Speaking at the ProFood Tech Innovation Zone yesterday, Sasha Ilyukhin of Tetra Pak said that the food and beverage industry needs to embrace a customer-centric environment by driving digital through an organizational transformation. “Digital transformation equals human transformation,” he said.
Productivity solutions are more effective with digital technologies, Ilyukhin said. Combining current productivity solutions with Industry 4.0 digital technologies can provide up to a 40 percent cost reduction to the manufacturer.
Current technologies that are disrupting businesses:
- Big Data, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and cybersecurity: Some examples include using IIoT to predict failures before they happen and using the advanced analytics of Big Data. For IIoT, the cost of entry is low, Ilyukhin said. With the increased connectivity comes the need to make the infrastructure cybersecure. If your company doesn’t already have a chief digital officer (CDO), it definitely should get one, he added.
- Augmented reality: Ilyukhin discussed using augmented/mixed reality to bridge the knowledge gap with visually guided remote support or holographic layout visualization. He cited an example in which an engineer laid out an entire manufacturing floor using a HoloLens holographic layout visualization.
- Artificial intelligence and advanced robotics: Collaborative robots (cobots) recognizing and working alongside humans.
- Additive manufacturing/3D printing: Instead of holding an inventory of spare parts, manufacturers will print parts when they need them.
- Simulation: With digital twins, digital and physical assets work together to provide more accurate, up-to-date data.
- System integration: For most operations, this means integrating new systems with existing systems. Value chains are becoming circular. The key is to put the customer at the center.
