To survive and thrive in Food and Beverage industry, businesses need to take bold steps to quickly seize opportunities from new consumption trends. And digital transformation is the inevitable development trend that F&B manufacturing enterprises are aiming for. Although digital transformation is a familiar phrase and is often mentioned next to concepts such as cloud computing, big data, blockchain, etc., but not everyone understands its impact on survival in F&B industry.

According to the report of the General Statistics Office in 2021, Vietnam’s population is estimated at 98.51 million people with a young population structure and high population growth rate, which is currently a potential market for the Food and Beverage industry (F&B). The average population growth of 1%/year, which means that 1 million new customers are born every year, is an extremely attractive golden opportunity for F&B manufacturers.

The year 2022 marks the return of growth of F&B industry after a long period of stagnation due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, along with a rapid increase in the number of businesses participating in this industry in Vietnam. With the fierce competition of F&B market, a number of large corporations have been boldly implementing digital transformation, investing in modern advanced automation solution systems such as Vinamilk, TH True Milk, Vinasoy, Nutifood, Masan, Sabeco, Habeco, Kinh Do, Tan Hiep Phat, Bibica, Hai Ha Kotobuki, etc.

However, besides F&B enterprises investing in modern automation equipment systems in production, there are still old factories with old and outdated technology and machinery, which have lost their advantages in the industrial 4.0. According to the General Statistics Office’s report, in 2021 alone, there were 58 poisoning cases with 1,557 victims. The production process is not closed and unsafe is one of the leading causes of F&B manufacturing unsafety.

Therefore, in F&B industry, it is necessary to focus on digital transformation in production, building a smart factory with an automation system and advanced technical technology, because the quality and safety of products play an important role. Under the control of the smart manufacturing process, enterprises will be easier to manage raw materials, production recipes and people in the processing process, quality is guaranteed evenly as well as product safety is improved, and reduce risks in processing.

Digital transformation in F&B industry is understood as a manufacturing enterprise that applies advances in digital technology such as cloud computing, big data, etc. to collect and analyze production data of machines, equipment and production processes, thereby bringing high efficiency, increasing competitiveness, promoting revenue and brand development.

Or to put it simply, digital transformation in F&B industry is simply understood as a new business model, which integrates digital solutions, in order to change the way a F&B business operates.

Digital transformation in the enterprise is not a discrete change, but a complete transformation. Digital transformation also does not bring immediate effects, but needs a correct and sufficient process to realize the benefits that it brings.

1. Satisfying requirements for transparency

In the context of domestic consumers increasingly demanding transparency for goods, traceability is considered the “key” to create trust for consumers.

Proactively digital transformation by installing automation systems into the production process will provide a higher level of transparency in all processes, allowing their efficiency to be measured and then optimized.

2. Increasing flexibility and efficiency in production

Like other industries, Food and Beverage manufacturers are forced to go digital transformation so they can respond quickly to last-minute changes in supply chains or customer needs without compromising affect quality or increasing costs.

Besides, to be able to operate successfully, the production process and packaging line must be designed to be much more automated and flexible. Automation solutions aim to simplify and speed up the manufacturing and packaging processes, and make them as reliable and efficient as possible.

3. Building resilient supply chains

Like other industries heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the digital transformation in the Food and Beverage manufacturing industry helps businesses be ready to build contingency plans to quickly adapt and deal with possible pandemics in the future.

The application of automation solutions is an optimal solution that allows employees to work from home while production continues uninterrupted, such as communication tools and cloud estimate management ; machine learning and big data for predictive maintenance; IIoT devices with edge computing and augmented reality (AR) to support digital twins; and RPA on the factory floor.

Leading F&B manufacturers are moving towards an integrated, automated production system to handle demand forecasting, production scheduling, process configuration, maintenance planning, inventory management warehouse, supply chain organization and fulfillment.

4. Raising food safety standards

Food safety is always a top concern for consumers, and F&B manufacturers themselves are well aware of the serious impact the problem has on their brand reputation and bottom line.

