The global food and beverage industry is worth over $7 trillion. With complex processes from production to packaging, modeling and simulation (M&S) is crucial for driving innovation, improving efficiency, and enhancing sustainability in a rapidly evolving sector. Companies leverage M&S to optimize every step, saving time and resources.
This seminar shows how simulation addresses four major priorities:
Join simulation engineers, technical managers, and academics to explore real-world applications and future trends. Expert speakers will share case studies and discuss emerging simulation technologies, demonstrating how M&S optimises processes (e.g. mixing, packaging), reduces waste, and drives a competitive edge. Attendees will gain actionable insights into strategies that industry leaders use to innovate sustainably and stay competitive, giving them new ideas to apply simulation for improved performance and growth.
“As the food and beverage industry faces increasing pressure to innovate healthier products without compromising consumer enjoyment, modelling and simulation technologies offer a powerful, yet underutilised, solution. These tools can unlock significant cost savings by resolving manufacturing challenges and accelerating smarter product design. Despite their potential, adoption remains low—hindered by the complexity, time investment, and advanced technical knowledge required to build high-fidelity, physics-based models that accurately reflect real-world food processes.
The rheological behaviour of raw and processed foods is inherently complex, often involving multiscale structures made up of different materials and multiple phases—such as colloids, slurries, and foams. Accurately simulating these systems poses significant challenges, particularly when it comes to capturing the dynamic interactions that occur during food processing. These include realistic modelling of liquid–solid mixing, fragmentation, multiphase flow behaviour, and the influence of intricate machinery geometries. A novel particle-based approach will be presented, combining Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) for modelling continua (liquids and deformable solids) with the Discrete Element Method (DEM) for tracking discrete elements like particulates and bubbles. This hybrid method enables realistic predictions of mixing, fragmentation, flow, and structural transformation across a range of food systems and processes.
The talk will also highlight the role of Digital Human models in bridging food processing with in-body performance and includes results from our recent work with Pepsico on material characterisation and oral processing of snack products. Further, by simulating oral processing and gastric digestion, such models may provide valuable insights into how food structure impacts nutrient release, satiety, and sensory perception - paving the way for reformulated products that better align with both health goals and consumer expectations.”
Bio: Dr Matt Sinnott is a Principal Research Scientist with the Modelling and Simulation team of CSIRO Data61, Australia. The team are world leaders in the development of Particle Based Modelling (PBM) methods: Discrete Element Method (DEM) and Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH), and the coupling of these and additional solvers to model multi-physics systems. From a background in computational & particle physics, he was awarded his PhD in high energy astrophysics at Adelaide University in 2002 and joined CSIRO to simulate dynamic complex physical systems involving fluid/granular/material flows. His research work spans diverse application domains from industrial process engineering to the biophysical “Digital Human” space. Winner of the 2022 iChemE Senior Moulton Medal for his paper “A particle-based modelling approach to food processing operations”, he has 127 peer-reviewed publications (57 journal; 65 conference; 5 book chapters) and has been cited more than 3500 times with a h-index of 35 (Google Scholar). Matt’s research focus is on studying the interplay between different physics at different scales which influence the emergent behaviours of complex physical systems, and how to leverage that knowledge to control those behaviours for desired outcomes. He often seeks opportunities for innovation and novel perspectives that come from multidisciplinary approaches, particularly where different application domains (such as food manufacturing and in-body digestion) intersect and influence each other.
| Event Type | Seminar |
|---|---|
| Member Price | £132.24 | $175.00 | €152.90 |
| Non-member Price | £207.80 | $275.00 | €240.26 |
| Credit Price | Free when using 2 Member Credits |
| Start Date | End Date | Location | |
|---|---|---|---|
| | Valhalla, NY, USA | |
Register for the food and beverage event by August 29th—whether you're a member, non-member, or using credits—and receive a free physical copy of "Why Do Discrete Element Analysis", a value of $120, when you check in onsite.
View Sponsorship Opportunities
Pepsico Facility
50 E Stevens Ave, Valhalla, NY 10595
The full day of event content will take place at the Pepsico facility. There is no dedicated room block or designated hotel for the event.
Stay up to date with our technology updates, events, special offers, news, publications and training
If you want to find out more about NAFEMS and how membership can benefit your organisation, please click below.
Joining NAFEMS© NAFEMS Ltd 2025
Developed By Duo Web Design
