Grant Gerke

2 weeks ago | foodengineeringmag.com | Grant Gerke

Five years ago, sustainability meant reducing packaging material. Now, the clean label trend has taken on the mantle of sustainability, and its definition includes natural ingredients, decarbonization and recycling under the banner of clean labeling. This article examines consumer technology and partnerships that inform consumers about recycling, food recalls and nutrition.

1 month ago | foodengineeringmag.com | Grant Gerke

Last year, the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) published a joint study with Deloitte and found that 3.8 million jobs may need to be filled within the next decade. Even with a slow start to 2025, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 502,000 unfilled positions at U.S. manufacturing plants in January 2025. These numbers reveal workforce challenges for food manufacturers, which include training, retention and implementing a permanent safety culture.

1 month ago | supplysidefbj.com | Grant Gerke

According to the Hartman Group’s “2023 Modern Beverage Culture” report, seven out of 10 consumers always have a beverage in their hands. The subtext of the report is the sheer number of beverage categories that exist and the idea of consumers’ “need states.” These need states — the underlying motivations or triggers that cause consumers to seek out specific products — for beverages include taste, hydration, nutrition, experience, energy and pairing, according to the report.

2 months ago | foodengineeringmag.com | Grant Gerke

The race to standardize plant data from programmable logic controllers (PLC), sensors and production lines is happening fast. As food manufacturers standardize data, digital tools accelerate and provide a closer look at overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) and maintenance metrics. Food manufacturing is the largest employer among manufacturing industries, employing more than 1.7 million workers.

Mar 24, 2025 | foodengineeringmag.com | Grant Gerke

The food and beverage industry revolves around food safety, regulations and higher throughput. Food producers are adopting cobot and robot technology and finding applications in the plant: product handling, case packing and palletizing. Industry adoption keeps growing, so what's been driving this growth? According to the Association for Advancing Automation (A3), North American companies ordered 31,311 robots in 2024, representing growth of 0.5% units compared to 2023.