New advancements in technology are drastically shaping the way companies produce, manufacture and source their beverages. What’re the top growing trends, and how can you take advantage of them?
Let's jump right in — here are the top 10 upcoming beverage technology trends:
Sustainability
Concerns over global warming and climate change are driving companies and consumers to adopt sustainability. This is why sustainability is fast emerging as the top trend in the beverage industry. Consumers are aware of various environmental impacts caused by the industry and support brands that align with their sustainability goals.
Internet of Things
Digitization of industrial processes enables beverage manufacturers to establish a connected ecosystem from sourcing to distribution. Besides, the need for improved food safety standards and transparency is accelerating the integration of IOT into the beverage sector.
Artificial Intelligence
The use cases of IoT are enhanced further by applying artificial intelligence in beverage production. With the data from the connected devices, AI solutions extract the overall picture of manufacturing processes and derive meaningful insights into operations. In addition, it automates production operations such as cooling, inventory management, and flavor profiling. AI-based solutions also assist operation and maintenance (O&M) planning by enabling order forecasting and predictive maintenance, respectively.
Smart Warehousing
Automating various aspects of warehouses allows beverage manufacturers to increase productivity while minimizing labor and wastage costs. Especially in fermented products, smart warehousing reduces spoilage due to unwanted exposure that may affect product quality. When combined with IoT, it also provides end-to-end visibility into temperature-controlled storage conditions of ingredients and products.
E-Commerce
The rise of social media and online food aggregation platforms is encouraging beverage companies to take their products into online markets. Apart from facilitating direct consumer interactions, this allows brands to establish targeted marketing campaigns to accelerate sales.
Additionally, eCommerce platforms facilitate multiple distribution models, such as omnichannel and direct-to-consumer (D2C) product distribution.
Immersive Reality
Augmented reality and virtual reality are very efficient at better connecting with customers. It is also beneficial in sharing information, like supply chain and carbon footprint data as more consumers care about sustainability and ethical concerns while consuming food and beverages.
Robotics
Advancements in AI and data analytics accelerate the integration of robotics into beverage production lines and consumer-facing services. The range of applications on the manufacturing side includes vineyard management and protection, inventory management, packaging, and distillery automation. For bars and cafeterias, startups provide robots to mix cocktails, dispense alcohol, brew coffee, and make smoothies along with food serving robots.
Blockchain
Blockchain-based solutions strengthen food safety and traceability in the beverage sector. The technology provides immutable data into products in storage and transit, allowing brands to monitor their inventory constantly and identify counterfeits.
Big Data & Analytics
With social media, consumers generate and interact with beverage brands through visual content and surveys, creating data points at each step. The beverage industry uses big data and analytics to generate insights from this consumer data.
Advanced Beverage Production
Along with optimizing various operations across the industry, companies now also focus on improving manufacturing processes. For instance, many winemakers are switching to underwater aging as it provides consistent temperatures, ideal low light, and high pressures without energy inputs.
