Discover your next big idea at PACK EXPO Las Vegas this September
Experience a breakthrough in packaging & processing and transform your business with solutions from 2,300 suppliers spanning all industries.
REGISTER NOW & SAVE

Top Challenges Facing Food Manufacturers Today

Addressing aging assets and data collection best practices are two requirements for manufacturing excellence in today’s rapidly changing landscape.

Jim Prunesti, Vice President of Engineering, ConAgra
Jim Prunesti, Vice President of Engineering, ConAgra

There are a variety of operational improvement challenges faced by food manufacturing companies today, and we asked Jim Prunesti, Vice President of Engineering at Conagra Brands, which issues he sees as being front and center. Prunesti will be the Keynote speaker at ProFood Live on June 10 in Chicago, and will present “Manufacturing Excellence in an Era of Diverse Change.”

The first challenge Prunesti discussed is addressing an aging asset base. According to publicly available information, food manufacturing equipment in use today currently maintains an average of about 56% of its original value. And these aging assets, said Prunesti, are in conflict with current manufacturing trends.

Companies must adapt to the changing consumer needs, profiles and product attributes that a wide generational span requires. These consumer needs across the generations often results in SKU proliferation and products offering a wider variety of flavors, different textures, and different experiences.

Another factor changing manufacturing trends today is the retail outlet landscape. With box stores, C-Stores, e-commerce and curbside pickup driving the need for different package formats and packaged counts, flexible assets that can handle quick changeovers for the different drivers are needed.

Prunesti asks, “How do you cost effectively adopt an old asset base to be able to support the needs of both the manufacturer, the retailers and the consumer? How far do you drive automation? Is it fixed automation or flexible automation? And how do you balance that with speed?”

Factoring into this question, says Prunesti, is the cost structure of products in the industry – which is often based on producing mass product at high speeds. If late stage differentiation for different package needs causes the manufacturer to compromise speed, then there could be a resulting product cost issue that can't necessarily be passed through to the consumer. This creates a conflict wherein an investment in upgraded assets must be made in order to stay competitive in the marketplace. However, “there are factors that are helping to provide economic justification return,” Prunesti said.

Annual Outlook Report: Automation & Robotics
What's in store for CPGs in 2025 and beyond? <i>Packaging World</i> editors explore the survey responses from 118 brand owners, CPG, and FMCG <i>Packaging World</i> readers for its new Annual Outlook Report.
Download
Annual Outlook Report: Automation & Robotics
Annual Outlook Report: Workforce
Hiring remains a major challenge in packaging, with 78% struggling to fill unskilled roles and 84% lacking experienced workers. As automation grows, companies must rethink hiring and training. Download the full report for key insights.
Download Now
Annual Outlook Report: Workforce