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Food processing industry in India - Benefits of automation
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Tuesday, 15 February, 2022, 14 : 00 PM [IST]
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Raghav Gupta
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India boasts of having one of the largest food processing sectors at the global level. It comprises 32% of the global food market share and 11.6% of employment opportunities. Grains, sugar, edible oils, beverages, dairy products, packaged, preserved as well as ready-to-eat food items occupy a significant share in the segment.
While the market has always been driven by labor; ever since the coronavirus outbreak, it is gradually treading on the path of digital transformation. According to Invest India, the national investment promotion and facilitation agency, India's food processing industry is growing at a significant pace and is projected to be valued at the $535 billion mark by 2025-26 owing to tech deployment.
Amongst the new-age technologies, automation however receives a special mention as the industry has been keen to embrace this technology as a solution.
The impact of the pandemic on the food processing segment
In the pre-pandemic times, consumers were inclined towards purchasing unpackaged and loose food items from their trusted shopkeepers. However, Covid-19 transformed the scenario altogether. Not only it expedited digital adoption of the sector but also brought about a shift in the customers' preferences. As a result, the modern consumers now prefer customised products that come with a promise of health quotient and quick delivery.
The automation of the Indian food processing segment
While earlier technology was adopted by the players to survive and thrive in the market and cope with unforeseen situations; digitisation is now being embraced to enjoy a competitive edge. The industry players rely on automation to meet thegrowing and diversifying demands of the consumers. Various segments such as snacks (namkeen, bhujia, mixture), and frozen foods (naan, samosa, bhajia’s) have incorporated automation in the form of complete lines for fried snacks, extruded snacks fryer, aloo bhujia/namkeen extrusion line, automatic moongdal processing lines, as well as specifically designed equipment such as conveyors.
Along with them, complete lines and conveyors for baked snacks and automation solutions for Indian sweets including soanpapdi, kajukatli, gulabjamun, are other automation forms that are also witnessing a growth.The industry players are leveraging the power of this solution for pumping and extrusion, washing and soaking, weighing and blendingprocesses, and automate all of these processes so as to ensure smooth operations.
According to Meticulous Research’s recent reports, the global food automation market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 9.5% from 2020 to 2027 and will hit the $29.4 billion mark by 2027. The study further points out that the APAC region especially India is increasingly adopting automation and this trend will continue to pick up pace in the times ahead as well. Thus, it would be appropriate to say that automation is playing a pivotal role in upscaling the market and offers a plethora of benefits to the industry players.
Simplifying operations and improving efficiency
Automation as a solution is helping in simplifying and improving operational efficiency. Not only is the inventory management streamlined but the supply chain management and product recalls are also facilitated. With the automation of the product line, machines can communicate seamlessly with one another, analyze any issues that may arise, and resolve the problems in real-time without human intervention.
Boosting efficiency
Machines perform tasks with greater efficiency, speed, and accuracy as compared to manpower. They don't feel bored, fall ill or become unproductive frequently except in case of malfunctions. Incorporating the technology of automation in the food processing market thus helps increase the performance and enhances the productivity of the operations.
Ensuring end-to-end traceability
Automation can help track the products right from their inception to fulfillment stages. At the manufacturing front, process monitoring and control are automated where the machines monitor and analyse the operations, detect deviations and take corrective measures without involving humans. This end-to-end traceability provides data that will not only help in tracking the products but also in building a detailed profile and predictive system for the long run.
Ensuring quality checks
A vital element in the food processing sector is quality control. Faulty, defective, or contaminated products can tarnish your brand image as well as the relationship with your customers. Automation is helping in dealing with this challenge and is ensuring food hygiene at various levels. With this solution, the quality of food, colour, shape, volume, and labelling accuracy can be monitored. The technology even helps detect the presence of any foreign substance on the product surface. Problems can be identified well in advance during the processing or packaging stages. This way, automation ensures that only quality and premium products enter the market and reach the customers.
Ensuring worker productivity and reduced operational cost
Automation takes over repetitive and mundane tasks. It relieves humans from the boredom and unproductivity associated with routine work and spares them time to focus on important responsibilities of customer satisfaction, managing the organization, and driving its growth. When machines work in place of humans, the labour maintenance and retention costs reduce significantly. It also leads to fewer accidents and hence lower insurance premiums. Adopting automation thus offers the added benefit of reduced operational costs for food processing firms.
Coming with the promise of reduced wastage and boosted sales
Automation enables the production of food items with minimal use of ingredients that too without compromising on their appearance, taste, or quality. This helps increase the line efficiencies which further pave the way for bottom-line profit and greater sales.
Digital adoption was once an option but has now emerged to be the dire need of the hour for the Indian food processing industry. It has always been known as a labour-intensive sector. However, with automation gradually foraying into the segment, the market is disrupting digitally in the truest sense. The technology is helping organisations to reduce their operational costs, boost their productivity, tap the global markets and ensure greater efficiency, customer satisfaction along with food safety and quality.
Automation adoption in the industry is still in its nascent stages but will soon pick up pace in the times to come. It offers a myriad of benefits and will emerge to be a game-changer for the Indian food processing sector. Hence, it would to be appropriate to say that due to automation, the market seems to have a promising future.
(The authored is director at Kanchan Metals)
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