Automation in Consumer Goods | Accenture Strategy

LATEST THINKING

Today’s consumer packaged goods (CPG) leaders may not be tomorrow’s. They can win, but only by embracing digital and automation capabilities powering the transformation of the industry. Many leaders are delaying embracing the journey, even as their employees are waiting to start.

This decade has seen a shift in the CPG industry. Historically, growth was driven by economies of scale. Enabled by digital and automation, most of the growth in the industry now comes from companies outside the largest 100 CPGs.

This growth is shaped by the use of online channels, curating offers, personalizing products, using new digital business models, adding experiences and catering to niche interests. This can only be delivered through robust digital and analytical capabilities.

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KEY FINDINGS

Driving future growth in CPG means embracing digital to empower people and work in different ways:

Think cobots, not robots. The human/technology interface is not a zero-sum game. The real value comes from identifying how each human capability can be enhanced by technology.
Your people welcome change. The workforce knows that digital technologies are changing the future of work. They prefer to be at an organization that is embracing opportunities from digital disruption, rather than playing catch up.
New skills and roles are a given. As CPG companies pivot to automation and augmentation technologies, there is not a single role that will not be impacted in some way. Traditional ones will remain, but many will be unrecognizable in as little as five years.