Pack Expo report reveals labor shortages are driving automation

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Pack Expo report reveals labor shortages are driving automation

24 Oct 2022

Evan Bail

Evan Bail is a is a multimedia journalist from Overland Park, KS. Her passion for writing and media was developed at a young age through film and literature. She graduated from the University of Kansas with a Bachelor of Science in Journalism. In her free time, you can find her playing tennis, spending time with her family or walking her dog at the dog park.

HERNDON, VA — Pack Expo International, held in Chicago from Oct. 23-26, has released The Future of Automation in Packaging and Processing, a report produced by show organizer PMMI.

The report highlights how labor shortages are driving companies that produce consumer packaged goods (CPGs) to enhance and maximize production, storage and distribute processes with automated solutions. Solutions include guided vehicles, industrial robots, collaborative robots and mobile robots, with some of this technology supported by artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced vision tools.

E-commerce is also impacting the demand for automation, the report notes, causing companies to move towards more responsive distribution models that disrupt manual warehousing formats.

Supply chain problems are also affecting the availability and cost of raw materials and certain parts for packaging machinery. of CPGs say issues with the supply chain will be extremely impactful and though a large quantity of companies anticipate this issue to be resolved within three years, at least 25% predict these challenges will persist for a long time.

Sixty percent of companies report that labor shortages have been extremely impactful on their business operations, pushing CPGs toward automation and boosting the skilled workforce. With over 1,500 high school and college students expected to attend the show, the focus will be on upskilling the future workforce.

Additionally, the PMMI survey of Pack Expo International asked attendees what they were hoping to gain from the show and overall, automation is a priority. Survey respondents cited automation and robotics to potentially lower the reliance on personnel and reduce monotonous, less rewarding work that has to be done manually.

The full report is available on the PMMI website.

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