While the number of reportable food and beverage projects in 2012 hit a peak of 600, the second-highest number in the last eight years, 2013 came up a bit short, with a total of 555 projects, according to Food Engineering’s 37th Annual Plant Construction Survey. Reportable projects are those that have been made public by the processor itself, a government entity (including local or state economic development groups) or the architectural and engineering/construction (A&E/C) firms responsible for the project. The survey looks at projects that were begun, announced or completed in 2013.
There could be several reasons for the lower number this year. For example, several catch-up projects begun after the 2007-2008 recession when more funding became available may have been finished in 2012. Or it may be because A&E/C firms had more proprietary projects that couldn’t be listed in the chart. Another possibility, noted by a few A&E/C firms, was that some consolidation has been reported as processors located larger facilities—or decided to build one large, up-to-date automated plant to replace several aging facilities. Yet another reason offered by some firms is that the cost of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) has sucked capital out of expansion projects for some processors.