Shipments of U.S. packaging machinery increased by 6 percent in 2013, reaching a total of $7.9 billion, according to the 2014 State of the Industry Report from PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies. Food companies, including meat producers, account for about a third of that figure (34 percent).
Meat manufacturers seeking to improve their operations by investing in new technologies and machinery were able to find the latest solutions at PACK EXPO International 2014 in November in Chicago. Three major trends in meat manufacturing stood out during the show: shrinking machinery footprints, sustainability-enhancing advancements and new measures to advance food-safety efforts.