I believe that too. But I also believe that large ERP vendors will be the ones delivering this value, because integrating predictive modeling into a company's operating model is the hard part. They're also a lot more vertically integrated, plus their products work with your existing ERP / forecasting system.

Though it does seem like you guys have found a niche - quality automation in general is booming right now, and ML predictive models can be very helpful in certain industries like food and beverage. I'm guessing you guys probably work with smaller/younger companies that don't have the kinds of problems your Kraft/P&G/J&J do - there's certainly plenty of opportunity there.

"Prediction" in general can be hard - the biggest problem can be getting good data in the first place, and fixing a company's data gathering problems is out of scope of any sane software shop. But it's right in the wheelhouse of an IT consulting shop, which is where I'm seeing a lot of ML guys end up.