In food and beverage, the productivity frontier is shifting from newer machines to smarter, more connected teams. And the real differentiator isn’t another dashboard, but whether leaders can turn real-time visibility into frontline ownership, problem-solving, and sustained performance gains.
That’s where QAD Redzone has built its reputation. With nearly two thousand plants on the platform, the company sits at the intersection of operations, culture, and technology, translating live data into action on the line and measurable improvements on the P&L.
At the EATS show, we sat down with Betsy Scott, National Accounts Director at QAD Redzone, to talk about leading through transformation. We discuss closing the gap between leadership priorities and daily execution, empowering operators as continuous-improvement practitioners, and using connected-worker tools to amplify automation. Betsy shares what she’s hearing from the C-suite, early indicators of long-term resilience, and how to pace AI adoption without losing the human edge.
Q. EATS brings together so many different perspectives across food production and technology. What kinds of conversations or innovations are you most excited to explore at this year’s show?
Betsy Scott: I’m most excited to see how technology continues to evolve on the plant floor —
the tools, the methodologies used to connect people, processes, and machines in real time. I’ve already had amazing conversations with C-suite leaders. It’s interesting to hear how they’re strategically thinking about digital transformation and how they’re using Redzone to empower the front line to drive those productivity gains.
Q. Are there particular shifts you’re noticing in what executives are prioritizing — efficiency, culture, or AI readiness?
BS: I think the industry is really struggling with this gap between frontline connectivity and leadership goals. Here at Redzone, we’re not just providing real-time data, we’re helping leadership connect real-time data to actual actions, problem solving, and ultimately process improvement.
Q. From your perspective, what’s the most pressing challenge your food and beverage customers are working to solve right now as they balance efficiency, quality, and workforce engagement?
BS: Redzone has been in business for about 12 years. We’re in almost 2,000 plants, and we’ve seen a lot. We’ve proven that connecting and engaging your frontline teams around the data, around their real-time performance, and giving them ownership is what drives those double-digit productivity gains in a very sustainable way.
The industry is starting to realize that we need to invest in our people and our frontline just as much, if not more than, our machines and our equipment.
Q. When manufacturers embrace connected-worker technology, what early indicators tell you they’re building not just short-term efficiency, but long-term operational resilience?
BS: When they start to see the front line truly empowered in problem solving, taking ownership of the problems, that’s when it starts to click. When managers and supervisors aren’t getting the problems escalated to them because the operators have the visibility to make those changes in real time. That’s when they really start to see it.
From a Redzone perspective, as we’re coaching in continuous improvement and lean principles, along with the software, we’re teaching operators to become CI practitioners. They’re running their own kaizens and tracking their own savings. That’s when leaders start to see Redzone becoming quite magical.
Q. Is there a KPI or success metric you find particularly predictive of sustainable improvement?
BS: Our baseline KPI is OEE, which is overall equipment effectiveness, but we’re also tracking engagement. How many of the operators are actually in the platform high-fiving and chatting? We’re measuring both the performance of the line and the engagement of the people, which is a beautiful thing.
Q. Automation and AI are changing how work gets done. How do you see connected-worker platforms amplifying — rather than replacing — automation on the factory floor?
BS: Redzone is not here to replace the operator. We’re here to support and empower them by giving them the digital tools that provide visibility into their performance. It doesn’t matter what your socioeconomic status is or what language you speak. Everyone’s using smart devices, and it’s been so undervalued out on the shop floor. It’s about giving them access in real time to that digital empowerment.
Q. In your view, what’s the smartest way leaders can use automation to elevate human performance, not just reduce headcount?
BS: Again, it’s all about visibility. When you understand not only how you’re performing, but the impact that you’re making, that’s when the seas rise.
Q. Data visibility is transforming how leaders make decisions. How are your customers using real-time insights to move from reactive problem-solving to proactive performance management?
BS: The real time data rolls up into analytics and you can see at any given time how you’re performing. If I’m a contract manufacturer, and I’ve got 1,000 SKUs, which SKUs do I need to drop? Within the Redzone platform in real time, over 10 days, over 14 days, over 30 days, you can start to trend out that data. You can make smart strategic business decisions like SKU rationalization.
Q. Is there a story or example that stands out — where data transparency changed the conversation in a leadership meeting?
BS: It happens every day. The ultimate success of a connected worker solution is leadership engagement. If you don’t have leadership buy-in cascading the benefits and the impact of this throughout the entire organization, it won’t work as well. As long as your leaders are involved, those things just happen organically.
Q. Digital transformation often fails on culture, not code. What leadership mindset separates the organizations that truly capitalize on new technology from those that struggle to adopt it?
BS: A lot of our best performing customers out of the 1,800 plants using Redzone recognize that it’s like an inverted pyramid. The operators are the owners of the shop floor and of productivity. They’re the ones making the product. And if they really truly understand that they are the lifeblood of this organization, that’s all it really takes. They start to trust the data. They start to act on the data. They start to celebrate the wins. So it’s truly transformational from that perspective.
Q. What are you seeing great leaders do differently when it comes to engaging their frontline teams in digital change?
BS: They’re breaking down the silos of evaluation. An evaluation of a platform like Redzone can’t exist in a silo of just production or operations. We’ve got to practice what we preach. We’ve got to pull in production, quality, maintenance, CI, leaders, HR — bring everybody into the conversation so that transformation cascades throughout the organization.
Q. Looking at the EATS Show overall, what trends or technologies do you think will have the biggest impact on factory performance in the next few years?
BS: The platforms that are connecting the front line with real time data, but also communication, collaboration, and all the things that we’ve been talking about. I truly think that something like Redzone is what’s going to catapult food and beverage into a whole new echelon of productivity.
Q. What advice would you give to manufacturing leaders who want to stay competitive and resilient as technology continues to evolve?
BS: As with anything new in life, you’ve got to take baby steps. You got to dip your toes in. It’s a crawl, walk, run approach.
When you start to go into AI, don’t think of it as a complete replacement of the human. Think of it as an assist, as support. That’s the guidance we would give, and that’s what we’re supporting through our Champion AI. Trust the data, but also use your people to influence what’s actually meaningful.
Don’t forget about the people. At the end of the day, they are the ones making the product. They’re the ones solving problems every day. As long as you keep your eyes steadfastly focused on them, you’re going to win.
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