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What are the key industry trends in food and beverage (F&B) manufacturing?
Hello. and thanks for your question about the key industry trends in food and beverage manufacturing. I have found that manufacturers are currently being impacted by trends such as a shift towards the use of more natural ingredients, mergers and acquisitions in the industry are on the rise, product recalls are also on the rise, healthy food needs to be made in a more cost effective manner, and finally manufacturers are facing the challenge of designing their schedule around crop cycles. Below you will find a deep dive into my research, along with all the details as to how I came to this conclusion.
OVERVIEW
I have found a number of recent reports which identify current and future trends occurring in the food and beverage industry. I have then selected the trends which impact on plants/manufacturing facilities.
KEY INDUSTRY TRENDS
Food Dive tells us that consumers are demanding the use of healthier ingredients from food brands. This trend is expected to effects manufacturers and producers of all food sub-groups. Manufacturers may be forced to amend their production methods in order to facilitate the use of new ingredients.
Another trend that Food Dive has pointed out is that mergers and acquisitions will continue to play a big role within the industry. This is a threat to manufacturers who may have production transferred from them to another company as a result.
The industry is seeing recalls becoming more commonplace, due to better safety regulation. Manufacturers will have to deal with a rising possibility of having products recalled.
Online shopping is continuing to grow in popularity, this is effecting every sector of retail, including food and beverage. With an increase in demand to ship food and beverage straight to consumers, manufacturers may need to reconsider their warehouse logistics.
Food Dive also backs up this claim, they state that manufacturers need to be more geared towards e-commerce. They note that in the U.S. alone, e-commerce sales grew 15% in Q3 2015. They believe that this trend will continue to grow into 2017 and further.
Another new trend impacting the industry is that there is a rising demand for healthy food and beverage options to be available to everyone. Health food and drink are no longer luxuries, therefore there is increasing pressure for them to not carry the luxury price tag. Manufacturers may need to review their production process in order to make costs that can be passed onto the consumer.
CMTC recently released a report which highlights the main trends, challenges and opportunities that food and beverage manufacturers currently face. One main challenge that they picked up on is that the industry is facing the challenge of organising their schedule in line with the seasonality of most common crops. Cash flow is also linked with these crop cycles, and manufacturers need to take this into consideration also.
CONCLUSION
Overall I have found that food and beverage manufacturers are currently being impacted by trends such as a shift towards the use of more natural ingredients, mergers and acquisitions in the industry are on the rise, product recalls are also on the rise, healthy food needs to be made in a more cost effective manner, and finally manufacturers are facing the challenge of designing their schedule around crop cycles.
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