ROBESONIA, PA. — Reading Bakery Systems (RBS) is expanding the product development and equipment testing capabilities at its Science & Innovation Center by offering new “virtual trials” and hiring additional food technologists.

“While businesses are still being impacted by pandemic-related restrictions, consumer demand for new and healthier snack foods has accelerated,” said Travis Getz, vice president of operations at RBS. “In so, we needed an efficient and effective way to serve our customer’s everchanging product innovation and development efforts with the expertise they expect from RBS.”

According to RBS, the new virtual trials will provide remote access to the Science & Innovation Center’s capabilities, including product development, equipment testing and demonstration, and production of samples. As part of the virtual trial process, participants communicate with the RBS team by video conference. Participants are able to view the production floor from wide-angle cameras, capture discrete video and still images, and receive reports capturing process settings. They also can have product samples shipped for analysis.

Meanwhile, the addition of food technologists will help guide the virtual trials for customers and provide invaluable onsite expertise, RBS said, adding that it is recruiting food technologists.

“Full access, multimedia content is shared in real-time, just as it would be if the customer were with us onsite, regardless of their physical location around the globe,” Mr. Getz said. “There are multiple benefits of the virtual offerings, including no travel costs, and reduced coordination and time commitments.”