Report higlights power of digital applications for F&B industry
MUSCAT: Manufacturers and their partners across the food and beverage (F&B) value chain can leverage powerful new digital applications and systems, according to a new report release by GE on Wednesday.
The key findings states that Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), Industry 4.0 or Digital Industrial can help companies to gain a competitive advantage today and prepare for an increasingly dynamic environment in the future.
Released at Gulfood Manufacturing 2018, GE’s white paper is entitled “Digital Transformation: A Bold Future for MENA Food and Beverage Manufacturing.”
It examines how regional manufacturers are juggling multiple challenges — including a need to continually improve manufacturing quality and consistency, operational efficiency and productivity, and sustainability, health and safety standards — in an environment of rapidly changing consumer preferences.
In the face of rising input and labor costs; increasing demand for flexibility and agility on manufacturing lines; margin pressures that put a premium on process efficiency, productivity, uptime and quality; and a need for greater integration across manufacturing, distribution and retailing, digital industrial solutions can position manufacturers for success.
The white paper identifies several digital industrial solutions particularly suited to the needs of F&B operators in the region, including asset performance management (APM), field service management, manufacturing execution systems (MES), and digital twin software.
“In looking at the current state of operations of many food and beverage manufacturers in the region, we see enormous opportunities for major enhancements to operations through the implementation of digital industrial solutions,” said Ali Saleh, Chief Commercial Officer in the Middle East, Africa and Turkey for GE Digital.
“We see that digital solutions can help manufacturers achieve operating efficiencies exceeding 95 per cent and realising as much as a 10 per cent reduction in both total cost of ownership and cost of production. While offering companies greater flexibility and a platform for innovating new products and services – and even new business models – digital industrial solutions give manufacturers the tools to deliver better efficiencies and quality for their customers,” he added.