One glance at this year’s Food Engineering State of Manufacturing survey indicates, that for the most part, food and beverage processors are facing a lot of issues—many the same as last year. But this year, increasing productivity through automation seems to be edging out many other priorities. Last year, the emphasis was on food safety, pushed along by FSMA and the need for GFSI certification, which is often required by customers. With so many recalls in the recent past, processors have realized unsafe products not only make people sick, they could put manufacturers out of business.
Assuming processors have a handle on food safety, the next challenge is getting high-quality products out the door faster than competitors, which becomes more difficult as equipment ages. Consequently, processors are concentrating on automation and lean manufacturing to meet rapidly shifting consumer demands. Notwithstanding these challenges, manufacturers know they must come up with new, creative products while keeping prices low and food safe—if they want to stay in business.