Controls Engineering & IoT

Boxed Water Is Better recently opened its Holland, Michigan, facility to a room of food, beverage and CPG manufacturers for a panel on automated palletizing. Attendees came from across West Michigan and the Midwest, representing companies ranging from fruit storage and canning operations to chemical manufacturers and co-packers. They came with the same questions most…

The service will not need special packaging and can be adopted by restaurants without “costly infrastructure” changes. onder has joined forces with autonomous delivery company Zipline to roll out on-demand drone food deliveries in Texas, the US. The service is scheduled to begin in January 2027. The move comes ahead of Wonder’s planned Texas expansion…

Something is shifting beneath the surface of the restaurant industry, and the numbers are starting to show it. Nearly half (45 percent) of U.S. diners switched their favorite restaurant last year, up sharply from 33 percent the year prior. That data point should be setting off alarms for restaurant operators. Instead, most are doubling down…

Through a partnership with Omilia, which has brought voice AI to nearly 900 U.S. restaurants, the Mexican chain will continue to add the tech across its domestic system. Dive Brief: Taco Bell has expanded its partnership with artificial intelligence company Omilia to continue scaling its drive-thru voice AI across Taco Bell’s U.S. system, according to…

For decades, beverage service in restaurants and foodservice environments has followed a familiar model. Operators purchase bottled water, canned beverages and packaged drinks, store inventory, replenish coolers, manage deliveries and absorb the costs associated with transportation, storage and waste. While that approach has remained deeply embedded in foodservice operations, changing consumer preferences, sustainability initiatives and…

Key Takeaways Data-driven cleaning uses real-time data to improve efficiency and results. Workloading software helps managers optimize staffing and control labor costs. Smart sensors and cleaning robots improve service, tracking, and consistency. By Keith Schneringer If you are a facility cleaning manager, there are probably some common questions you ask yourself each day regarding building…

Miso Robotics, the Pasadena, California-based company behind the Flippy automated fry station, has acquired the technology and intellectual property of Zume Pizza, one of the most heavily funded and closely watched food robotics startups of the past decade. The transaction includes Zume’s hardware, software and patent portfolio, which spans robotic food preparation, delivery, packaging and…

In a future increasingly shaped by technology, the most valuable skills may turn out to be profoundly human ones. Over a career spent in hospitality, I had a hand in developing hundreds of leaders—people who started as hosts, servers, line cooks, or dishwashers and eventually ran restaurants with large teams and millions in annual sales.…

The restaurant technology industry arrived at McCormick Place last month with a message that was hard to miss: the next phase of restaurant innovation is becoming more operational, more automated and more closely tied to the everyday economics of running a restaurant. At the 2026 National Restaurant Association Show, the industry’s largest annual gathering once…

Next-generation VFD is recognized for simplifying commissioning while improving efficiency, reliability, and sustainability across industrial applications. Mitsubishi Electric Automation, Inc. (Mitsubishi Electric Automation) announced that its FR-D800 Variable Frequency Drive (VFD) has been named the Gold winner in the Drives, Motion & Motor Control category in Control Engineering’s 2026 Product of the Year awards program.…