Arthur E. de Cordova is the president and CEO of Ziel, which provides integrated microbial control solutions for the cannabis and food industries. The company is rooted in food safety and leveraged its core technology about 10 years ago to get into cannabis.
At MJBizCon 2024 in Las Vegas, Ziel showcased the latest version of the RFX unit, a machine capable of processing hundreds of tons of flower using radio frequency technology. De Cordova says the RFX is a batch machine that can treat up to five pounds of cannabis every 15 minutes. He says it has the highest throughput and uptime in the industry and can help operators bring microbial control challenges into regulatory compliance.
De Cordova says cultivators will always face microbial challenges—they are an inherent part of the business that operators cannot escape. Microbials are in grow rooms, drying rooms, and even on employee arms. The sooner microbial remediation and decontamination are added to SOPs, the sooner cannabis businesses will flourish, with higher revenue, higher pass rates, higher margins, and more money in their pocket.
"If you're not bringing product to market, you are inefficiently running your business," de Cordova adds. Every CFO knows that they need the highest yield from every harvest to sell at the highest available price—when things start to dip, ROI diminishes.
De Cordova is particularly excited about the evolving medical market in Europe. While it has started small, he says it shows great promise, especially with regulations calling for mandatory good manufacturing practices (GMP).
The Cannabis Equipment News (CEN) team recently traveled to MJBizCon 2024 in Las Vegas from December 4 through December 6. At the show, we interviewed leaders from nearly every aspect of the industry. We didn't have time to interview everybody, so if we missed you, please reach out to [email protected]. MJBizCon 2025 is scheduled to be held from December 2, 2025, through December 5, 2025, at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
