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Disruptive technologies are helping leading manufacturers to boost productivity, attract and engage new consumers, inspire new market strategies and drive substantial business growth. Here's our pick of disruptive technologies to watch:

Drones: Deutsche Post, the world's biggest courier company, is using a drone to deliver medication to a remote German island. It’s been such a success the company is considering using the “parcelcopter” to make more regular deliveries.

‘Mobile-geddon’: mobile devices are making waves in the business world: think service delivery, worker productivity and customer experience.

Distributed manufacturing: is where the final product is manufactured near the final customer, so the raw materials, assembly and product fabrication are decentralised, potentially increasing customisation.

Advanced robotics: including human-machine collaboration.

Emergent Artificial Intelligence: is where machines can learn automatically by taking on large volumes of information; it has huge implications for productivity.

Self-driving vehicles: that could potentially move or distribute goods.

Internet of Things: has massive potential for business process optimisation, reduced downtime and waste, and increased quality overall.

Find out more about these disruptive technologies by reading the full story here.

Food & Drink Business

Welcome to the July edition of PLAY, your monthly wrap-up of the biggest stories shaping Australia's food and beverage manufacturing industry. This month we're looking at court action, a major take-private deal, alleged tomato provenance fraud, new leadership and investment in manufacturing capability. Let's get into it. 

Winners of the 2026 Australasian Packaging Innovation & Design (PIDA) Awards were recognised last week during foodpro 2026, a showcase of how the industry is incorporating circularity, usability, accessibility and digital functionality into packaging solutions across the board.

Tasmanian whisky producer Lark Distilling Co has closed FY26 with fourth quarter net sales of $5 million, up 44 per cent on the prior corresponding period (pcp), taking full year net sales to $18 million, a 15 per cent increase on FY25.