Sixty-six percent of managers involved with plant and company operations who responded to Food Processing’s tenth annual Manufacturing Trends Survey were optimistic about 2011, similar to last year’s results. Fifty-seven percent of the 425 respondents listed food safety as their primary concern. Seventy-five percent employed new food safety measures in 2010, and 73% plan to do so in 2011. Eighty-one percent of processors utilized an ingredient/food tracking and tracing program. Of the 71% of respondents who were familiar with their companies’ 2011 capital spending budgets, 45% said spending will increase, with 15% anticipating increases of more than 10%. Thirty-three percent of respondents expect their plants’ production to increase 3%–9% in 2011, while 27% believe production will remain about the same. Asked how their companies were dealing with the economy, 44% of respondents indicated that their companies were growing. Forty-nine percent expect staffing to stay at the current level. Thirty-seven percent of processors deferred projects and 45% said they did not defer projects in 2010.

Source: Food Processing