Controls Engineering & IoT

For decades, beverage service in restaurants and foodservice environments has followed a familiar model. Operators purchase bottled water, canned beverages and packaged drinks, store inventory, replenish coolers, manage deliveries and absorb the costs associated with transportation, storage and waste. While that approach has remained deeply embedded in foodservice operations, changing consumer preferences, sustainability initiatives and…

Key Takeaways Data-driven cleaning uses real-time data to improve efficiency and results. Workloading software helps managers optimize staffing and control labor costs. Smart sensors and cleaning robots improve service, tracking, and consistency. By Keith Schneringer If you are a facility cleaning manager, there are probably some common questions you ask yourself each day regarding building…

Miso Robotics, the Pasadena, California-based company behind the Flippy automated fry station, has acquired the technology and intellectual property of Zume Pizza, one of the most heavily funded and closely watched food robotics startups of the past decade. The transaction includes Zume’s hardware, software and patent portfolio, which spans robotic food preparation, delivery, packaging and…

In a future increasingly shaped by technology, the most valuable skills may turn out to be profoundly human ones. Over a career spent in hospitality, I had a hand in developing hundreds of leaders—people who started as hosts, servers, line cooks, or dishwashers and eventually ran restaurants with large teams and millions in annual sales.…

The restaurant technology industry arrived at McCormick Place last month with a message that was hard to miss: the next phase of restaurant innovation is becoming more operational, more automated and more closely tied to the everyday economics of running a restaurant. At the 2026 National Restaurant Association Show, the industry’s largest annual gathering once…

Next-generation VFD is recognized for simplifying commissioning while improving efficiency, reliability, and sustainability across industrial applications. Mitsubishi Electric Automation, Inc. (Mitsubishi Electric Automation) announced that its FR-D800 Variable Frequency Drive (VFD) has been named the Gold winner in the Drives, Motion & Motor Control category in Control Engineering’s 2026 Product of the Year awards program.…

Consumer confidence in food safety reached a record low in 2024 due to food recalls and increased reporting on toxic ingredients, according to the International Food Information Council (Ref. 1), making it more important than ever for companies in the food and beverage industry to guarantee the safety of their products. Modeling and simulation allow companies…

The company manufactures robotic systems for meat production and other food processes. Fortifi subsidiary Frontmatec AiRA on Thursday opened a new production and R&D facility in Northeast Spain, company officials announced. Screenshot 2026 06 11 104850 Frontmatec AiRA’s new facility. The suburban Houston developer of food processing automation systems said that the Frontmatec AiRA campus…

Aiming to accelerate the future of autonomous building, the Montréal innovation hub and immersive customer experience center advances Trane’s AI-driven sustainability strategy. Key Highlights The Montreal AI Lab is part of Trane Technologies’ strategy to develop next-generation, AI-powered climate solutions; Located in a leading AI hub, the lab combines top talent and industry partners like…

Autonomous cleaning has moved past the demo-day novelty stage, but the gap between a robot that runs and a program that works keeps widening. At ISSA Show North America, it was noted that about a dozen companies showed up with robotic floor equipment. A year later, that number was creeping up to 50. The technology…