Trade show floors, from the smallest regional shows to the largest international events, are great for seeing the present and future of the meat industry. You can walk the aisles and visit with suppliers to see what the current technological advances are. You also get the chance to see how the meat industry will look five years down the road. While attending Pack Expo this week in Chicago, I saw plenty of packaging innovations that processors of any size can utilize right now. I was also served a coffee by a robot, which is a pretty noteworthy example of future technology in action.

As recently as five years ago, the robotics displays at trade shows were marvels of modern technology, but their usage in the meat industry was limited. Robots could help with palletizing, but meat does not come in a uniform, square shape. How practical could they be for the meat industry? Today though, advancements in robotics are making it possible for robots to move further into a meat processing plant. They may not be seen behind the counter of a local meat market slicing steaks, but they will become a more prominent part of the meat industry. I’ve seen robotic packing lines in relatively small businesses, and I’m sure I’ll see them more frequently.