Emerging and Expanding Food Chain Technologies

There is increasing pressure on supply chain leaders in the food industry to implement technology responses to address disruptions, supply shortages, sustainability, safety and security incidents. We heard this as a common theme during the 67th Annual Food Shipper Conference in Palm Desert in March.

Throughout this edition of Food Chain Digest, you’ll read common themes for technology to deliver automation, intelligence, sustainability and resiliency in food chains worldwide. In fact, many food chain executives suggest that adapting to new technology is the most important strategic change to occur in supply chain organizations in the next few years. Food chain leaders are well-advised to take multi-disciplined approaches to identify innovative technologies and to orchestrate the right technology investments at the right place and time.

As I think about what I’ve been hearing from food supply chain executives and from my editorial team in this edition, I offer these supply chain technology trends:

Hyperautomation is a business-driven approach that food organizations are using to rapidly identify, explore and automate as many business and IT processes as possible through the orchestrated use of multiple technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). Hyperautomation 2.0 goes past this initial focus on AI and ML and integrates other technologies and tools of the technology portfolio in the food chain.

During the next few years, supply chain observers predict that hyperautomation 2.0 will be part of initiatives in warehousing, transport, production and others. Solutions will include intelligent remote fulfillment networks in warehouse or yard management domains and personalized e-commerce applications. Check out the article, Leveraging Technology to Achieve the Perfect Shipment on page 12 and the “2023 Top Food Chain Technology” list named by Food Chain Digest in this issue.

Autonomous Technologies, such as vehicles, robots and drones can augment traditional manually intensive physical tasks with greater efficiency, productivity and safety. Working independently or through networks, they also enhance a new generation of immersive work and customer experiences through enhanced service transparency and efficiency. Autonomous technologies support safer, more efficient and optimized operations and processes across food chains. We’ve been reporting on many of these technologies in recent months in past editions of Food Chain Digest, as well as on the Food Shippers Blog at www.foodshippers.org and in FSA’s social media channels.

Enterprise-Centric Next-Generation

Robots are rapidly moving from science fiction to real-life supply chain production platforms – and as a result, transforming the food and beverage industry. These robots are more adaptive and flexible than ever - and they now can be applied to a variety of tasks. In the not-toodistant future, many predict that food companies will have heterogeneous fleets of robots where work will have to be orchestrated across different robots — meaning that robots have to interact with each other and need to communicate with other types of automated equipment like elevators and doors.

Sustainability Tools are a fast-evolving spectrum of applications, services and capabilities in supply chain that support events associated with directives for sustainability impacts and environmental mandates. They enhance levels of digitalization, collaboration and visibility - which is often critical to establish processes and disciplines needed to evolve meaningful sustainability initiatives.

Sustainability has impacts that span supply chains worldwide — from planning and sourcing, to manufacturing, distribution and final delivery of food to consumers. Food chain leaders who don’t invest in tools that support a wide range of sustainability goals and metrics risk a significant impact on their corporate brand, company image, and consumer value perception. There’s also a risk of stranded assets, vulnerability to carbon tax, unpreparedness for climaterelated supply chain disruptions – and accordingly shareholder value. New transportation technologies also will be powered by alternative energy sources to minimize the carbon footprint of food companies. For example, read Electric Vehicles: How Will Net Zero Net Out for Food Shippers on page 29.

Food Chain Analytics are capabilities that deliver reporting, interactive data visualization, advanced analytics and intelligence — including ML and predictive and prescriptive analytics. With fast-growing availability of data, AI can now be applied to transform data into information and deeper insights as part of a DSCT (digital supply chain twin).