Processing's Weekly Mixer: How candy, chocolate product innovation is driving process advancement, and more
Welcome to the latest installment of Processing's Weekly Mixer, which highlights recent content from EndeavorB2B brands relevant to process manufacturers.
This week's entry features content from Food Processing, Automation World, Pharma Manufacturing and Control Design, as well as this week's content from Processing.
Candy, chocolate product innovation drives process advancement
Candy and confectionery companies continue to find ways to innovate their product lines today, and what drives operations typically is a desire to find candy and chocolate products that consumers view as cutting-edge, unique and fun.
“These days, innovation itself is evolving in the confectionery industry,” explains Carly Schildhaus, director of public affairs & communications at the National Confectioners Assn. (NCA). “Brands are exploring new textures, formats, and limited-time offerings to keep candy relevant and growing, while technology is opening new ways to connect with people.”
According to the NCA’s 2026 State of Treating report, confectionery sales reached $55 billion in 2025 and are expected to top $62 billion by 2030. And while many feared the impact that the rise in the adoption of GLP-1 drugs would have on treats like candy and chocolate, Swiss chocolate company Lindt & Spruengli revealed data in March that showed increased consumption of chocolate among GLP-1 users in the U.S. Sales of premium chocolate increased among GLP-1 users by nearly 17% in 2025, compared to a 6.5% rise among non-GLP-1 users, the company noted in a Reuters report this spring.
Candy companies are moving to take advantage. Chocolate and candy remain important to U.S. consumers overall. With people eating candy two to three times per week, adding an average of 40 calories and about one teaspoon of added sugar per day, candy and confections companies see the popularity of their products but know that balance is important.
“Confectionery manufacturers are offering more variety in pack sizes and portion options than ever before, while reminding consumers that candy is a treat, not a meal replacement,” Schildhaus adds. “Companies of every size are shaping the category, with larger brands able to deliver at scale while smaller companies bring agility and fresh experimentation.”
Read the entire article HERE.
AI’s Future Impact: A Disconnect Between Manufacturers and Employees
Also from Food Processing: Randstad USA recently released its Workmonitor 2026 Report, and Christina Parker, senior vice president for the company, joined the Food For Thought podcast to dig into the results. The report covers numerous topics, and Parker discusses the sentiment on artificial intelligence in the manufacturing space, noting a disconnect between what employers and employees expect the impact to be over the next few years.
Furthermore, she details some of the communication and collaboration needed between employers and employees to properly manage expectations for the systems being implemented. AI has helped manufacturers of all types deal with the labor shortages of recent years, and Parker lays out some of the things employees are seeking today in the post-pandemic employment landscape.
Listen to the episode below.
How modern drive technologies are solving industry’s toughest precision challenges
Delivering pharma’s mega-projects in a resource-constrained world: Part 1
From Pharma Manufacturing: Rising capital investment in pharmaceutical manufacturing is pushing projects to unprecedented scale, but execution strategies haven’t fully kept pace. As companies commit billions to new facilities, they’re encountering a new set of challenges around planning, coordination, and risk management. What worked for smaller, site-based upgrades is insufficient for multibillion-dollar builds involving thousands of stakeholders, constrained resources, and increasingly complex regional dynamics.
In the latest episode of Off Script, Pharma Manufacturing spoke with Pathfinder President Steve Cabano and Mark Christopher, vice president and head of the company's pharmaceutical division, about what it takes to successfully deliver mega-scale capital projects in today’s environment. Pathfinder is a project management consulting firm. The conversation explores how the industry’s shift back toward large-scale North American manufacturing is exposing gaps in project controls, contracting strategies, and organizational readiness. They discuss the growing importance of early-stage planning, clearer decision ownership, and construction-driven execution models, as well as how labor competition, permitting hurdles, utility constraints, and global procurement risks are reshaping timelines and cost structures.
Listen to the episode below.
Creating the missing layer: Why orchestration is essential for industrial AI success
Chris Stevens and Annemarie Breu of Siemens write:
Every conversation about AI’s role in manufacturing is dominated by the promise of smarter automation, a better prepared workforce and real-time adaptation. Yet a gap remains: trust.
When an AI makes a recommendation, a system generates an action, and, often between the algorithm and the assembly line, there is a breakdown because of the lack of guardrails, context and chain of accountability connecting insight to execution.
Deploying automation has always required confidence that the system will do what it's supposed to do, but introducing AI into that equation raises the stakes considerably. Bridging that gap requires an orchestration layer that closes the loop between AI-generated insight and action on the floor in a way that manufacturers can depend on.
Read the entire article HERE.
