The food industry, including seafood, is under pressure to reduce waste and minimize costs to better service increasingly concerned consumers, who, with prosperity continuously dropping, are struggling with affordability even for essentials like food.
Government legislation driven by consumer health and national security will soon require far more stringent product and process certification, including traceability and proof-of-origin.
Due to all these business pressures and the need to stay competitive, the Seafood industry is starting to embrace INDUSTRY 4.0, which is deemed to be the next Industrial revolution.
The Seafood industry for many reasons struggles with product and operational waste across the whole supply chain that is almost 60% of the total cost across the entire supply chain.
Although some of the waste is cultural due to our affluent and throwaway society, much of the waste problem will be solved by INDUSTRY 4.0 improving decisions and actions at the point of use for managing the control of seafood products throughout the harvesting, conversion, and distribution processes. This will greatly assist in reducing the labor, product loss, and associated costs incurred in supporting these transactions within a very long and complex supply chain.
This INDUSTRY 4.0 initiative is all about improving productivity and eliminating waste in the whole business process using LEAN business practices, then automating all the remaining value-adding steps with new disruptive digital technologies.
The goal is to improve operating processes and better manage and harmonize future products and processes to achieve more integrated, waste-free, and sustainable products, processes, materials, resources and services to meet customer expectations and move us all toward the business of the future.
New, more integrated, business systems better support the planning of operations and live management of information, decisions, and actions in real time at the point of use. They assist in reducing both direct labor and improving operational flexibility, reliability, and capability, across the whole business supply chain.
This INDUSTRY 4.0 process is also sometimes called “Digital Transformation” or “Smart Business Evolution” and sometimes its defined as the notion of building Sustainable Supply Chains, but whatever the handle used, it's about combining LEAN practices with new advanced digital technologies to eliminate waste, improve productivity, and optimize the value stream in the whole business process.
Why is it called INDUSTRY 4.0
We have been through 4 Industrial Revolutions...
The 1st Industrial revolution (INDUSTRY 1.0) was powered by water and steam to mechanize production.
The 2nd Industrial revolution (INDUSTRY 2.0) used electrical power and introduced mass production.
The 3rd Industrial revolution (INDUSTRY 3.0) added electronics, computers and information technologies to automate the operation and business processes.
The 4th Industrial revolution (INDUSTRY 4.0) began with the digital age in the last decade and is characterized by a fusion of technologies such as artificial intelligence, sensors, robotics, advanced automation, the Internet of Things and cloud service that support cyber-physical systems and facilitates the next age of technological disruption. The emergence of these new advanced technologies is generating new forms of innovation in the products and operations in many business sectors, including seafood and fish, and is transforming supply chains.
Cyber-physical systems eliminate the human interface with sensors and smarter systems, with computers working for us, not us working for the computers. It eliminates the burden of managing computers by humans and enables direct linkage between software systems and operational business processes.
This demands new facilities, capital, knowledge, skills, and systems, and full integration with LEAN thinking to ensure the solutions eliminate the waste in business processes before the process is automated.
Although this journey of industrial revolution has historically been centred on the manufacturing industries, INDUSTRY 4.0, it is also embraced by other industries such as farming, fishing, mining, forestry, and distribution with all types of services looking to engage INDUSTRY 4.0 to gain business and process improvements, advancing their market and operations positions, as well as meet the increasingly passionate and knowledgeable consumer demands, while meeting governments regulations in health, safety, security and sustainability.
Business improvement must always be a continuum, but the integration of these disruptive technologies under the within INDUSTRY 4.0 constitutes a near-perfect storm. A recent industrial study indicates that 85% of business leaders in North America are looking at how to embrace the INDUSTRY 4.0 environment by revisiting LEAN practices and utilizing these disruptive technologies as strategic differentiators. The INDUSTRY 4.0 implementation global market is about $4 trillion and is rapidly growing with investments predicted to exceed $60 trillion during the next fifteen years.
Seafood industry challenges and benefits
For the seafood industry, experts predict that when fully installed, the benefits of INDUSTRY 4.0 will be a massive reduction in waste and improved compliance to meet the demands of consumers, new regulations, and demanding NGOs such as the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and the Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability (GDST).
Obtaining the benefits of this transformation for the seafood supply chain and its members requires a massive LEAN and digital transformation of the whole supply chain and will require the industry to change many traditional roles and product responsibilities to reduce the complexity and costs of the overall supply chain.
Waste reduction opportunities exist across all 8 Types of Waste utilized in LEAN Thinking. This reduces product delays and inventory and improves product quality and control and reduces business costs significantly.
For the fishermen it will mean remote monitoring of catches using equipment and applications that can improve catch quantity and quality. It will also require adding improved capability to undertake final sorting and certified batching of the catch prior to reaching the dock.
For fish farming it will mean health and feeding optimization and better management of final yields.
For food material processing it means improved control and containerization and automated traceability and environmental record keeping, and the reduction of waste with improved automated quality screening and control – saving downstream waste while improving product quality and traceability.
For the food manufacturing process, it means improved scheduling, batch management, inventory control and automation maintenance and performance optimization that will lead to reduced waste and improved labor productivity.
