August 20198 QUANTUM REVOLUTION TRANSFORMING THE FUTURE OF FOOD AND BEVERAGEBY GEORGE MEW, DIRECTOR, HONG KONG MAXIM'S GROUPThe Food and Beverage sector had gone through two major transformations in human history. The First Agricultural Revolution kicked it off twelve thousand years ago. This transformed our human societies from hunting and gathering with almost 100% of our available manpower to farming. Some two hundred fifty years ago, a sudden major change in the economy marked by the general introduction of power-driven machinery brought the First Industrial Revolution. As one of the earliest industries being industrialized, Food and Beverage industry developed many policies, regulations, methods and systems across the globe. On one hand, these rules help to shape the Food and Beverage industry like the one that we know it today; on the other hand, these rules had also limited the further advancement of Food and Beverage industry in the digital world today. After the rapid development in digital technologies in the past fifty years, the Food & Beverage sector is about to undergo another major transformation. Here are a few clear trends that are shaping the future of the Food and Beverage industry.The dominance of manpower vs "digital power" are switching placesThe normal line of sight in the F&B industry workplace is packed with people. We used to claim that the F&B industry is very labour intensive. The manpower used to be the dominant power driving F&B industry. Machines are used to be tools that assist people in achieving efficiency in isolated production processing points. The industrialization started with building more centralized F&B facilities with fewer processes being made by manual labour. Nowadays, smart machines with digital power are slowly, but surely becoming the dominant power in the F&B industry.The game changer started with the application of Artificial Intelligence technology. Although the intelligent level of machines is relatively low for now, the development trend is unarguably clear. The networking ability of most computers and machines through the rapid development of integrated circuits in the semiconductor industry is making smart machines and IoT more powerful than ever. The old days of powerful PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) are no longer good enough. Once isolated and independently operating machines are now connected through the network. They are not only communicating with one and other intelligently but also are coordinating different tasks and even collaborating to make decisions. In addition, Machine Learning as a new subject is also gaining speed in its development. Truly Full-Integration of F&B Value ChainOver the past few decades, we have heard enough of Food Supply Chain Management, Farm to Table Theory, and Seed to Mouth Concept. With the rapid advancement of communication industry and Internet of Things, finally, we have the infrastructure to reshape the "Truly Full-Integration of F&B Value Chain". Decades of experience with F&B processes automation has reached the tipping point of making a connection with every single point mechanically possible in F&B facilities. On top of that, with the adoption of IPv6 standard, billions and billions of devices, equipment and moving parts could have its own IP address. By the time that the F&B industry went through the third industrial revolution, many equipment suppliers had equipped their respective individual equipment with PLC ability. Industry wide adaptation of ERP (Enterprise Resources Planning) systems for business process management tried to optimize back-office functions of the IN MY V EW
< Page 7 | Page 9 >