Automation plays a huge and ever-growing role in the packaging industry. No surprise, then, that the July issue of Packaging Strategies featured a story on automation and controls (From Smart Valves to Smart Factories). Also, in this month’s issue, Ranpak’s Bryan Boatner talks about how automation can contribute to sustainability.

Hence, I was intrigued when Rockwell Automation recently released the results of the eighth annual “State of Smart Manufacturing: CPG Edition,” a global study encompassing the responses of 216 CPG leaders across 13 of the leading manufacturing countries.

With labor reduction often touted as a benefit of automation, one finding of the survey surprised me: 90% of CPG manufacturers believe they will maintain or increase the size of their workforce as a result of technology, and 29% assume they will actually hire more workers due to technology adoption. The survey also found that 38% of manufacturers expect to repurpose their existing workforce.

So repurposing a workforce can be just as important as reducing a workforce. Ranpak’s Bryan Boatner touches on repurposing in this month’s feature story, noting that automation can eliminate the most repetitive and manually intense elements of a job and create more ergonomically optimized working conditions.

The Rockwell Automation survey features several other intriguing findings.

The study finds that while 35% of leaders across industries are extremely familiar with smart manufacturing, the level of familiarity varies within CPG. For example, 48% of Home and Personal Care leaders say that they are extremely familiar with smart manufacturing — well above the global average — while only 23% of leaders in the food and beverage industry say the same, “indicating an area of need for food and beverage manufacturers.”

Other key findings include:

• 52% of CPG manufacturers see inflation as their biggest external obstacle in 2023.
• 42% of businesses are accelerating their digital transformation to keep pace with competitors, while 44% are doing so to improve quality.
• On average, businesses in CPG invest just over one-fifth of their operating budget on technology, with the top three investments in cloud technology (45%), supply chain planning (42%), and cybersecurity (41%).
• 95% of CPG manufacturers have ESG initiatives in place, with 44% pursuing sustainability and ESG initiatives as a competitive differentiator.

The full findings of the report can be found here.

In summary, the Rockwell Automation survey not only provides invaluable data for someone like me who reports on CPG but also offers a fascinating eagle-eye-view snapshot of the current state of the industry, as well as strong indications of which directions the industry will be heading in the coming months and years.

Brad Addington
Chief Editor, Packaging Strategies
(248) 227-4727
addingtonb@bnpmedia.com