Craft Producers Overcome Challenges

Automation & Sustainable Packaging Help Maintain Growth

man standing in a dark room in front of very large illuminated key hole looking through key hole

By: Rebecca Marquez, Director of Custom Research at PMMI

After years of soaring sales, craft brewers and distillers are facing forecasts for slower growth. Competition is stiff, margins are under pressure, craft beer sales have stalled, and consumer preferences are shifting toward spirits, hard cider, and non-alcoholic options, according to Craft Beer and Spirits: Success Through Packaging, a white paper and infographic published in February 2024 by PMMI Business Intelligence, a division of PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies. The craft industry also must overcome workforce shortages, address the growth in e-commerce, and meet continuing consumer demand for sustainable products and operations.

  To overcome these challenges, craft brewers and distillers are offering a broader array of products, packaging formats, and sizes. Some firms have begun offering copacking services to foster growth.

Adding Products and Services

  The best sellers of yesterday do not necessarily stay best sellers. As a result, craft producers must change their product lineup to appeal to today’s consumer and introduce the product, size, and multipack options they want. Innovative products and seasonal and special releases also help spark consumer interest and build brand identity. As consumer tastes have changed, some firms have turned to copacking to absorb excess capacity and boost revenue.

  This level of product variety requires adaptable equipment, which minimizes changeover time when switching among a range of packaging sizes and shapes and handling variations in labeling and secondary packaging. Such flexibility maximizes operational efficiency.

Automating Operations

  Producing a broader array of stock keeping units for in-house or private-label brands requires flexible processing and packaging lines. Increasingly, the flexibility needed to efficiently switch among a growing range of packaging sizes and formats is provided by automation, which also can enhance the working environment and help offset worker shortages and difficulties with recruiting and retention.

  Automation also can boost efficiency, quality, and productivity, according to The Future of Automation in Packaging and Processing report from PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies. As a result, more craft brewers and distillers are considering automating manual processes, especially depalletizing, case packing, and palletizing, and studying how their operation could benefit from the installation of automated guided vehicles, industrial robots, collaborative robots, and mobile robots, now increasingly supported by artificial intelligence and advanced vision capabilities.

Embracing Sustainability

  Sustainability remains a major focus for consumers and regulatory agencies with the goal of reducing landfilled waste, minimizing plastic usage, particularly in single-use applications, and establishing a circular economy. As a result, renewable materials like paper are receiving considerable attention.

  Once unheard of, paper bottles are making their way into the marketplace. Distillery 98 of Santa Rosa Beach, Fla., has adopted a modernized bag-in-box concept for its Half Shell Vodka. The package features a metallized polyethylene terephthalate pouch inserted in a creased paperboard blank, which has been molded into a bottle shape. The recyclable package supports circularity as it contains 94% recycled paperboard and cuts carbon emissions by a factor of six versus a traditional glass bottle. Preprinting the blank eliminates the need for a separate label. “We hope that our commitment to Half Shell’s transformative bottle persuades more companies to embrace environmentally friendly packaging,” says Distillery 98 co-owner Harrison Holditch. (1)

  A streamlined recycling process is the goal behind installation of a drainage press at Saint Arnold Brewing, the first craft brewer in Houston, Texas. The machine makes it possible to quickly prepare filled reject cans for recycling, reduces the number of cans awaiting recycling, eliminates the need to pay another company to prepare the reject cans for recycling, generates income, and is expected to have a quick return on investment. The craft brewer also reuses its printed paperboard six-pack carriers. A Recycle Rewards program gives consumers incentives to return the carriers. Reuse reduces waste as well as packaging costs. (2)

  Taking a different approach to multipack unitizing, Flying Tiger Brewery in Monroe, Louisiana, has adopted compostable four-pack rings for its Doux Drop wheat ale. Made from wheat and barley, the biodegradable rings can be eaten by wildlife, according to nola.com. The transition coincides with the company’s pledge to donate 5% of Doux Drop ale sales to the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Foundation. (3)

  Four Peaks Brewing, an AB InBev craft brewer partner located in Arizona, is one of the first brands to add a recycling QR code across its entire product line. Part of a graphic redesign for the Four Peaks portfolio, the code helps consumers quickly determine where and how to recycle the packaging and is expected to boost recycling rates, divert 3.5 million pounds of material from landfills, and offset more than 5.1 million pounds of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions. (4)

  The latest brand-building, automation, and sustainability solutions will be on display at PACK EXPO International (Nov. 3–6, 2024, McCormick Place, Chicago). The new Sustainability Central will serve as an interactive destination with resources to help brands become more sustainable. The PACK EXPO Green program identifies exhibitors that provide technology such as sustainable processes and machines, renewable and biodegradable packaging, source reduction and lightweighting, recyclable and recycled-content materials, or innovations that reduce carbon footprint. Attendees also can identify resources via the PACK EXPO Sustainability Solutions Finder.

  As the world’s most expansive packaging and processing industry event in 2024, PACK EXPO International will feature 2,500 exhibitors offering solutions to many of today’s biggest manufacturing needs from an intersection of industries in 40-plus vertical markets. More than 45,000 attendees from CPG and life sciences companies worldwide will converge, searching for innovation, connection, and insight. For more information and to register, visit packexpointernational.com.

###

1) Distillery 98. Launch of Hyper-Sustainable Half Shell Vodka Bolsters Florida’s Distillery 98 Spirits Portfolio, News Release, Feb. 14, 2023.

2) Hand, Aaron, Texas’s Oldest Craft Brewer Finds New Ways to Manage Aluminum Can Waste, ProFood World, Nov. 17, 2023.

3) Riley, Sean. Edible Beer Packaging from Eco-Friendly Beer Ingredients, Packaging World, Oct. 19, 2023. 

4) Flanagan, Casey. AB InBev’s Four Peaks Takes the Guesswork Out of Recycling, Packaging World, May 6, 2024.

Email This Post Email This Post

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *