Inside a Sunny Delight plant for the Wall Street Journal | M. Scott Brauer

Joe Mertzic, an electrician, stands on the plant floor at the Sunny Delight Beverages Company Littleton Plant in Littleton, Mass., USA, on Thurs., Dec. 1, 2011. The Sunny Delight Beverages Company has received federal money for business improvement, allowing the company to purchase new equipment for their production line. This new equipment increases production efficiency and reduces the plant’s water and energy use. But with increased automation and efficieny, the company’s demand for workers has decreased, causing layoffs.

Area technical lead Tom Borden checks the performance of machines as they fill plastic bottles with a Fruit2O beverage in the “filler room” at the Sunny Delight Beverages Company Littleton Plant in Littleton, Mass., USA, on Thurs., Dec. 1, 2011.

Label operator Jenny Sovvannasack makes sure things are working properly as bottles of a Fruit2O beverage travel along the labeling and packing process at the Sunny Delight Beverages Company Littleton Plant in Littleton, Mass., USA, on Thurs., Dec. 1, 2011.

Kim Ang, a packer, checks on machine operations as bottles of a Fruit2O beverage travel along conveyor belts during the labeling and packing process at the Sunny Delight Beverages Company Littleton Plant in Littleton, Mass., USA, on Thurs., Dec. 1, 2011.

Area technical lead Tom Borden checks the performance of machines as they fill plastic bottles with a Fruit2O beverage in the “filler room” at the Sunny Delight Beverages Company Littleton Plant in Littleton, Mass., USA, on Thurs., Dec. 1, 2011.

Kim Ang, a packer, checks on machine operations as bottles of a Fruit2O beverage travel along conveyor belts during the labeling and packing process at the Sunny Delight Beverages Company Littleton Plant in Littleton, Mass., USA, on Thurs., Dec. 1, 2011.

Stacks of finished beverage pallets stand on shelves in the Sunny Delight Beverages Company Littleton Plant in Littleton, Mass., USA, on Thurs., Dec. 1, 2011.

Carlos Munera, a packer operator, moves past a conveyor belt filled with Fruit2O bottles in the middle of the labeling and packaging process at the Sunny Delight Beverages Company Littleton Plant in Littleton, Mass., USA, on Thurs., Dec. 1, 2011.

Electrician Joe Mertzic watches as machines fill plastic bottles with a Fruit2O beverage in the “filler room” at the Sunny Delight Beverages Company Littleton Plant in Littleton, Mass., USA, on Thurs., Dec. 1, 2011.

Area technical lead Tom Borden checks the performance of machines as they fill plastic bottles with a Fruit2O beverage in the “filler room” at the Sunny Delight Beverages Company Littleton Plant in Littleton, Mass., USA, on Thurs., Dec. 1, 2011.

Tom Wuth mixes up a batch of the Fruit2O beverage in the “batching room” at the Sunny Delight Beverages Company Littleton Plant in Littleton, Mass., USA, on Thurs., Dec. 1, 2011.