Tech innovation central to FMI initiatives

FMI — The Food Industry Association President and CEO Leslie Sarasin identified six imperative issues confronting the food industry in her annual state of the industry address this week, noting that accelerating technology is the key to moving forward on all of them. 

Sarasin based her comments on the report “Imperative Issues 2022: Identifying Food Industry Challenges,” which identifies the six issues as: supply chain disruption; labor shortage and workforce challenges; changing marketplace and societal dynamics; evolving consumer behaviors; rising ESG expectations; and accelerating technology transformation. 

"[T]echnology will transform the food industry. It will revise the financial structure of our society, dramatically alter labor requirements, eliminate redundancies in business practices and offer new forms of risk management,” she said. “And you'll note that accelerating technology sits at the very center of all the other imperative issues. It touches and impacts all five of the other concerns.” 

Interviews and surveys with executives in food retail, wholesale and CPG revealed that labor shortages and workforce challenges topped the list of concerns for those in the industry at 88%. That’s followed by supply chain disruption at 85%. 

Sarasin noted that FMI has established a partnership with the National Junior Achievement organization to address recruitment needs. "Achievement has a proven track record of working with junior and senior high students and introducing them to workforce opportunities, employment possibilities and career options,” she said.  

FMI also is working to help members attract skilled workers by exploring non-traditional labor options to expand the pool of workers, “So they not only keep up but also lead in the fast-paced changes taking place in our industry on a daily basis,” she said. 

On the topic of supply chain disruption, Sarasin noted that industry leaders are "often relegated to reacting to larger forces at work that are well beyond our control,” such as inflation, input costs, labor policy, wages and e-commerce. 

She said it’s time to double down on efforts to help create greater efficiencies. “Together we must seek bigger picture solutions that reestablish supply chain equilibrium, build more flexibility and agility into the system and help future proof the food supply chain if we're to restore consumer confidence in it,” she said. 

Evolving consumer behaviors and rising expectations on ESG (environmental, social and governance) issues ranked much lower on the list of issues at 13% and 5%, respectively. Sixty-three percent of survey respondents said they’re concerned about elevated at-home meal consumption rising, while 15% noted concerns about both improving omnichannel shopping experiences and addressing consumers’ demands for greater transparency. 

Industry leaders much make dining at home "convenient, effortless and healthy as possible" and be aware of the expansive notion of convenience held by consumers, she said.  

"It embraces the food itself and how it's prepared, but it also includes ease of pickup and ready access to information about the food,” Sarasin said. “So, improving omnichannel shopping experiences and addressing consumer demands for environmentally friendly packaging, information, transparency and increased consumer sensitivity to health and wellness are all a part of the package of paying attention to evolving consumer values and their understanding of convenience.”    

Sarasin said technological innovation is central to all of FMI's efforts, and that the industry is in the early stages of what artificial intelligence and machine learning can achieve. “In short, technology will transform the food industry. It will revise the financial structure of our society, dramatically alter labor requirements, eliminate redundancies in business practices and offer new forms of risk management,” she said.