Close×

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

The livestock cycle is about to do something Global AgriTrends' Simon Quilty has never seen before, and the consequences run well past the saleyard. Several of the world’s major cattle producing countries are rebuilding at the same time, Australia is entering its own rebuild, and the sheep flock has already passed its tipping point. For anyone whose raw material is an animal, the next three years are the tight part of the cycle.

Companies developing the next generation of food, ingredients and biomanufacturing now have access to a food-grade pilot-scale precision fermentation facility in Australia.

Synlait Milk has reported a $75.4 million net loss for FY26, but a return to operational stability in the second half delivered a sharp improvement in earnings as the dairy processor continued its turnaround.