It is of utmost importance for all the players in the potato processing industry to get involved with process automation to be able to survive on the open market, as labor costs are rising, and automation gets more advanced.

Major actors in the sector have been dealing with automation for years, thereby making the technology more available and affordable. Smaller players might not have had the financial strength to invest in such technology in the past, but as the equipment needed becomes more user-friendly and affordable, the time for smaller companies to invest in automated systems is already here.

Tuber processing technology has in many cases not been changed radically over the last decades, so modernizing older equipment might be a more affordable way to automatize production. Labor costs are reduced by investing a fraction of the cost compared to new equipment. The modernized machines might not be as future-proof as newer machines, but it gives companies without the financial strength to invest in new machines the possibility to compete with modern automated production lines.

The cost of modernizing the system controls is most likely not going to be anywhere near the cost of buying a new system. If the system already in use is estimated to last for a long time, a profitable solution would be to replace the system control with modern equipment, thereby giving the company a more cost-efficient way to modernize and automate its production line.

The age of digitization has introduced a new era; one where the latest technology, such as the IoT (Internet-of-Things) is transforming how companies operate. These technological advances have the potential to improve not only the potato processing industry’s efficiency but also the consumer experience. Maintenance and repairs are made simpler through IoT, as a fault can easily be identified by the intuitive user interface (UI) and addressed quickly by staff.

Beyond operational benefits, IoT can ease the burden administrative jobs put on staff, while also creating a training experience that is standardized, effective, and fast. Through IoT, employees can, for instance, access automatically generated reports via tablets, or use a smartwatch to manage issues along the supply chain. Eliminating variations in training and ensuring that every new employee learns the same information, in the same way, can also have a positive impact on productivity.

You can read the rest of this article in your complimentary e-copy of Issue 1 of Potato Business Digital 2022 magazine, which you can access by clicking here.