With Rockville, Md.-based Packaged Facts estimating the dairy and dairy alternative beverage category will grow from a $23.8 billion industry in 2014 to a $31.5 billion industry by 2019 in its April report titled “Dairy and Dairy Alternative Beverage Trends in the U.S.,” more beverage-makers will be in search of contract manufacturers to support their beverage-making needs.

In Styx’s 1983 hit “Mr. Roboto,” the band sings, “Thank you very much, Mr. Roboto; For doing the jobs that nobody wants to.” Little did the band know, robots eventually would take on an immense amount of jobs that warehouse workers find repetitive and boring.

The ever-increasing number of SKUs within the beverage industry has been one obstacle beverage warehouse operators have been facing the past several years. However, the proven benefits of, and further innovations to, voice-picking technology has made it a staple in many beverage distribution centers today.

Forklifts are reaching new heights of functionality. The demand for vehicles that are efficient, safe and have the flexibility to operate effectively in a host of environments is leading to the development of models with enhanced designs and features.

In a famous episode of the “I Love Lucy” show, Lucy and Ethel go to work in a candy factory where their packaging skills are put to the test. Chocolates make their way one by one down a conveyor, and the women must wrap each one before it reaches the next packaging station. If one chocolate makes it past them unwrapped, they’ll be fired.

Beverage producers and distributors, like most business people, focus on the bottom line.

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.

Pre-Socratic Greek philosopher Heraclitus said “The only thing that is constant is change.” Applicable to nearly all walks of life, the consumer packaged goods market has come to embody this quote as the market welcomes a number of new products, brands and even categories.

Blue Moon Brewing Co., a Golden, Colo.-based operating unit of MillerCoor’s Tenth and Blake Brewing Co., is celebrating its 20th anniversary with the planning of a new brewery that is scheduled to open in 2016.