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Despite increasing awareness, milk crates, plastic pallets, bakery trays, beverage shells and other containers made from high density polyethylene (HDPE) and polypropylene (PP) are disappearing at a rate that costs retailers and CPG businesses $500 million per year. Ultimately, consumers end up paying this $500 million annual expense in the costs of goods purchased.

At the end of April, MarketsandMarkets published a report titled “Automated Guided Vehicle Market by Type (Unity Load Carrier, Tow Vehicle, Pallet Truck, Assembly Line Vehicle), Industry Verticle (Automotive and others), Application (Transportation, Distribution and others), and Geography — Global Forecast to 2020,” which stated the automated guided vehicle (AGV) market is expected to reach $2.2 million by 2020, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 9.8 percent between 2014 and 2020.

As the beverage industry continues to experience significant levels of consolidation, distributors on the local, national and global level are being affected.

Outside of the big corporate brands, few modern breweries have a heritage that stretches across five generations. John H. Sleeman – great-great-grandfather of current proprietor John W. Sleeman – started in 1834 building a business inspired by the brewing recipes developed by his ancestors.

As with any other form of technology, telematics solutions are always changing. From new devices to new software solutions, telematics suppliers are innovating to offer more effective and efficient solutions. Marco Encinas, product manager for Teletrac and Navman Wireless, Garden Grove, Calif., gives Beverage Industry insights to new innovations in telematics devices. 

As summer draws closer, many consumers daydream of sitting by the pool with a drink in hand, and that's exactly what those in the beverage industry are daydreaming of too.

From smartphones and tablets to electric cars, technology only seems to have made life easier, and several technological innovations have done just that for the beverage industry as well.

Not far behind the cost of labor and fuel, tires are among the top operating expenses for most beverage fleets. Looking at just maintenance costs, tires rise to the top of the list.

Beverage route drivers endure one of the most physically demanding jobs in the delivery industry, according to Carl Boettcher, chief executive officer and founder of HTS Systems Lock N Roll LLC, Scranton, Pa.

As the truck industry's single-largest event, the Mid-America Trucking Show (MATS), which takes place each year in Louisville, Ky., is the focal point for new product introductions by truck manufacturers and suppliers.