Currently, many businesses have been implementing digital transformation by integrating automation solutions to solve food safety problems:

• Robotic process automation can improve quality control and prevent the risks of food contamination during human-induced production.
• In-place cleaning automation equipment makes cleaning procedures better and can easily monitor microbial levels and improve the reliability of cleaning procedures.
• Factory automation along with temperature IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) sensors help ensure food and perishable ingredients are always kept in proper condition.
• Smart warehouse application in clean room conditions to monitor the storage and retrieval of goods and better preserve goods, confirming that items are not contaminated or tampered with.

5. Meeting sustainability requirements

Sustainability is an inevitable trend in the development process of F&B manufacturing industry. Reduce the impact on the environment and achieve the sustainable development goals through the digital transformation of the entire factory, towards the development of a smart factory solution.

With the smart factory solution, the IIoT sensor system along with other digital technologies will help evaluate, predict and control the entire production process, thereby improving the overall efficiency of the plant, reducing emissions and saving energy. Besides, the system of equipment and automatic production line allows businesses to reduce the number of defective or damaged packages to ensure a more environmentally friendly production process.

Digital transformation is key to transforming F&B manufacturing businesses into digital businesses and helping businesses compete in markets. Moreover, digital transformation also makes a difference compared to competitors in F&B manufacturing market.

Let’s take a look at 6 differences of F&B manufacturing business when digital transformation:

1. Better recognize market opportunities and react with speed and confidence.
2. Quickly launch, develop more innovative and perfect products.
3. Quick response to global trends and products tailored to regional needs.
4. Reduce unplanned downtime to increase production productivity.
5. Manage and operate the enterprise’s automated production network and supply chain to quickly take advantage of new opportunities.
6. Leverage information to identify and act on new opportunities, from new product categories to improved plant performance.

In order to grasp market trends as well as timely supply the product demand of domestic and foreign markets, Vinasoy Quang Ngai dairy factory has focused on increasing investment in a modern factory system with an automatic production line that meets the strictest international standards to increase market competitiveness and export milk output.

In 2018, Vinasoy Quang Ngai Soymilk Factory decided to cooperate with Vietnam Autotech Machinery Joint Stock Company (Autotech Machinery JSC.) in the project of upgrading and improving the automatic production line system towards the digital transformation of the factory.

With a team of experienced engineers in the field of automation, Autotech Machinery conducts a direct survey at the factory, builds an optimal automation solution design, suitable for the factory. With a professional working process, always putting the customer’s satisfaction first, Autotech has successfully implemented the project for Vinasoy milk factory, ensuring to meet the criteria as well as international standards set by the factory.

The cooperation between Autotech and Vinasoy as well as the success of the project has brought many great changes to Vinasoy Quang Ngai soy milk factory such as increased milk supply, increased export activities, expanded opportunities to develop new markets, etc.

Vietnam Autotech Machinery Joint Stock Company  is a leading automation company specializing in industrial machinery manufacturing for the industrial manufacturing industry in Vietnam, especially in F&B industry. Understanding the needs of F&B manufacturing enterprises, Autotech Machinery provides industry-specific automation solutions including: robotic welding system, robotic surface finishing system, buffer machine, CNC tending solutions, sortering machines, 3D laser scanner inspection solution, sheet clean unit, etc. to help businesses promote efficient production, increase flexibility and competitiveness in the production – business system.

With more than 10 years of experience,  has been deploying digital transformation solutions in many factory upgrading and improvement projects for many F&B manufacturing enterprises in particular and industrial manufacturing enterprises in Vietnam in general, Autotech is confident and ready to accompany businesses in the journey of factory digitization. The leading soy milk producer in Vietnam – Vinasoy Milk Factory – A typical example of the success in the digital transformation journey deployed by Autotech.

Our company constantly strives to bring Customers – Partners the reliability, satisfaction of our products – services in F&B industry, making Autotech Machinery the leading automation solution provider in Vietnam.

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