Food & Beverages 4.0, 2018

The Future of Food & Beverage (F&B) Manufacturing with IIoT.

The impact of information technology (IT) on the manufacturing industry has been tremendous in recent times. With an increasing number of machines being connected to the Internet, data is being generated in huge volumes. Advancements in real-time data processing and predictive analytics further help in discovering newer ways of utilising the data to generate insights for effective decision-making. Internet of things (IoT) and data analytics are the two main technologies that are driving the manufacturing space today. The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is a powerful upcoming trend in the F&B industry. The industry is not new to technological innovations. However, with the introduction of IIoT, the manufacturing of food and beverages is expected to be elevated to the next level. The F&B industry has been a recent addition in the IIoT maturity spectrum, having implemented sensor technology and computerised automation in the recent past. Successful F&B companies are constantly innovating and increasingly upgrading their technological infrastructure using elements of IIoT such as edge computing, Big Data, predictive analytics, cloud and other applications. With the convergence of digitised machine parts and improved connectivity, IIoT is already gaining momentum across several departments of F&B manufacturing. Like in any other industry, the objective of IIoT implementation in the F&B industry is to improve process and product efficiencies. In a scenario of ever-expanding opportunities and development of newer business models, companies are looking at exploring newer ways to adopt digital technologies within their realm of food production. This research paper looks at identifying all such opportunities and the ways in which IIoT can be implemented across all the departments of the food value chain. It will also look into some of the top technology trends that are shaping the industry. The study will also seek to understand ways by which IIoT is perceived within the industry, its benefits and the competitive landscape. Supported by established use cases, this study will cover the prospective value of investments in the vertical and how this has spread across various constituent elements in the industry ecosystem. With such rapid advancements of IIoT in the F&B sector, soon millions of sensors will start collecting several zeta bytes of machine data. It will be exciting to explore and discover ground-breaking opportunities that all of this data could bring to the F&B sector. As far as this industry is concerned, the concept of IIoT is not for the distant future. Now is the right time to think and act.