Beverage companies are constantly creating new products with different shapes and sizes. In addition, they have attempted to consolidate warehouse locations, packing more SKUs into fewer locations.

Although it has been a beverage leader for years, bottled water is now facing a number of challenges to keep sales growing. Many companies have opted to branch out with enhanced or functional waters, while others have moved to larger sizes and multi-packs for the more economical take-home market.

Without laser or ink jet codes on beverage packages, the manufacturing and warehouse process would be in disarray.

Beverage companies continue to expand their multi-pack offerings, and whether the beverages are held together in a six-pack, 18-pack, 24-pack or 36-pack, warehouse conveyors must be flexible enough to handle all package sizes.

Automatic guided vehicles, commonly referred to as AGVs, are used in beverage warehouses to transport pallets of product from end-of-line machinery to storage and shipping areas.

Fine dining, full-service, fast-casual and quick-service restaurants sometimes have different clientele, but at the end of the day, finding ways to entice consumers back to foodservice locations is the goal.

Dr Pepper Snapple Group has 24 production plants in the United States and Mexico, and more than 200 distribution centers. Unique to the Texas-based soft drink company, however, is its hybrid system of distribution.

Cans and bottles travel through the beverage manufacturing process at such high speeds that the possibility of a dent or leak in the package is bound to happen. Inspection equipment is used to ensure the integrity of the package.

With gas prices creeping up again, the cost of truck routing is a priority to many beverage distributors.

Bottle and can conveyors have been adapting as quickly as the sizes and shapes of the containers they are designed to convey have been changing.