Knowledge Exchange in Denver

Still trying to decide whether you’ll be in Denver? This year’s schedule will provide you with plenty of time to visit the exhibitors as well as enhance your knowledge at the educational sessions during the 123rd Annual IAOM Annual Conference & Expo.

Conference afternoons feature panel discussions and expert speakers sharing their perspectives and insights on a variety of hot topics in the industry. This allows for more uninterrupted time for exploring the sold out expo floor.

Wednesday’s education sessions will start at 1 pm in rooms 102-109 of the Colorado Convention Center and feature four tracks familiar to conference-goers. The Employee Relations track will include a look at drug and alcohol policies in the workplace, offered by Renee Rhodes of IMA, Inc. A one-hour panel discussion on catastrophic event management will follow with panelists Troy Anderson, Jon Stuewe and Greg Handy, all from Ardent Mills.

The Product Protection track will kick off presentations with a 30-minute presentation on validating baking processes as a kill step for salmonella destruction. The presenter will be Dr. Kantha Channaiah of AIB International.

A one-hour presentation will follow to include IPM: inspection, sanitation and strategies, co-presented by Sherry Rhoads, RiceBran Technologies, Eric Myers, ADM Milling, and Jim Campbell, USDA-ARS GMPRC.

The Technical Operations track will take a look at Mennel Milling Company’s new D-mill with Mennel’s Dave Marty; the correlation of wheat hardness and optimal temper by K-State student Kirsty Gordon; and the environmental influence on wheat quality by Ashok Sarkar, Cigi.

The Facility Management track will feature prescriptive versus performance-based application of NFPA 61 by John Wincek, DEKRA Process Safety; milling performance and grain procurement practices by Dr. Jeff Gwirtz, JAG Services; and safefood.ai by Gerardo Morantes of Bühler.

Thursday’s afternoon sessions will begin at 1 pm and feature two, one-hour presentations. The first will have NAMA’s Jim McCarthy and Chris Clark providing an overview of the ever-changing regulatory and political landscape in the industry.

The second hour will feature a conference-favorite: a Miller/Allied Trades panel discussion, led by Joel Hoffa, JRH Consulting and Cowley College Milling Technician instructor. The expert panelists are Steve Curran, General Mills; Marco Galli, Ocrim SpA; Ed LaPreze, Pepper Maintenance; Kyle Penner, Kice Industries; and Georg Schafler, Bühler. The panel will discuss various challenges the industry faces.