Last week, the Nulogy team and I touched down in Atlanta, GA, for the annual International Production & Processing Expo (IPPE): the world’s largest annual poultry and egg, meat and animal food industry event of its kind, and one of the top 25 largest trade shows in the United States.

With more than 130 countries represented at the show, the IPPE was a great chance to reconnect with customers and partners.

It was also a prime opportunity to get firsthand perspectives about the issues that are top of mind for vendors and manufacturers in the industry today. 

Why was this important? As one of the leading software providers for the manufacturing industry, it’s critical that our solutions help solve the challenges facing businesses today.

With these thoughts in mind, these four industry themes clearly stood out to me this year:

Automation and AI Becoming Table Stakes

Automation and AI are no longer nice-to-have features in manufacturing technology – they’re becoming operational necessities. Manufacturers today are being asked by customers to produce more while maintaining high standards of execution, quality management, and regulatory compliance. As a result, these manufacturers are increasingly turning to technology to manage the complexities of their operations.

Consequently, the focus for manufacturers has shifted toward introducing smarter, more automated systems to reduce labor dependency, improve consistency, and increase plant efficiency. More specifically to food manufacturing, businesses are looking for smarter solutions to better manage the various workflows across processing, quality, and food safety. 

It is important that these smart, automated solutions help both on the plant floor as well as in the quality and operations offices. Manufacturers are looking for these solutions to reduce manual work, improve data visibility, and enhance communication. 

The Importance of Proactive Food Sanitation

Food safety and sanitation were front and center topics at this year’s IPPE. As such, among the companies I talked to, there was a strong focus on enhancing sanitation programs, preventive controls, and leveraging technology-enabled monitoring to move teams from reactive inspections to proactive risk prevention.

At Nulogy, we strongly believe that technology can help manufacturers sleep better at night. By using real-time data visibility to catch issues before they turn into crises, businesses can save costs, reduce headaches, and improve relationships with customers. There’s no better time to use technology to become a proactive service provider.

The Benefits of Real-Time Visibility

During the conference, I received a lot of feedback about how data, traceability, and real-time visibility are becoming competitive advantages for food manufacturers and processors. Many sessions and exhibitors highlighted the growing role of integrated data systems, AI-driven analytics, and digital traceability to strengthen compliance, audit readiness, and operational decision-making.

As regulatory requirements become more stringent and complex, antiquated workflows involving spreadsheets and paper forms fall further and further behind in usefulness. Businesses risk losing customer trust and potential revenue by clinging to outdated methods of managing their quality and risk. 

By investing in a purpose-built, easy-to-implement software solution for their quality programs, manufacturers can turn their quality programs into a competitive advantage.

The Need to Bridge the Labor Gap

Unsurprisingly, labor challenges continue to pose risks for manufacturers. When companies are having difficulties finding people to fill positions, it has become vital to ensure that the staff they do employ are well-equipped to do their best work. This need, in turn, is accelerating digital transformation strategies as well as the need to implement the right technology solutions. 

Amidst these ongoing labor shortages, our team heard from food processors and how they are investing more heavily in automation, robotics, and workflow digitization to maintain throughput while improving safety and consistency.

In addition, your best people can’t afford to waste hours filling out forms and spreadsheet cells; they’re too valuable for manual busywork. A software platform such as Nulogy saves hours of time by cutting out the manual effort needed to maintain your quality programs. In turn, this gives your staff the time and means to add greater value to your organization.

See How Nulogy Can Enhance Your Food Safety & Quality 

What stood out most to me most at this year’s IPPE show was how closely these industry priorities align with what we’re building at Nulogy. With the Nulogy Manufacturing Operating System, we are helping connect plant operations, quality, compliance, supplier data, and performance insights into a single platform, ensuring fast return on value, seamless communication, and improved results for manufacturers.

Interested to learn more? We’d love to answer your questions.

Contact us or request a demo today.