Wringing costs out of operations and overhead is great for short-term profitability, but where are the new processes and products that kick-start growth?

How do you find employees who will be satisfied and loyal? One key-provide balance.

Energy, where you get it and how you use it, may impact your bottom line more this year than ever before. With the right knowledge, food and beverage plants can dramatically reduce these costs.

Beef Products Inc.'s five plants produce more than seven million pounds per week of boneless lean beef, much of it in fast-frozen 60-lb. blocks with fat and moisture content controlled.

Miller Brewing Company's strategy for reducing energy consumption is coordinated from the corporate engineering office in Milwaukee.

"Nobody has ever liked the price of energy, but now we are really trying to do something about it," says Tom Rieth, manager of infrastructure in environmental engineering for Pepperidge Farm, Inc.

The middle ground is shrinking as processors gravitate to one extreme or another in their approach to food and beverage manufacturing.

Identity preservation, waste solutions, new consumer tastes and other considerations are shaping a new breed of food plants.

Just as production practices have been modified to deliver greater food safety, worker safety concerns are prompting food manufacturers to reexamine standard operating procedures.

Food processors speak out about the importance of faster replacement parts delivery.