Select region & language

Global

English

Austria

German

Belgium

Dutch

French

Bulgaria

Bulgarian

Croatia

Croatian

Czech Republic

Czech

Denmark

Danish

Estonia

Estonian

Finland

Finnish

France

French

Germany

German

Greece

Greek

Hungary

Hungarian

Ireland

English

Italy

Italian

Latvia

Latvian

Lithuania

Lithuanian

Luxembourg

French

Netherlands

Dutch

Norway

Norwegian

Poland

Polish

Portugal

Portuguese

Romania

Romanian

Russia

Russian

Serbia

Serbian

Slovakia

Slovakian

Slovenia

Slovenian

Spain

Spanish

Sweden

Swedish

Turkiye

Turkish

United Kingdom

English

Global

English

Argentina

Spanish

Aruba

Spanish

Bolivia

Spanish

Brazil

Portuguese

Chile

Spanish

Colombia

Spanish

Costa Rica

Spanish

Dominican Republic

Spanish

Ecuador

Spanish

El Salvador

Spanish

Guatemala

Spanish

Honduras

Spanish

Mexico

Spanish

Panama

Spanish

Paraguay

Spanish

Peru

Spanish

Puerto Rico

Spanish

United States of America

English

Uruguay

Spanish

Global

English

Bahrain

English

Botswana

English

French

Cameroon

English

French

Côte d'Ivoire

English

French

Israel

Hebrew

Jordan

English

Kuwait

English

Lebanon

English

Madagascar

English

French

Mauritius

English

French

Oman

English

Pakistan

English

Palestine

English

Qatar

English

Saudi Arabia

English

South Africa

English

Tanzania

English

French

United Arab Emirates

English

Zimbabwe

English

French

Global

English

Australia

English

Bangladesh

English

India

English

Indonesia

English

Japan

Japanese

Kazakhstan

Russian

Malaysia

English

New Zealand

English

Philippines

English

Singapore

English

South Korea

Korean

Sri Lanka

English

Taiwan (Chinese Taipei)

Chinese - Traditional

Thailand

English

Vietnam

English

Key trends reshaping the food and beverage industry 

The global food and beverage sector is a massive, essential industry, and a cornerstone of the global economy.  According to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), there is increasing demand for  better and more diverse food. This is based on the world population predicted to grow from 7.2 billion in 2010 to more than 9 billion in 2050 boosting food demand by 60 percent1.

Nearly 1.3 billion people - or 39.2 percent of the global workforce - were employed in agrifood systems in 20212 . Its growth is driven by fundamental factors like a rising population, increasing disposable incomes (especially in emerging markets), and evolving consumer preferences. 

 

Critical challenges facing the industry

The challenge of meeting increasing demand sustainably over the coming decades falls on the food and beverage industry – from the plough to the plate - including agriculture, raw materials handling, through global supply chains to production and processing, and retail and food service. Regulatory requirements continue to evolve, demanding constant adaptation and investment compliance. 

Transforming food and beverage operations for future success and resilience

If the food and beverage industry is to remain competitive, it needs to focus on flawless optimization and the application of energy efficiency in food production and systems. This helps to manage challenges - and take advantage of the opportunities - in this dynamic sector. From maximizing uptime and safety to minimizing waste and risk, this is where ABB’s expertise and technology makes the difference.

Click on the interactive chart below to view some of ABBs Food & Beverage electrification, automation and digitalization technologies.

 

Digitalization

Automation and process control within a modern food and beverage plant must become an interconnected ecosystem where production processes communicate transparently with operators. This smart factory approach enables real-time monitoring, predictive analytics, and data-driven decision making. By implementing IoT (Internet of Things)  sensors, manufacturing execution systems (MES), and advanced analytics, companies can achieve unprecedented visibility into operations, allowing for rapid adjustments, reduced waste, and optimized resource allocation e.g. ABB Ability™ BeerMaker and the ABB Ability™ Sugar Library. 

 

Safety

Excellence in food safety requires perfecting processes that systematically protect worker safety and product integrity. Advanced contamination detection systems, automated cleaning processes, and comprehensive track-and-trace capabilities are essential. As an example - Baldor-Reliance® Food Safe motors and washdown motors are built to withstand high-pressure cleaning, while drives with IP55 and IP66 ratings ensure reliability in harsh, hygienic environments. 

As many F&B facilities expand to meet demand for production of high quality food, legacy installations with insufficient or outdated electrical protections can put personnel safety and system reliability and uptime at risk.

 

Quality and reliability

Proactive maintenance and precise process control provide critical competitive advantages in high-volume production environments. Companies implementing condition-based monitoring, predictive maintenance, and strategic redundancy can dramatically improve uptime while extending asset lifetimes. This reliability-centered approach combines advanced technologies with skilled maintenance teams.

High-quality motors, drives  and robotics further ensure both consistency and reliability throughout the production process.

