Enhanced formulations are prompting food and beverage companies to open their capital budgets, and the spending is flowing toward processing equipment more than packaging.
According to PMMI’s The Formulation Effect white paper, 56% of end users say formulation trends are increasing their processing equipment investment over the next three years, including 22% who expect a significant increase. Packaging equipment trails: 47% expect that investment to rise, with 13% anticipating a significant increase.
The split widens when end users account for shifting priorities alongside outright spending increases. Overall, 90% of end users report that enhanced formulations are either influencing their investment priorities or increasing their investment in processing equipment, compared with 81% for packaging. The report ties the processing tilt to where formulation complexity concentrates: in the core production steps that enhanced products most directly affect.
For some companies, that processing investment is foundational.
“The investment was on creating the right raw material out of the raw material,” a vice president at an end-user company said. “The emulsification, that was a pretty hefty investment, but it did give us the infrastructure to do a lot more.”
The dollars at stake are substantial, though they vary widely. Just over half of end users (51%) expect to invest at least $500,000 in formulation-related processing or packaging equipment over the next three years, and one-third (33%) anticipate $1 million or more. At the same time, 49% expect to spend less than $500,000, including 15% who anticipate less than $100,000.
That range reflects how differently companies approach the problem, from overhauling a full line to modifying a machine or two to see what happens.
“If I have 10 machines doing the same thing and we want to run this on 10 machines, that can be a significant disruption and cost, or we’re just going to modify one or two machines and start and see how it goes,” a director of engineering and innovation at an end-user company said.
For OEMs and suppliers, the investment levels point to opportunities ranging from targeted modifications and upgrades to major equipment purchases. Capabilities aimed at core processing—and options that let customers start small and scale—align with both where the money is going and how cautiously much of it will be spent.
SOURCE: 2026 The Formulation Effect: Impacts on Food & Beverage Production, Equipment and Investment
