and effective customer support is the backbone of our success.

As with every Fortress Technology location globally, good customer support has been the backbone of Dynamic’s success and growth.

This service continuity will not only remain in place, but be strengthened with additional Fortress global resources. The transition to Fortress now enables the New Zealand manufacturing hub to recruit more experts and expand its business reach.

Their access to the Fortress Technology’s R&D department is already resulting in the emergence of new technologies to support evolving food safety requirements in the New Zealand and Australian markets, with growing demand for equipping specific industries with market-defining QA (quality assurance), testing, X-ray, combination and checkweighing equipment.

Was there a specific reason behind Fortress targeting Oceania countries?
A: New Zealand may be small, but there’s extensive and untapped market potential underpinned by innovation and high yields.

Having closer proximity to the Oceania market will enable Fortress to provide a more responsive service to local agents, fostering their growth. Supplying and servicing markets locally is always the best approach to ensure timely support, efficient maintenance, and unparalleled support for customers.

The New Zealand food sector is a model of export safety and trust. Producing sought-after dairy, milk powder, meat and fruit products, demand for these export commodities totaled $42.3 billion in 2022, and it is expected to increase and diversify.

This is leading to greater demand among processors across the region for advanced performance inspection equipment, universal codes of practice and enhanced data integration.

These are all areas that Fortress has extensive expertise and a proven track record in helping existing Dynamic customers, as well as prospective new ones, to grow their export markets in alignment with food safety regulations.

How will the legacy of Dynamic Inspection strengthen the Fortress portfolio and its R&D division?
A: Dynamic is very aligned to the Fortress brand. By formalizing this long-standing alliance and transferring ownership to Fortress, customers will benefit from both companies’ respective and innovative expertise. In turn, this will help to strengthen and advance food safety culture as a whole.

Dynamic’s knowledge of the dairy sector is unparalleled. Having integrated Fortress metal detector technology from its inception, the Dynamic Inspection team is already equipped with a comprehensive understanding of the equipment, software features, and approach to harmonizing global food safety. Having access to this extensive equipment portfolio, and a much larger design and R&D talent pool, now means that the New Zealand team, led by general manager Tim Whyte, can meet any site-specific inspection requirement.

Significantly, this will help processors expand their domestic and export market reach with an assurance that they are complying with the GFSI production standards.

How much customization is involved in the New Zealand installations, and to what extent have various automation hallmarks—such as automatic testing and data analysis, for example—have been widely adopted there?
A: Given that legacy equipment is deeply rooted in the manufacturing world, and considering the capital expenditure, there always tends to be an element of customization and equipment integration to each project, regardless of where the processors are based.

Even Fortress’s standard Vector conveyors are somewhat customized to specifications to meet existing factory configurations and ensure that the metal-detector performance is optimized.

Strict dimensions, application requirements, the choice of reject mechanisms, and high-care sanitation requirements are other common reasons behind our equipment customizations.

If clients require simple additions, such as buzzers and alarms, or want to equip their systems with the latest smart digital technology, almost anything is possible.

Most customers in New Zealand are now starting to enhance the level of data they can collect out of equipment, which is in step with most other markets.

When it comes to our Halo automatic testing system, it is a new concept to most in New Zealand, due to the fact that it wasn’t initially adopted by Dynamic Inspection. But with Fortress now taking over manufacturing, this will now be readily available in New Zealand. So far, our customers have been very receptive, and even excited, about this newly available innovation.

As a Canadian-based company, how does Fortress intend to support Dynamic Inspection in New Zealand?
A: Fortress will share its expansive portfolio of products with the New Zealand team which, in addition to metal detectors includes checkweighers, combination systems and, shortly, X-ray equipment.

Local engineers based in Cambridge, New Zealand will also adopt identical manufacturing processes. This means that regardless of where customers purchase Fortress inspection technologies, they will look the same, and deliver the same food safety quality control, inspection performance and processing efficiencies.

Fortress will continue to leverage each manufacturing hub’s localized knowledge to respond to market and food safety needs, as well as changing consumer-supplier relationships.

In light of Dynamic Inspection’s strong reputation within New Zealand’s dairy sector, how will this strengthen Fortress’ position in the global dairy sector?
A: Processors look towards New Zealand as a model of processing efficiency in the dairy sector, especially with regard to sustainable production.

Given the multinational scope of this market, adopting more environmentally friendly methods of dairy production can aid the mission to a greener future. In New Zealand, for example, new technology has been employed to reuse water from the condensation process involved in the production of milk powder. This ‘reclaimed’ water system is expected to save half a million litres of groundwater daily.

Additionally, one of the most sustainable methods of reducing waste is implementing inspection technology into a production line.

Metal detection, X-Ray and checkweighing systems help dairy processors address critical waste, sourcing and sustainability challenges by targeting operational inefficiencies, including upstream product giveaways, non-conforming food packs, and other packaging and contamination issues.

Dynamic has already had a huge impact on strengthening our position in the global dairy market. Not only is New Zealand very strong in dairy processing, but also has many companies which provide full dairy processing lines.

Dynamic had forged many relationships with these companies which resulted in the Dynamic/Fortress brands’s growing footprint in the global dairy industry.

We expect continued growth in this sector, as we proceed to enhance the level of products and services for this industry.

How important is localized knowledge in responding to market and food safety needs?
A: Although the general focus is on strengthening global food safety, domestic regulations cater to local needs, the localized understanding of production nuances, import and export regulations, traceability requirements, along with retailer codes of practice, means that food safety systems can be adapted to market requirements.

Close vicinity to customers allows Fortress the flexibility to scale production up and down to respond to customer demand.

Apart from several electronic parts, the systems can be designed and made locally, which is more sustainable in and of itself.

Moreover, through Fortress Technology the manufacturing hubs also have direct access to global food safety intel and the lateral thinking that’s so critical to maintaining the company’s reputation as a premium food-inspection machinery supplier.

How do you successfully acquire a business with a strong reputation within its local market?
A: In the case of Dynamic Inspection, it was always assumed that Fortress would one day be at the helm. So while strong reputation certainly helped with making this acquisition attractive, continuing and enhancing support for the end users was the driving force behind it.

In terms of success, I strongly believe that it relies on the people. The people are the ones who have been paramount to the success of the business over the years and will continue to be the key to reaching our objectives. Tim Whyte and the whole team at Dynamic Inspection share our values, and passion and are excited for the change that Fortress will bring.

Are there plans for a fifth manufacturing site?
A: Not right now, as we have coverage of four continents and surrounding territories, including the U.S., South America, Europe and EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), and now the Oceania and APAC (Asia-Pacific) regions.

We continue to keep up to date with food-safety requirements to ensure that processors have access to the latest technology, without compromising our personalized service and innovation ethos.

This is why we are simultaneously developing our distribution network, ensuring that our agile, simple to operate, yet high-performance, ‘Never Obsolete’ inspection products are always maintained at the highest level.