VT Hackney Inc. introduced Sidekick, a low-profile, four-bay side-load body mounted on a Ford Transit cab and chassis. It offers many of the same features as Hackney’s larger beverage units, including all-aluminum construction, adjustable bay shelving, a bottom rail power step and rear-mounted hand truck, the company says.

PROCESS EXPO will take place Sept. 15-18 in Chicago’s McCormick Place. The show will feature more than more than 1,000 solution providers that offer the most innovative processing and packaging equipment for the global beverage industry.

Direct-store-delivery (DSD) solutions have been growing in the beverage industry during the past several years. As technology continues to advance, so do the options available for beverage companies and distributors. Mike McMahon, vice president of enterprise sales at Panasonic System Communications Co., Newark, N.J., shares with Beverage Industry his insights about today’s DSD solutions in the beverage industry.

Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have been quick to respond to increasing demands within the beverage industry by creating equipment that accommodates faster filling times, flexibility in processing, and quick handling of multiple SKUs.

On HGTV’s “Flea Market Flip,” contestants get a chance to purchase items at suburban or rural flea markets for the chance to revitalize and reimage them in order to resell them. Some contestants might get very artistic in their transformations, while others are just looking to restore a classic piece.

Celebrity-centric blog spots have led to a proliferation of rumors — whether true or not — surrounding those in the public eye. Although this sort of proliferation usually is met with disdain and resistance, SKU proliferation within the consumer packaged goods (CPG) market is fueling a marketplace full of choices.

Palmer Wahl Instrumentation Group added a new precision digital pressure gauge to its portfolio of pressure products.

Although many people think of the automotive industry first when they hear the phrase “aftermarket parts,” almost every industry has some form of aftermarket presence, and the beverage industry is no exception, says Joseph Stroup, director of business development for FBN Inc., Plainwell, Mich.

Salient Management Co., Horseheads, N.Y., a provider of performance optimization software, appointed HighJump Software Inc., a Minneapolis-based global provider of supply chain management software, as its original equipment manufacturer (OEM) partner for its Salient Dashboard Miner and Dashboard Viewer.