"Got milk?" "Get a life!" These popular sayings may soon be replaced, at least in food and beverage operations circles, by a new mantra: Get an automation strategy.
In addressing the food and beverage sector attendees at Emerson's Global Users Exchange Conference in Orlando last month, John Blanchard, principal analyst with ARC Advisory Group, said that today's key food industry drivers include: flexibility to meet customer needs; product quality and safety; customer requirements; regulatory requirements; more and often complicated new products; speed-to-market for new products; and loss of key experienced staff known as "knowledge workers."