Baird’s Inaugural Food Processing Equipment Symposium Recap

Key Themes Discussed

1. Food processing equipment companies are critical enablers of scaled food production to feed the world
2. Skilled labor scarcity is driving an immense need for automation investment across the food processing landscape
3. The rapidly growing middle class is a multi-decade tailwind as countries will need to expand localized food production infrastructure – India was noted as an example where the size of the middle class will double by 2030 and could reach one billion people by 2047
4. All companies noted the importance of technology adoption and offering full-line solutions that integrate multiple steps of the processing value chain
5. The industry is still in the early days of improving machine monitoring and connectivity to convert a vast repository of data into actionable insights and visibility for customers to increase ROI, with the potential for significant innovations through the use of AI
6. Importance of proactive and high-touch aftermarket support to maximize attachment rates from the installed base
7. While the industry has seen some consolidation, there remains a highly fragmented global market with extensive M&A opportunities in protein and other food markets (prepared foods, snacks, beverage, fruits & vegetables, cheese & dairy etc.)
8. Evolving regulatory landscape and softening of throughput limits could drive additional investment and increase ROI