ADVERTISING FEATURE
Innovative Talks
on the future of FMCG in Australia
T
he fourth industrial revolution has certainly made its way to the doorsteps of the Australian manufacturing industry and the future of our local FMCG manufacturing has never been brighter for businesses that dare to think differently and apply innovation via advanced manufacturing techniques and technology to compete on a global scale.
Vative has been supporting Australian manufacturers in deploying Continuous Improvement strategies and driving operational excellence since 2006. Over the last 15 years of business transformation, we have seen firsthand that without the innovative thinking and adaption to change within the mindset of the key leadership, a business will struggle to shift towards becoming truly innovative. Vative discussed this recently with a Melbourne Food Manufacturer who have their eyes set on growth and expansion not only in within the Australian market but heavily into the export market where Australian quality is in high demand globally. NMPS Food Group are a family-owned business currently in its second generation of management. We spoke with Managing Director, Evan Tsioukis, about the future of advanced manufacturing for Australian businesses setting their sights on implementing transformative technologies. Here is what Evan had to say: How is technology shaping the manufacturing industry and what does Industry 4.0 mean to your business? “Our recent exponential growth has pushed us to transition from a family owned and operated business to a corporate enterprise and with this transition we know we that to survive we need to invest in incorporating advanced manufacturing techniques. With this evolution we have come to the realisation that to continue to capitalize on our growth we must embrace technology and enter the 4th industrial revolution of competitive manufacturing. We know that if we do not think innovative, we will be left behind and our growth will stifle, so over the last 6-7 years we have been focused in capturing relevant data across our business so we can now systematise and automate our manufacturing volumes, quality, defects, weight and throughput.”
What strategies are you currently applying in your business to ensure process controls through the use of technology and how is this implemented and adapted to the wider team members? “The use of technology is allowing us to improve as a business, and we need to continuously be improving otherwise we just fall behind very quickly in this industry. Our journey into the 4th industrial revolution required us to analyse our current state and ensure our business is not only technologically ready though we need to ensure our people adapt a mindset of continuous improvement otherwise adding technology speeds up inefficient processes. Our vision is to drive process improvement through strategy, leadership alignment, analysis and training as we have invested significantly to apply Continuous Improvement across our entire business and ensure it is sustained for the long term, this strategy will inevitably support our plans to use technology for the betterment of our future and give us the capacity for growth.”