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Digitalisation in f&b industry varies with advent of new technologies
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Friday, 29 October, 2021, 13 : 00 PM [IST]
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Dharna Shukla
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Digitalisation is present in all arenas of different businesses. The food and beverage industry is no different. It is very large and comprises of industries at sublevel too. Digitalisation requirements thus differ owing to their own particular needs and challenges. The pace at which digitalisation is to be adapted across the food and beverage industry massively varies with advent of new technologies.
Manufacturing in the industry is changing phenomenally and this calls for increase in virtualisation, data collection and analysing thus depending on their suppliers to take the lead on these aspects. Food and beverage industry is intensively focused on cost controls and is a cause of worry for the managers. The issue is the investment required to install the technology and the fear of failure to use it optimally.
Definition of Digitalisation
Digitalisation is the process by which digital technologies are employed and information is transformed into a digital format with the aim of enhancing processes and activities across an organisation. Food and beverage industry, thus must leverage digital technologies by employing it fully into the restructuring the value chain and adopting virtualisation by optimising the usage of Internet of Things (IoT).
Processes such as food packaging using robotics, reducing wastage by calculation of food requirements precisely and simply data analysis of the production or sales figures accurately are just few advantages of bringing in digitalisation into food and beverage processes.
There are four focus areas of digitalisation in food and beverage processes that are bound to have a solid impact and lead to improving of profits.
1. Cloud in Supply Chain – The trend of food companies of migrating to cloud platforms was to respond quickly to the market conditions that change fast enough. IoT and advanced analytics are being used to follow and procure ingredients around the globe. This includes the entire process of ‘Farm to Table’ where IoT is utilised to track the food items from the point of origin to the point of service with real-time temperature, moisture monitoring of the food items.
Data analytics traces the movement of the ingredients ensuring continuous analysis of all steps of transportation and storage. This is made possible through printed sensors on the item. Usage of cloud in supply chain also aid in providing information to consumers about food sustainability using IoT. This brings out the real competitive advantage too.
2. Data Analytics – Artificial Intelligence (AI), technologies as well as real –time analytics, both technical and financial need to be consolidated together. This will help produce information that aids analysis of the past trends, prediction for the future and optimisation. The analysis will enable food and beverage industry to rapidly respond to changing trends.
3. Automation – The development of technology augmenting the manufacturing or the production process helps in eliminating human errors, ensures uniform quality and a faster rate of production. This in turn leads to saving on human resources, more profits while also ensuring preventative maintenance preventing breakdowns. Sensors detect problems sending the error data to the software and the software program either solves the issue or transmits alerts to do so.
4. Standards and Safety – The food safety and quality standards expected of the food and beverage industry are indisputable. Though regulatory bodies are responsible for maintenance of these standards, the onus lies on the company to do so in the first place. Also, frequent changes in the directions of the regulatory bodies and consumer demands calls for rapid updating of operational requirements of the industry. Hence, technology plays an important role in meeting statutory compliances. The safety challenges have also multiplied due to the pandemic of coronavirus.
Food and beverage industry has to ensure sanitisation, production of food in a hygienic manner and protection of its own staff while doing so. Robotics and AI have played an essential role in these vital food manufacturing processes. While they have cut down the risks associated with human interactions, the efficiency and the safety aspects have increased manifold.
Food and beverage industry is requiring technological solutions at a rapid pace and digitalisation seems to be the apt answer to the demand. The amount of pressure on daily basis on the industry, supply chain requirements, demand for efficient production processes, need for accurate consumer analytics and requirements of dynamic inventory, store management, maintenance of strict regulations is bringing about technological changes at a faster pace.
Technologies such as IoT, AI and Blockchain are the way ahead in ensuring the simplification and smooth operations with assured return on investments. Digitalisation exists in the food and beverage industry but is yet to be realized in its full potential.
(The author is adjunct faculty, Institute of Hotel Management Ahmedabad and Research Scholar, Banasthali Vidyapith, Rajasthan)
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