Grant Gerke

Operator safety is becoming a critical lever for performance in food and beverage manufacturing. As workforce challenges intensify, processors are investing in automation, advanced HMI design and safer equipment to improve both retention and productivity.

Investments in automation and additional tools for data analytics keep coming to packaging lines as plants become more connected. Machine learning and digital twin technology are increasing throughput and driving innovation for large and small brands.

Sous vide cooking offers precise time and temperature control, and now companies are scaling this technology to help brands and institutions deliver on limited-time offerings. Taste wins with sous vide, and companies are employing new pasteurization techniques to retain flavor and expand into food segments, such as pet food, protein and overall clean label eating.

Food giants are closing legacy plants and building greenfield facilities to achieve higher volumes, greater flexibility and increased margins. So how are plant managers and corporate leadership executing, managing and delivering data to help operators find accurate KPIs and OEE metrics?

State legislative bans are targeting ingredients, dyes and cultivated products in 2025. Therefore, the market is forcing OEMs and alternative protein suppliers to get creative in manufacturing, lowering ingredient costs, and even going to market.

Executives and boards are slow to adopt new OT cybersecurity tools, and the issue is complex for non-security plant professionals. To solve this issue, security leaders need to explain the risks and impacts for increased investment.

Recent regulatory moves appear to shift the burden of food safety to manufacturers, but they’re already taking steps to ensure quality food production – including designing facilities with safety in mind.

The definition of clean label is evolving to include not only natural ingredients but also decarbonization, reductions in virgin plastic packaging, cleaner processing, energy efficiency and more.

Traditional operator safety approaches are still in place at food plants, but dynamic digital tools and continuous training are solving problems for plant managers.

Data collection has become a major part of food manufacturing, but without data standardization, measuring overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) poses a challenge.