B&D Resources, the exclusive North American distributor for German-headquartered SEPAmatic Food Processing Machines, has hired Jim Roberds to lead its research & development efforts.

With more than 45 years of experience in the food and meat processing industry, Roberds will provide SEPAmatic’s U.S. and Canadian customers with a unique combination of food science and hands-on operational expertise. In this role, he will work to uncover new ways they can increase yield and production efficiency toward optimizing their equipment ROI and profitability.

Prior to joining B&D Resources, Roberds held multiple high-level positions in both the operations and laboratory sides of production within a number of Smithfield International companies, including Swift/Conagra. In that time, he managed several major cost-reduction initiatives that saw multimillion dollar returns: most notably, a fine-texture pork (FTP) project involving SEPAmatic equipment that produced savings in the tens of millions.

“Already familiar with Jim professionally, we were aware of his capabilities from a distance,” says B&D Resources’ founder and owner, David Radford. “He’s always shown a keen eye for getting the most out of a production floor and he has a track record to reflect that. We’re very excited to see what he can do to serve our customers and their bottom line going forward.”

B&D Resources will represent SEPAmatic in booth #BC9313 at the forthcoming International Production & Processing Expo (IPPE), taking place at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Ga., on Jan. 24–26, 2023.

Sources: B&D Resources; SEPAmatic