Food manufacturers can gain real competitive advantage through the implementation of digitisation and the establishment of a smart food factory – and the means to achieve this are easier than companies realise with many of the technologies needed already in existence.

This was the key message of a presentation by Mathew Simpson of food and drink IT specialist CSB-System at the recent seminar Digital Technologies for Improving Productivity in Food Manufacturing, organised by the Centre for SMART (Sustainable Manufacturing and Recycling Technologies) and the Internet of Food Things Network Plus (IoFT).

Simpson outlined how in a smart food factory information is able to flow up and down the supply chain much faster, with a company’s ERP system acting as the central nervous system.  This means the shop floor and senior management are fully connected and transactions between the consumer, the retailer and the producer are more easily managed.

* Read more in the forthcoming issue of May/June issue of Food Management Today.