Publications & Reports

2021 Beverage Trends Driving Change, published by PMMI – The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies in June 2021, examines industry shifts using interviews with beverage manufacturers and aggregated market data through 2020–2021 with forecasts to 2025. The analysis indicates four focus areas: sustainability and material sourcing, from rPET adoption to alternative formats; functionality and convenience driving SKU expansion and new formulations; flexible equipment and digital-tool adoption, including IIoT, robotics, and smart automation; and workforce, safety and pandemic-driven hygiene practices. Emerging patterns show supply-chain constraints and capital reallocation, and charts highlight equipment and format trends—download the full report to see where engineering teams are prioritizing investments to strengthen operational resilience.

Automation in Food and Beverage Equipment Sanitation, published by PMMI – The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies in November 2025, examines barriers and pathways to automating sanitation based on a Vision 2030 session at PACK EXPO, a pre-event survey and roundtable discussions. The analysis indicates three focus areas—workforce readiness and training, collaborative hygienic design and documentation, and flexible automation with standardized specs—where emerging patterns show trade-offs between turnkey robotics and mobile, retrofit-friendly solutions. Findings tend to favor pilot approaches and benchmarking against peer implementations, with examples including conveyor-belt cleaners, single-tank CIP systems and mobile sanitation units; charts highlight adoption priorities and common obstacles. The report reveals where engineering teams are prioritizing investments to strengthen operational resilience.

2024 Transforming Packaging and Processing Operations, published by PMMI – The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, examines insights from the March 2024 Top to Top Summit survey and roundtable discussions with CPGs and OEMs. The analysis indicates shifting priorities and benchmarks adoption across four focus areas—data lake & analytics (governance, standardization, predictive maintenance), AI (early pilots, machine vision, copilots), vertical startups (planning, FAT/SAT, collaboration) and technology & maintenance (training, AR/VR, remote support to address skills gaps). Emerging patterns show reliance on cloud, need for interoperable standards, and vendor–CPG collaboration; charts highlight use cases such as predictive maintenance, machine vision and digital twins. The report reveals where engineering teams are prioritizing investments to strengthen operational resilience.

Snack Foods Packaging Trends, published by PMMI – The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies in October 2024, examines market signals and priorities across the snack foods packaging and processing sector using an online survey (July–August 2024) and follow-up in‑depth interviews conducted in August–September 2024. The analysis indicates several focus areas—workforce development and retention alongside training and knowledge capture; equipment strategy and replacement cycles with emphasis on modularity and customization; and digital-tool adoption for maintenance, troubleshooting and analytics, as well as sustainability and regulatory alignment. Emerging patterns show companies tending toward modest machinery investment and selective automation, and charts highlight comparative benchmarks by company size and application. The report reveals where engineering teams are prioritizing investments to strengthen operational resilience.

Beverage Industry Packaging Trends, published by PMMI – The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies in March 2025, examines industry sentiment and investment plans using a November 2024–January 2025 quantitative survey and December 2024–January 2025 in-depth interviews to benchmark near-term (2–3 year) capital and technology priorities. The analysis indicates four focus areas: capital and equipment lifecycle (replacement vs. new capacity and common investments such as filling, coding, and palletizing), sustainability and material shifts (away from rigid plastics toward paper, metal, and flexible formats), technology integration and digital diagnostics, and workforce and sanitation readiness. Charts highlight cross-company patterns and regional differences that tend to inform supplier relationships and procurement strategies. The report reveals where engineering teams are prioritizing investments to strengthen resilience.