Abstract
Regulatory Requirements Drive Uptake of Automation and Control Solutions in the Food and
Beverage Sector
Regulations imposed by the European Union (EU) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to track
food and beverage products across the supply chain are driving participants to invest in automation
and control solutions. These solutions facilitate product quality control across multiple plants and
provide better efficiency resulting in higher profit margins. The food and beverage companies are
expected increase their investment in automation and control solutions in order to meet new
regulatory requirements, increase efficiency in manufacturing and meet their supply chain and
distribution objectives.
This Frost & Sullivan research offers insights into the market for automation and control
solutions in the European food and beverage sector. The market is sub-divided into six automation
and control product types -- distributed control systems (DCS), human machine interfaces (HMI),
programmable logic controller (PLC), supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems,
industrial asset management (IAM) solutions and manufacturing execution systems (MES). The study
also covers nine geographical regions, addressing market trends, key drivers and restraints,
industry challenges and strategic growth recommendations for participants in each.
Low Profit Margins and Technology Advancement Key Driving Factors
Tight profit margins in the European food and beverage industry are encouraging food and beverage
companies to invest in automation and control solutions to improve their efficiency and lower
production costs. As the market is increasingly attuned to the advantages of automated production,
there is considerable potential for growth in this sector.
"Growing appreciation of new technologies and their benefits is likely to encourage
customers to replace their existing automation and control systems with new ones," notes the
analyst of this research. Strong demand is expected for SCADA systems, IAM solutions and MES. The
MES and IAM solutions in particular offer significant opportunities for growth in the food and
beverage sector.
MES Sector Poised for Rapid Expansion
MES are anticipated to see the strongest growth with revenues in the food and beverage sector
almost tripling by 2010. This sector promises huge growth potential as MES systems bridge the gap
between plant-level control and business systems automation by offering information about production
activities across the factories as well as supply chains. Additionally, the need to comply with new
regulations and timely tracking of goods is also likely to prompt growth of automation solutions.
"MES revenues are anticipated to rise dramatically as food and beverage companies link
enterprise resource planning systems to plant level control," says the analyst. "Tracking
and tracing requirements are expected to be an additional spur to growth."
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