 

Sustainable food production


Responsible energy and waste management is now imperative. Energy-efficient equipment - including high-efficiency motors with variable speed drives - heat recovery systems, and smart resource management reduce environmental impact and lowering costs. For example, chocolate production and packaging segments can boost energy efficiency by deploying the new liquid-cooled IE5 synchronous reluctance (SynRM) motor that offers up to 40 percent lower energy losses than commonly used IE3 motors. 

Robots Serving up Sustainably

Listen to The Robot podcast

 

Key case studies for the food industry across the world

ABB Drives optimize food production

Innovative Refrigeration Systems, a design build engineering firm that offers solutions to ensure a safe environment for a variety of food and beverage facilities utilizes ABB's ACS580 and ACS880 drives to keep food safe. Using data from our drives, the company monitors the system in real time to look for energy anomalies, troubleshoot and increase energy efficiency.

ABB helped MPS Egg Farms one of the top 10 egg producers in the US enhance efficiency and sustainability by providing 84 units of its general-purpose ACS580 variable frequency drives. These drives precisely control the speed and torque of motors operating fans and conveyors, optimizing energy efficiency and improving operational reliability. 

Helping one of Switzerland's largest retail and wholesale companies get energy efficient

Coop - one of Switzerland’s largest retail and wholesale companies, reduces carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 10,000 tons per year at their logistics center for the country’s largest bakery. ABB and Johnson Controls contribute to this success by delivering energy efficient motors and variable speed drives (VSDs) to the ultra-modern refrigeration system.

Increasing sustainable aquaculture in Chile

The Owurkan is a clinical vessel on  the Calle Calle river in Valdivia Chile. It’s specially designed to improve the therapeutic treatment of salmon. The vessel uses ABB variable speed drives and high-efficiency motors to control the operation of the propulsion system onboard the Owurkan, which has resulted in an energy reduction of 20 percent, ensuring sustainable aquaculture.

Optimizing frozen food production through transparent energy efficiency data

ABB enables one of Asia’s leading frozen food producer Tee Yih Jia (TYJ) to monitor and track energy systematically. The ABB Ability™ Energy Manager solution provides transparent energy data from the shopfloor to the boardroom, giving access to clear, actionable information needed to monitor and optimize operating expenditure, capital investments, and carbon footprint.

Powering up Egypt’s largest processing factory

To build resilience in the supply chain and ensure food gets to where it’s needed, Egypt’s largest potato processing factory has installed ABB MNS Low Voltage (LV) switchgear to guarantee reliable, high-quality power to its two production lines, which process 10 tons of fried potatoes and two tons of mashed potato per hour for export into neighboring African markets.

GoFa™ Cobot boosts efficiency and safety at a cashew plant

The ABB GoFa™ cobot automates the packaging process at fine foods company Dan D Pak's Vietnam plant, using suction grippers to place bagged cashew nuts into cartons. It handles 2kg loads at 35-36 bags per minute, prevents worker injury without requiring safety barriers, enables 24/7 production, allows workforce redeployment to skilled tasks, and maintains competitiveness despite rising labor costs.

 

Key case studies for the beverage industry across the world 

Precise and consistent roasting control delivers superior Brazilian coffee

In Brazil, coffee industry leaders are turning to advanced technology for a competitive edge. Atilla, the country's largest midsize coffee roaster, implements ABB drives and automation hardware to achieve millisecond-precise roasting control, resulting in superior coffee quality.

Drive technology bringing award winning beer to your glass

To keep good beer brewing, Troegs Independent Brewing turned to ABB's ACS355 Washdown drives. These are designed for simple and visual sequence programming to make independent and repeatable operation sequences that meet the needs of washdown applications. They are also used to ensure accurate pressure in critical lines such as the Hot Liquor Tank and Centrifuge Feed - both critically essential in producing great tasting beer.

Winemakers learn lessons from industrial technology

With the help of ABB’s innovative technology, winemakers in Styria, Austria, have been able to modernize their traditional practices while preserving their rich heritage. By installing the award-winning RVG200 data recorder and a Coriolis flow meter, one winemaking family gained unprecedented insight into their harvest, allowing for more precise monitoring and control of production.

ABB AbilityTM Smart Sensors keep production running at Absolut Vodka

ABB helped Absolut Vodka enhance its production reliability by implementing ABB Ability™ Smart Sensors for condition-based monitoring. These wireless sensors provided continuous monitoring at a fraction of the cost of traditional vibration equipment, allowing the distillery to detect issues early. By leveraging ABB’s technology, Absolut Vodka improved efficiency, reduced maintenance costs, and set the stage for expanding sensor usage across its operations.

Boosting order accuracy for IDL and enhancing productivity for Nespresso

Swiss coffee brand Nespresso, needed an automation system which could accurately handle complex orders and provide the flexibility to meet fluctuations in demand. ABB has designed and supplied, through Nespresso’s 3rd party Logistics partner ID Logistics, an innovative automated system incorporating robots, software material management and SCADA systems, for depalletization, picking and packing orders.