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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

CCEP has completed a $39.7m manufacturing upgrade at its Kewdale facility in WA, installing a high-speed can production line that increases capacity by more than 40% and lifts production speeds to 1500 cans per minute.

Nearly 6 in 10 Aussies in food and beverage manufacturing believe their organisation is becoming less productive, despite continued investment in workplace technology, according to Argon & Co.

Every food, drink, personal care and household product made in Australia starts with an investment decision. A company chooses to replace a production line, automate a process or expand a plant. That choice is now made in a global market for capital, and Australia is struggling to compete. The question is simple. Will the next generation of manufacturing investment come here?