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Being aware of developments in other industries as they’re happening can help you anticipate new solutions to improve efficiencies and add value in your business. Aside from the Internet of Things (IoT), information-driven manufacturing (iDM), social robots and Internet 5.0, here are three trends manufacturers need to watch:

1. Rapid prototyping + crowdfunding: Together, these two trends allow almost anyone to bring solutions to market quicker than many organisations can develop counter measures. It is the very definition of “disruptive innovation”.

2. Cradle-to-grave traceability: Every recall hitting the headlines reminds manufacturers of the critical need for end-to-end traceability to mitigate the risks to consumers and businesses. Intensifying this need are the proliferating counterfeit markets, worth US$32 billion and causing one million deaths annually. Traceability can counteract this.

3. Beyond the IoT: Blockchain is an emerging technology beginning to play a major part in IoT, especially with its potential to overcome many manufacturers’ concerns around data security. Another IoT evolution is machine learning, which falls under the wider artificial-intelligence umbrella. While adding natural language processing to machine learning gives a whole new opportunity: cognitive learning systems.

Find out more about these trends by reading the full story here and watching this video:

 

Food & Drink Business

Nestlé says it will remove artificial food colourings from its entire global portfolio by the end of 2026, making it the first major food company to commit to the change worldwide, CTO, Stefan Palzer, told Reuters this week.

Wide Open Agriculture (WOA) will wind down its German production facility immediately and shift to a contract manufacturing model, as the ASX‑listed lupin ingredients company looks to cut costs and scale more efficiently.

Select Harvests has appointed Kristina Hermanson as the company’s new managing director and CEO, effective from 3 August. She takes over from David Surveyor, who has been in the role since February 2023, and will finish on 31 July.