Page 27 - FoodFocusThailand No.144_March 2018

SPECIAL FOCUS

new IoT technologies that have the ability • Predictive maintenance – pre-emptive alerts to equipment
to improve traceability, reduce food waste malfunctions and can even enable the machine to automatically fix
and increase efficiencies in transport and the problem before it occurs
handling of food products. In particular • Enabling personalisation
one technology- RFID holds potential to • Being able to remotely monitor conditions to ensure the safety
address both the unique and not-so- and the quality of the final products
unique issues faced by the food industry. Retail Opportunities are endless for the Retailer. The retailer would
RFID technology uses a specially know when the consumer walks in to the shop and start pointing out
designed tag that contains a chip capable the products that the consumer is interested in:
of storing data about the product to which • Real time stock control, based on the local and national events
it is attached. Today the technology is and weather conditions
highly reliable, relatively cheap, and based • Smart interactive labels that shows conditions of the product
on international standards that promote • No checkout – automatic payment as the customer walked out
easy communication between different of the supermarket with shopping
device’s tags and systems. Consumer What IoT can bring to the consumers are for example:
While RFID technology has been used • Improving consumer engagement with the product
in the apparel industry for more than ten • The retail can also understand where the products are going
years and in livestock farming for longer, and even how it has been consumed
companies have only recently started to • Enable healthy eating for busy individuals, Smart devices that
further explore its potential in food know the consumer has iron deficiency and recommends iron rich food
manufacture and retail applications and beverage
Internet of Things (IoT) in Europe have begun attaching RFID tags
outside of apparel. Select food distributors
to reusable totes used to deliver food to
for the Food & Beverage grocery stores to ensure accurate delivery เอกสารอ้างอิง/Reference
and to track the totes through the supply
Sajith Wimalaratne, http://blog.cambridgeconsultants.com/consumer-products/
internet-of-things-for-the-food-beverage-industry/
chain. Other companies are experimenting
Industry with attaching RFID tags to high value James Stafford, http://fstjournal.org/features/how-will-internet-things-impact-food-
industry
food items such as meat, poultry or fish.
Essentially, RFID serves the same
purpose as a barcode which helped
revolutionize the checkout process at
grocery stores but with four distinct advantages:
1.The speed with which inventory can be completed, as it
captures multiple reads per second
2.The amount of information, it can carry and its unique nature
3.The distance at which it can be read
4.It does not require “line of sight” to be utilized or scanned

Internet of Things – From Farm to Fridge
The Farm Opportunities that IoT can bring to the farm are for
example: the farmer could be centrally located and could be directing
the operation using big data generated from sensors located in the
farm. For example:
• Autonomous vehicles using holographic radars with GPS
guides to avoid hidden obstacles
- Drones used for asset inspection (storm damage assessment,
livestock tracking)
• Monitoring corps that is ready to harvest
• Precision planting, being able to plant the right crop at the
right place to maximise yield
Manufacturing In the manufacturing sector the humans are
becoming a vanishing breed, the machine to machine communications
will therefore grow in importance when food manufacturers seek to
leverage the IoT. Opportunities that IoT can bring to the
manufacturing sector are:
• Real time tracking of inventory, having inventory bins that can
automatically indicate when they need to be replenished, and trigger
materials to be retrieved

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