For the purpose of this discussion, water will be referred to as an ingredient, although across all segments of the beverage arena water might be labeled as a raw material.

Trends in facility development are prompting companies to plan for future growth, increase sustainable practices and automate operations.

Call it idle/lost time, productive/positive time, but the results in any case will have significant impacts on beverage producing operations that involve unwarranted expenses in machinery, materials and labor, less than desirable asset utilization and unrecoverable productive time.

To help keep operations on task, beverage manufacturers and distributors are seeing an increased need to have accumulation systems support their conveying solutions.

Covington, Ky.-based Braxton Brewing Co. announced plans to expand its presence to Fort Mitchell, Ky., with the opening of a new barrel-aging brewery and taproom. Expected to open this fall, the Braxton Barrel House will offer a unique experience for patrons by giving them the opportunity to create custom private-barrel picks of the company’s barrel-aged brews, it says.

More than 950 exhibitors, nearly 150 on-floor informational seminars and a host of materials handling technologies, supply chain solutions and automation innovations were displayed in 420,000-square-feet of exhibits across two halls at ProMat 2019, which took place April 8-11, at McCormick Place in Chicago.

Visits through beverage facilities, studies of distribution systems, acknowledgements of beverage marketplace changes and observations of work activity throughout the beverage supply chain are constant reminders of the detailed tasks involved in creating a massive array of packaged beverages for the consumer.

Consumers’ acceptance of purchasing consumer packaged goods (CPGs) from a variety of retail outlets as well as their desire for more choice is not just impacting retailers but the entire distribution network as it looks to accommodate a much more diverse shopping universe.

Because processing is the first step in the supply chain, it is important to assess how various stages have evolved — from manual batch type operations to automated, computerized and in-line processing.

Due to expanding varieties of new products, flavors and dietary requirements, product development is changing at faster rates.