Supply chain and AI major focuses at IDFA DairyTech 2025 conference

IDFA’s DairyTech 2025 conference, which took place Oct. 29-30 at the Hilton Downtown Columbus in Columbus, Ohio, offered a glimpse at what technologies are shaping the future of the dairy industry.

Supply chain was a significant focus at the event, including Oct. 29’s opening session, featuring Nate Rosier, senior vice president, Consulting Leader, enVista. He focused on the supply chain of the future, and how to turn the supply chain into “your greatest asset.” Rosier highlights one of his clients is Southwestern supermarket chain H-E-B, which has a supply chain team playbook in place.

“If a hurricane hits, the goal is to make sure they are never out of stock for customers. If fact, when a hurricane did hit, not only were they not out of stock, but they had a surplus,” he notes. “Disruption is the name of the game. It happens all the time. The best thing to do is expect it.”

Among the global impacts that can affect the supply chain are geopolitical realignment and trade reconfiguration, political and regulatory trends, macro business and social trends, and technology trends, Rosier explains. Technology is sure to make its impact on all fronts, he adds.

“AI (artificial intelligence) is transforming global logistics operations. AI is good for some things, like forecasting,” Rosier relays. “Anything that can be optimized will be optimized better.”

Looking ahead, the biggest opportunity in supply chain is leadership. “The industry is talent starved. A key part of leadership is the vision and building a road map,” Rosier suggests. “A great leader will [best] any automation and make AI better.”

Rosier’s speech was bookended by the final closing session of the DairyTech 2025 conference, when Chirag Pandya and Shiyam Karunakaran, both partners at McKinsey & Co., discussed the future of the supply chain.

They explained that most companies are exploring AI, with cybersecurity being the most cited obstacle to implementation. According to Karunakaran, agentic AI — an artificial intelligence system that accomplishes a specific goal with limited supervision — is “set to elevate the supply chain’s impact.”

Three other trends McKinsey expects in the future for dairy processors are a focus on supply chain resilience and reliability; an emphasis on supply chain as an operations integrator; and enhanced supply chain visibility and connectivity.

“Supply chain teams will act as data integrators and decision orchestrators, bridging research and development, sustainability and sales,” Karunakaran predicts.

McKinsey also released results of an IDFA survey that polled dairy leaders. It reveals that the supply chain has “maintained a steady pace across all survey years,” dating back to 2022, maintaining its spot among the top five concerns for dairy leaders. The top three current priorities for dairy leaders are talent, cost and volume growth, the survey revealed.

Dairy plant of the future

An educational session entitled “The Dairy Plant of the Future” dug deep into the aforementioned talent and cost concerns.

“What are you trying to solve?,” asks Jean-Pierre Berlan, vice president, Processing — Liquid Food and Ice Cream, Tetra Pak U.S. and Canada. “No. 1 is labor issues, and No. 2 is cost reduction. [But] only 8% of CEOs have scaled AI solutions, who have to answer the question, ‘Is it going to help me change the way I work?’”

Specifically, technology for dairy processors is not going to get simpler, the Tetra Pak executive stresses. “Technology is getting more complex with membrane filtration. And shelf lives [for dairy products] have gone up a lot in [recent years],” he says.

Berlan adds dairy processors should look at total cost of ownership. “To process one gallon of milk, you need more than one gallon of water. There is room for improvement,” he states.

He continues that cleaning costs and time to accomplish this all-important task should be examined as well. “It is a big decision when talking about food safety,” Berlan notes. “Look at equipment to optimize this. AI can provide data and help here.”

Adam Breiterman, senior director, Information Technology at Maola, adds that suppliers selling equipment to dairy processors play a huge role both during and after the sale of new plant equipment. “Change management is helpful. Processors may need ‘hand holding’ until deployment and afterward for 90 days. Suppliers can coach and prove the value of technology,” he relays.

Jose Quijada, senior director, Digital Solutions at Ecolab, concurs, stating, “We need to go beyond just providing the technology.”

Breiterman adds that cybersecurity must be the foundation at any dairy plant and needs to be the first investment a processor makes. “You need a secure infrastructure first,” he concludes. DF