They say, predictions are a mug’s game. Put in simpler words, making predictions is a profitless activity. But is that really the case?
While it may be a futile activity for the crystal gazers of the business world, it certainly isn’t that profitless for the businesses themselves.
After all, who doesn’t want to know about the potential trends and buzzwords that are likely to affect their business over a given period of time?
Businesses do get benefitted by reading the industry predictions and knowing about all such trends that are specific to their industry, and are likely to have a say in their business operations, beforehand.
This gives them the time to prepare and adapt their business for the change brought about by those trends.
Coming back to predictions, it is that time of the year when internet gets flooded with all kinds of predictions in every sector.
Yes, this is the early part of a brand New Year, and you must be getting to read trend forecasts for different industries.
In this blog, we have compiled the top food manufacturing industry buzzwords that are likely to dominate the food manufacturing landscape for the rest of the year.
These buzzwords cover different aspect of food manufacturing businesses- right from production, IT, packaging, to processing, among others.
While the forecast for the overall industry is good, how well the individual food businesses do this year will depend on how well they react to these industry buzzwords.
So, if you are into a food & beverage manufacturing business, this blog – which tells you about the 10 food manufacturing buzzwords you should pay attention to in 2019 – is the perfect recipe for your success in this New Year. Continue reading:
1) Natural & healthy products:
We spoke briefly about the new-age consumers, who are increasingly getting conscious about the safety, health-quotient, and hygiene of what they consume.
Sequentially, chemical-free, natural, functional, and unprocessed foods will be the buzzwords in the food & beverage manufacturing space in the year 2019, much as they were in 2018 as well.
The health conscious consumers will continue to push the industry operators to emphasize on making products of top quality with nutritional benefits and health-giving additives.
And in order to meet their demands, more food & beverage manufacturers will continue to incorporate terms like ‘natural’, ‘healthy’, and ‘functional’ to their new products in 2019.
In the same sequence, the focus shall also be on low-sugar foods, which are preferred for consumption and demanded by a large number of customers.
The FDA too has set a January 1, 2020-deadline for most food manufacturers to switch to a new label that calls out how much natural sugar a product contains, and how much is added to it in different forms.
The food manufacturers will soon have to alter their recipes to taste as good with less sugar content, so as to retain the consumer, and prepare their systems to generate accurate sugar labels.
2) Plant-based meat:
Have you ever imagined that the plants could actually be made to taste like meat?
Or have you ever thought you can have the protein of the meat products without all of its negatives?
Yes, it is possible now.
A huge chunk of population wants to have vegetarian chicken and meat products these days that are made from plants, are low on cholesterol and fats, and high on protein.
And there already are innovative firms out there that are using ingredients to make plant-based meat, which is going to be a massive buzzword in 2019.
3)Â Nootropics:
Nootropics, or in simpler words memory-enhancing supplements, will be a buzzword in 2019, with food manufacturers toying with the idea of producing food products that improve cognitive functions like memory, focus, attention, and overall health of the brain.
Nootropics are ingredients that could serve as memory enhancers, and have the potential to improve your brain function.
With growing demand for such products, nootropics is surely going to be a food manufacturing buzzword in 2019.
4) Fermented food & beverages:
Coming to the food processing part, the method of the yesteryears- fermentation is likely to make a comeback to food manufacturing in 2019, and shall rightly be a buzzword in this year.
Over the years, there has been a change in perception of the consumers regarding fermentation, as they believe it is a natural and healthy technique for preserving food.
This change in perception is likely to drive demand for fermented food & beverage products in the year 2019.
5) Innovative & sustainable packaging:
With increasing awareness levels regarding food safety, the traditional food packaging has also come under scrutiny.
The new-age consumers are getting aware about the adverse effects of conventional food packaging using plastic and tetra packs, straws etc., and compelling the manufacturers to shift towards packaging done with eco-friendly and recyclable material.
This is driving innovation in packaging, with the manufacturers coming up with safe, convenient, and novel packaging that enhances the complete user experience.
No wonder, innovative & sustainable packaging is going to be the food manufacturing buzzword in 2019.
6) Shift from millennials:
Another major food manufacturing trend for 2019 is going to be manufacturers shifting their focus from millennials.
The manufacturers have conventionally targeted the youth with offerings designed for their tastes and preferences. However, they will increasingly target the senior citizens, or the consumers aged 55 and above, in 2019.
It is a segment that covers a wide demography that is looking for food that contain vitamins, supplements and specifically calcium needed for the aging bodies.
7) Food safety & compliance:
With more outbreaks of food-borne illnesses around the world in recent years, food safety concerns have been on an all-time high.
As a result, there is a greater focus on meeting the regulatory compliance needs, which continue to challenge the food manufacturers.
Of late, the FDA and other regulatory bodies have taken a proactive stance to enforcing stricter compliance for food and beverage manufacturing industry.
In 2019 too, food safety & compliance shall remain a major buzzword, with the food manufacturers striving to meet the various federal, state, local and industrial compliance requirements, make faster recalls, and improve response times through food ERP software.
8) Automation & integration:
Process automation is going to be yet another food manufacturing buzzword in the year 2019, so is integration.
In order to increase their operational efficiencies, and improve customer order fulfilment, more and more food manufacturing businesses are likely to adopt process automation, i.e. adopt processes that require less human intervention and less human time to deliver, in the year 2019.
This will have lasting benefits for their businesses, such as reduced production timeframes, costs, and error rates, increased throughput and quality, and better inventory management, and sales projections.
Similarly, more and more food manufacturers are going to upgrade to food ERP software that integrate with the overall manufacturing process, connecting the shop floor with the top floor.
This will allow the production managers at the plant site to fetch real-time production data, manage the machinery & scheduling process more efficiently, and pass on the critical information to the top floor, i.e. the management in real time, so as to facilitate and quicken the decision-making process.
9) Digitization:
Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Internet of Things (IoT) too have been buzzwords across industries in recent years.
AI-enabled ERP systems can potentially streamline operational processes, thereby allowing for faster and more accurate picking of ingredients needed for recipes, and facilitate better maintenance of machines and equipment with real-time monitoring insights.
This allows the food manufacturers to minimize the breakdowns, and improve production, delivery, supply chain transparency, and customer satisfaction.
Whereas, IoT-enabled ERP systems empower the food manufacturers with more data collection and analytics tools, which facilitates inventory control, quality control, and traceability.
10) Micro-verticalized ERP solutions:
It is 2019, and the need of the hour is having an ERP solution that has the critical industry-specific features, and meets your business’ unique and most specific needs.
We know that the food and beverage industry is huge and diverse, holding different verticals within. There’s a number of micro-verticals, namely dairy, meat & poultry, packaged food, organic food, seafood, edible oil, beer, fresh produce, and so on and so forth.
One standard software can’t serve the unique needs, and meet the compliance requirements as well as the complex processes of these micro-verticals.
That’s why the food manufacturers need more personalized solutions rather than the standard ones.
This need will be the buzzword in 2019, with the manufacturers picking a vertical-specific ERP for food and beverage industry.
Conclusion:
You just read the 10 food manufacturing buzzwords for the year 2019. You also read about the underlying role of ERP systems in these buzzwords.
So, if you are a food manufacturer looking to cash in on these buzzwords through an industry-specific ERP for food and beverage industry, write to us at sales@batchmaster.comÂ
We have a range of micro-verticalized food ERP software that can help your food manufacturing business soar.
