The industry is feeling the pressure of this gaping employment hole, as they fight to remain efficient, agile and flexible in an ever competitive and demanding landscape bound by red tape.
Labour and skills has been pinpointed as one of the top risks to supply chain resilience by IGD; and in Food Manufacture’s Business Leaders’ Forum, delegates agreed this was the area of most concern (48%) in a long list that comprised extreme weather, geo-politics, economics, regulation, disease, and food fraud, among other things.
At the same time, increases in National Insurance contributions are forcing manufacturers to strip back resource, with FDF’s latest state of the industry report showing 66% of companies having reduced or planning to reduce headcount as a direct result.
As Abi Cornforth, Borough Broth’s operations director told Food Manufacture at its Forum in February: “We made a commitment years ago that were we always going to start with the real London Living Wage – we pay people that as an entry point. Most of our staff far exceed that. But it would be remiss of me not to mention that labour is going up and that means we have to make some difficult decisions about how we grow.”
Automation has been earmarked as a way to not only plug this gap but also to improve working conditions for employees by offering them time back to focus on less repetitive tasks. The aforementioned FDF report found that almost a third (31%) of manufacturers are focusing their growth efforts in automation in the absence of labour availability.
Similarly, as factories become more automated and look to gain efficiencies despite stripped back resource, we’ll likely see more artificial intelligence (AI) embedded into daily work practices and operations.
IGD’s Supply Chain Trends 2026 report points out that those who do not use AI will be replaced by those that do. It also flags several areas within production that AI will be used, noting that it will “evolve from a supportive colleague to an all-encompassing key worker”.
One area we will likely see AI used more is within intelligent machinery; think of the benefit, for example, of an industrial freezer that can adjust its temperatures in accordance with the weather.
Another example, which will be laid out by The Compleat Food Group’s digital and AI strategy director in our upcoming webinar (Investing in the Smart Factory: Possibilities, Buy In, and Future Trends) is how AI can be used to avoid accidents on site.
The business is transforming safety from reactive to predictive using Computer Vision AI powered by Protex AI. By connecting a small edge device to its existing CCTV network, it can convert passive cameras into an intelligent safety system.
The outcome is fewer incidents, stronger compliance, measurable financial savings, and a meaningful shift toward a proactive safety culture, preventing accidents before they occur.
Although labour is most certainly a part of the automation narrative, not all projects will be about swapping human heads for digital ones.
As Ines Ashford, Compleat’s digital and AI strategy director said on Compleat’s CCTV work: “This isn’t about replacing people; it’s about empowering our teams with better visibility, faster intervention, and smarter data to build a safer, more resilient factory environment."
Food Manufacture has also been told boardroom discussions around automation and AI are not so much focused on lack of labour, but more around profit.
The boom and bust of certain categories, including craft beer and alternative proteins, has given way to a more cautious environment wherein businesses are less focused on rapid sales growth and more centred on sustainable scalability and profit margins.
For the companies that can react quickly to hype cycles (Dubai chocolate, GLP-1s etc.) efficiency and flexibility is going to prove incredibly important. Fast-paced production that can cater to this speed, teamed with AI trends intelligence and other tech-powered insight will no doubt set businesses up for the win.
One business which has invested in automation is Ornua Foods and during Food Manufacture’s webinar, delegates will hear from its operations controller, Richard Harvey.
In his presentation, he will explore how Ornua Foods UK has created the ideal conditions for automation, while highlighting why selecting the right technologies is far more complex than it appears.
He will discuss how manufacturers can ensure new systems are future‑fit, aligned to evolving consumer expectations, and capable of delivering the strong ROI needed to secure buy‑in.
Drawing on real lessons from the factory floor, Harvey will outline what succeeds, what fails, and why people remain central to every automation programme.
Back to basics: Deciding what technology is needed - and where
Despite the evident benefits, not everyone in the food and drink industry is ready for technology – be that a result of limited capital or a nervousness around being replaced or return on investment.
As such, alongside Harvey and Ashford, who will take the time to talk through how their respective businesses came to the decision to invest in Smart production, we will also have the expertise of Liz Salter and Amanda Johnston.
Johnston, who is the director of innovation at Sheffield Hallam University Advanced Food Innovation Centre (AFIC), will set the scene for F&B manufacturing technology, outlining where we stand as an industry, what’s possible, and how food and drink businesses can actually make the Smart Factory happen.
Following on from that, Salter – industrial associate at Cambridge University IfM Engage – will explain how companies can confidently decide what (and what not) to automate.
“Businesses of all sizes, whether they are digitally mature or not, find decision making in this space difficult. Approaching automation strategy in a logical and structured way maximises the benefits whilst reducing risk, and involving your team in the process will strengthen alignment and improve the quality of the outputs,” she said.
You can read more about the speakers here.
The webinar is set to be an unmissable discussion on a topic everyone’s talking about; and is set to help get you better equipped for the future of food and beverage production.