Page 33 - FoodFocusThailand No.195 June 2022

SPECIAL FOCUS

particularly non-biodegradable plastic, to meet more environmentally and inspecting both ingredients and products. AI can help in two ways:
friendly manufacturing demands. by setting standards and specifications and by helping to determine a
2. Safety Measurements Standards Alongside increased cause if a product suddenly starts to go far out of specification.
demands for sustainable, green manufacturing, F&B companies There have also been some speculations regarding the applications
must raise their safety standards. When asked what matters to them of artificial intelligence. For example, one research looking into the use
about their food in the future, safety was the third most important of AI in equipment sanitation. Recently, reseachers developing a system
issue cited by consumers, just behind eco-friendliness and trailing that uses ultrasound and ultraviolet sensors to provide feedback that
health. can serve to reduce water use.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) Food Safety 3. Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality Virtual Reality (VR)
report from 2019 concludes that approximately 600 million people and Augmented Reality (AR) have begun taking over everything from
(10% of the global population) become ill every year after eating MNCs to start-ups. The food industry is one of the areas where VR
contaminated food, and 420,000 die as a result. Public health and AR are establishing a path for themselves. Virtual Reality is no
organizations around the world are tightening food safety regulations. longer an illusion, and it's not that costly to experience.
At the same time, manufacturers are highly aware of the disastrous For the past couple of years, Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality
impact of food recalls, or worse, food poisoning incidents, on their in the food industry have grown significantly and already have a positive
reputation and, thus, their bottom line. For instance, Robotic process impact. Not only for marketing, but these tech integrations also
automation (RPA) can improve quality control and prevent human streamline various back-end operations. With the help of a single scan,
errors that could contaminate food during production or cleaning in AR and VR technology allows customers to access information about
place (CIP) technologies that can monitor and improve hygiene food products in real-time. Various AR-based food applications are
practices. available online, allowing anyone to scan the product and access
3. Streamlining Plant Operations Food and beverage plants additional information.
found that COVID-19 forced them to adopt technologies that enable With this advancement, users feel more confident that they buy
employees to work from home and production to continue without the right products. People follow different diets, and when purchasing
disruption. Such as cloud project management and communication products, these apps help pick up the products with the correct
tools, machine learning (ML) and big data for predictive maintenance, nutritional values. This additional functionality helps increase sales and
IIoT devices together with edge computing and augmented reality grow customer retention rate. Meanwhile, in the processing line, VR
(AR) to support digital twins, and RPA on the factory. and AR technology would help the machine user to understand and
4. Improving Agility While supply chains buckled and broke, follow the instruction easier with more caution.
food and beverage manufacturers were forced to adopt technology 4. Metaverse Technology It is safe to say that this year is the year
to be able to respond quickly to last-minute changes in the supply of Metaverse, even in the food industry. Metaverse is going to provide
chain, demand, or small batch orders, without compromising quality new dimensions to the food industry because it is where the future of
or inflating costs. Advanced analytics that use ML algorithms to crunch social media lies. The use of social media websites has transformed
market data and produce fast and accurate forecasts became the dynamic of business of in every industry. In a similar manner,
invaluable and integrating data from supply chains enabled better Metaverse will revolutionize human life.
and quicker decision-making. The addition of the food industry into the Metaverse is of extreme
Plants also use ML-powered predictive analytics to help mitigate significance, as it allows multiple sectors to expand their business, and
or eliminate bottlenecks in production, so that product volume can be not just as an opportunity gamify their food business either. People are
ramped up or down whenever needed. Digitalized production lines investing millions of dollars into the Metaverse to acquire digital
are more swiftly reconfigured for the next batch, and automated property. Many digital real estates are now for sale in the Metaverse,
configuration rules help prevent manual error. and investors are constantly trying to close the best deals. In the same
way, the big names in the food and beverage industry are trying to
Types of Digital Technology in the F&B Industry come up with creative ways to invest in the food market of the
and Usage Examples Metaverse. There have been talks of even exchanging real food for
1. Robotics and Automation When talking about digitalization NFTs. Imagine you are in the Metaverse, and you acquire the NFTs to
in any industry, it is known that the amount of robot stock operating a restaurant through a metaverse or by any other means. You could
in food and beverage manufacturing has almost doubled since 2014. even end up exchanging that token for an authentic meal from the
It's predicted that the number of robots per 10,000 employees in the restaurant in the real world.
industry will rise 47% over the next 5 years and that the robotics in These are several parts of digitalization technology adopted
the food market will be worth $20 billion by 2028. in the F&B industry which drives manufacturers in Thailand forward.
This is quite a big deal for an industry that has traditionally lagged However, the manufacturers should get familiar and be prepared to
behind other manufacturing industries in its use of automation. adjust to this innovative technology. The support from the government
The previous example mainly demonstrated a wider adoption of and related organizations in the country is also important for improving
robotics across manufacturing sectors. However, more specific the efficiency of food production and becoming a contender on an
changes in the food industry are causing robotics to thrive right now. international level.
Robots are being utilized more than ever before to navigate these
changes to remain profitable. There are many great options for robotic
automation that could be suitable for the food industry. The most
popular one is automated palletizing, a quick and easy solution for
this with less workforce.
2. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning One of the More Information Service Info C001
most common applications for artificial intelligence is sorting, grading,

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