Challenges in Automation of Food Processing and How they can be Addressed

India is known for being home to one of the largest food processing sectors at the global level. Food grains, sugar, edible oils, beverages, dairy products, packaged, preserved as well as ready-to-eat food items secure a considerable share in the segment. Ever since the pandemic-induced digital disruption; the sector has been ever-evolving and keen to embrace automation as a solution! Automation in the food processing industry brings more opportunities for manufacturers today. By adopting new technologies, operational efficiency is increased and also the companies can integrate systems across the supply chain with improved results and safety.

The Indian food processing sector treading on the path of automation

The industry players rely on this new-age technology not only to enjoy a competitive edge in the market but also to cater to the growing and diversifying demands of modern consumers. Domains such as snacks(namkeen, bhujia, and mixtures) along with frozen foods (naan, samosa, bhajia’s)have adopted automation as complete lines for fried snacks, extruded snacks fryers, aloo bhujia/namkeen extrusion lines, automatic moong dal processing lines, as well as in the form of specifically designed conveyors.

Furthermore, complete turnkey solutions for western snacks, complete lines for baked and fried snacks along with automation solutions for Indian sweets (Soanpapdi, Kaju Katli, and Gulab Jamun) segment in the form of complete lines and conveyors also exist in the market and are preferred by the food processing firms. They are harnessing the power of automation for processes such as pumping and extrusion, washing and soaking, weighing, and blending processes, with the sole aim of having smooth operations.

As per Meticulous Research’s recent reports, the global food automation market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 9.5% from 2020 to 2027 and will expectedly be valued at $29.4 billion by 2027. The study further states that the Asia Pacific region especially India is an emerging market. It is increasingly adopting automation and this trend will grow significantly in the times to come. Hence, it would be appropriate to say that automation is playing a vital role in boosting the growth of the market and offers a plethora of benefits to the firms.

The technology helps simplify the operations, improves efficiency, and ensures end-to-end traceability as well as food hygiene. It also comes with a promise of boosted sales and reduced operational costs. While the solution has helped upscale the sector at various levels, the challenges of adopting automation however are significant and cannot be ruled out!

The roadblocks faced during automation of the food processing segment

The nature of food and beverage production along with the expenditure and uncertainty of technology are the major reasons hindering the adoption of automation in the food processing segment. Any disruption in the operations especially introducing new technology is accompanied by fear and panic. Hence, the inertia associated with the fact that employees are not willing to embrace change; is indeed a major challenge.

The fear of not being able to garner greater ROI and the complex technology not being a successor of use to the organization, are other significant hurdles. The downtime and the employee training for the equipment are added concerns while incorporating automation.

Investments in automation happen in segments to resolve specific issues such as ingredient wastage and labor shortage or meet customers’ specific requirements such as speed, consistency, increased demand, etc. Hence, players may end up associating with different vendors and technologies that won’t integrate seamlessly with their operations. The organization already has operational and cultural expenses. The additional costs associated with the initial setup of the automation equipment further add to their woes!

The feasible solutions to address challenges faced during automation of the food processing sector

Conducting in-depth research and analysis about the requirements and accordingly associating with the right partner as well as incorporating the appropriate equipment is indeed critical. The machinery to be introduced should be flexible, scalable, and robust enough to be able to manage workload seamlessly and function optimally with minimal supervision in the long haul. While trying to strike a balance between price and quick changeover, we could also consider not complete automation but the time for work and changeover to be reduced significantly.

Another important step is to bring about a change in attitudes and perspectives. Machines are introduced to relieve humans from mundane and routine tasks and allow them time for major activities such as organizational growth, strategy conceptualization, etc. The workforce also needs to be receptive, welcoming, and adaptive towards automation. However, this can only happen when the organizations will be able to reassure their workers that automation is an aid for them and not their replacement!

The onboarding activities are equally critical. The most sophisticated, tech-savvy equipment won’t be beneficial if the human labor does not possess the requisite knowledge to leverage their potential effectively. Allocating time and efforts for training the personnel thus becomes imperative and can help reap benefits for the organization. As far as the financial assistance for adopting automation is concerned, one could consider Grant programs, private funding including equity financing, subordinated debt, royalty participating debts with cooperative development associations as a few viable solutions.

Summing up!

Automation was once an option but is soon emerging to be the need of the hour! The industry players require this technology to keep abreast with the customer demands as well as support their resilient approach. While adopting this solution offers various benefits, it comes with its fair of challenges as well. However, with the right strategies and decisions in place; these roadblocks can be surpassed smoothly. No matter how significant is the pace of automation adoption; machines won’t be able to replace humans. In fact, workforce and automation will coexist and ensure efficiency is enhanced, productivity is high and sales are boosted!