The food and beverage industry has entered an era of great transformation, perhaps one of the most impactful and wide-reaching in its long history. An era of digital transformation.

Automated and AI-driven technologies are changing the very foundation of how food and beverage products are formulated, manufactured, and distributed, bringing new opportunities for innovation and growth to the foreground—as well as formidable new risks, including the risk of falling behind.

What’s the key to managing that risk? Knowing what your peers are doing, and translating that knowledge into a proactive action plan that’s designed to put your business ahead. The Horizons: Digital Age of Food Manufacturing report is here to help by analyzing and sharing 2024 industry data.

How is the food and beverage industry leveraging AI, automation and Industry 4.0?

Over 300 food and beverage manufacturers answered our Horizons survey. Here’s what they told us:

• 48% of all capital spending is focused on automation projects.
• 70% see productivity as the top benefit of automation.
• 78% are leveraging automation to stay ahead of labor shortages.

Dive into the context behind these and dozens of other peer-driven insights on AI, automation and digitalization strategies for food manufacturing in the new 2024 Horizons: Digital Age of Food Manufacturing report.

CRB’s experts set out to understand which food and beverage industry trends and digital technologies are gaining traction, making a difference in productivity and which are still facing internal challenges. Where are investments being made? Are food manufacturers really turning to AI and cobots? We asked, and the industry answered. With survey respondents divided between large companies earning more than $100 million in annual operating revenue and smaller companies earning well below this threshold, the findings span across the industry.

Survey data revealed that 37% of respondents already feature technology integrations and predictive, real-time analytics within their plants. We also found that productivity is getting a lot of attention as the primary benefit of automation and Industry 4.0. 

One theme that takes shape is that digitalization projects are more than an industry trend. “Manufacturers are taking the digital age of food production seriously; they’re giving digitalization projects the same weight and level of priority as more traditional capital projects,” points out Monte Vander Velde, Project Manager and Dennis Collins, Architectural Regional Discipline Leader. 

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