For the food distribution system, it will ensure food safety and traceability and proof of origin as well as improved inventory integrity and delivery management.
For the retail owners it means much lower disposal of spoiled goods, improved shelf life and improved supply management and internal operations.
For the consumers it means lower prices and fresher products.
How to approach the INDUSTRY 4.0 challenge.
The seafood businesses must learn how to implement these INDUSTRY 4.0 initiatives, requiring them to undertake LEAN education and training to develop their own critical mass of change agents and thought leaders, as well as engaging with the leading providers of these LEAN practices and disruptive technologies.
It’s not just about the implementation of automation hardware and application software and services, but also making sure the final solution provides a process of transformation of existing operating practices and organizational culture. It will need to leverage the existing industry knowledge-ware to ensure it can be successfully integrated into a business system that can be deployed across the whole supply chain.
Many seafood organizations are looking at INDUSTRY 4.0 as the next magic pill they can swallow to improve their overall competitiveness. Of course it’s not in any way a magic pill, but it is a key operational “do differently” to move the organization toward much needed business productivity and prosperity for everyone involved.
As already mentioned, INDUSTRY 4.0 is the combination of the application of LEAN practices to squeeze out the business waste and undertaking a digital transformation on the remaining value adding parts of the business.
Getting the whole organization mobilized and combat ready for such a productivity improvement transformation will require significant awareness building and focused education for all those involved.
It also requires a call-to-action message that is simple and easy to communicate and understand.
So, here is a simple INDUSTRY 4.0 Implementation Checklist to get everybody ready…….
Exploring the checklist one at a time...
If it’s a Waste?………………………Eliminate It!
This is straight out of the LEAN thinking playbook. Traditional business processes have at least double-digit waste in every step. And, its best to eliminate the waste in a process before it is automated.
Many tools exist to attack waste that can be easily characterized into 8 types and many experts are available to map and redraw the process to identify the waste, then assist the process participants in restructuring the business process to eliminate the waste.
If you cannot Eliminate Waste?………………………Reduce It!
This is a continuation of the LEAN thinking approach where each process is further analysed to see if it has elements that can be reduced via improvement projects.
If it adds Value ?………………………Integrate (and automate) it!
Once waste has been eliminated or reduced then the true value in the business process can be restructured to combine and integrate it into a common process methodology, or if its data integrated into a common data base. What remains can then be fully automated to remove human effort or interaction.
It it’s Dumb?………………………Make it Smart!
If parts of the process cannot be a part of a digitized and computerized system then the challenge is to add smart technology to enable it to be integrated and automated using smart physical automation or digital transformation solutions.
If it has to Move?………………………Track It!
If we want to manage our assets of all types, then we need to know where they are and what state they are in. Adding the ability to track these items is part of the INDUSTRY 4.0 approach.in.
If it needs to Communicate?………………………Connect it!
Once we have assets and resources rationalized and made smart within our business systems, we need to review the kind of communication needed, and if so, the business system needs to connect these items together to ensure automated communication in real time.
If it can Learn?………………………Teach it!
As subsystems and process elements become “smart” we need to see if they can have the ability to learn… this is the essence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and this will mean far less human intervention and improving the ability for real time decision making at the point of use.
If it’s a Cost?………………………Measure it!
As we focus on waste reduction, we need to continuously measure our costs to see how much more waste can be squeezed out, or how much benefit we will get from any form of automation.
If it’s got Human Intervention………………………Start Over!
The goal is to eliminate most, or even all, of human intervention within a business process to move toward INDUSTRY 4.0. The ongoing will be the ongoing reduction of human intervention.
If it’s Not Competitive………………………Continuously Improve It!
As we embrace the culture of Continuous Improvement it will be a natural process to stay focused on this journey to competitiveness.
Become a disruptor or get disrupted!
Business history shows that when a disrupting influence, such as INDUSTRY 4.0, enters a business environment, a business has only one of two choices: either become a disruptor or get disrupted and suffer the consequences.
The seafood industry clearly faces this pressure to improve productivity, and many will struggle with how to cope with business restructuring and the organizational changes typical of a LEAN business transformation.
Participants struggle with compliance to new legislation for product and process certification, traceability and proof-of-origin etc. This is now mandated to be operational by January 2026 at every food industry establishment, from producers to storage, distributors, retailers, and restaurants. Unfortunately, many may try a “quick fix” by implementing manual and paper documentation, but this will certainly add cost and overhead and may even add delivery delays.
Some will certainly face ongoing disruption from those who have quickly and correctly implemented an INDUSTRY 4.0 approach!
Who are you going to call?
New providers such as Bluicity at Bluicity | Beyond Traceability | Canada are providing INDUSTRY 4.0 technology solutions to the seafood industry offering integrated, automated food traceability, integrity and waste reduction solutions that deliver improved operations as and seamlessly delivering services that improve operations while meeting new regulation requirements.
 | Nigel Southway SVP of Products Nigel is an expert in high-volume product quality and cost efficiency through lean manufacturing. He has led facilities across North America and China, consistently driving operational excellence. |
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