Scott Hartley

Title

Development Engineer

Company

Sonoco

Modeling software that accelerates pet food shelf life testing and packaging design – Scott Hartley, development engineer for Sonoco, describes a case study using modeling software to quickly estimate the shelf life of moisture-sensitive pet food products. The study determined the moisture sorption/loss of three cat treat products and included a review of typical pet food packages found in the marketplace, demonstrating their impact on shelf life. Hartley shares the correlation between predicted and actual shelf life, as the software was shown to simulate physical shelf life testing for a variety of package formats, barrier materials and storage conditions, allowing for quick evaluation of tradeoffs.

Hartley has worked with Sonoco for seven years in various research and development roles. Prior to Sonoco, he was a teacher’s assistant at Clemson University, with responsibility for food packaging laboratory classes, including water activity studies. He earned a bachelor of science in biological sciences and a master of science in packaging science, both from Clemson University. Hartley also holds one patent.