Digitisation and automation are empowering agriculture and manufacturing in the direction of sustainability and larger operational effectivity, in accordance with know-how big Siemens.
Joseph Kong, head of digital industries at Siemens Thailand, stated the shift to sustainability is happening now and corporations in addition to international locations have to urgently observe this development as laws are altering to facilitate net-zero commitments.
Thailand set a aim to develop into carbon-neutral by 2050.
The give attention to sustainability can be in response to the rising demand for clear vitality and water from an growing international inhabitants amid restricted provide.
There’s a main shift in the direction of sustainable packaging and client developments from millennials, Gen Z and Gen Alpha (youngsters and kids), who place excessive worth on non-wasteful and wholesome meals, stated Mr Kong.
He cited a research by international consultancy Accenture that discovered corporations that pursue worth pushed by sustainability and digital know-how are 2.5 instances extra prone to be amongst tomorrow’s strongest companies.
The commercial sector is the principle producer of CO2 emissions, accounting for 30% of the overall, whereas 38% of worldwide vitality is consumed by industries, however solely 13% of all international waste is recycled.
“If we will scale back the commercial manufacturing carbon footprint by 1%, it means 70 million tonnes much less of CO2 emissions per 12 months. That’s virtually one-third of CO2 emissions from Thailand in 2022,” stated Mr Kong.
He stated as the commercial sector faces financial volatility, provide chain disruptions and a talented labour scarcity, the adoption of digital know-how is essential to drive their operations and guarantee a sustainable future in response to local weather change.
The meals and beverage trade is likely one of the key sectors dealing with manufacturing and environmental challenges due to the rising international inhabitants. Meals manufacturing and packaging account for 30% of the world’s greenhouse fuel emissions and devour about 70% of the world’s freshwater provide, stated Mr Kong.
In Thailand, the meals and beverage trade performs a vital function within the financial system. By combining the actual and digital worlds by way of “digital twin” know-how, trade can shift to digital transformation and overcome sustainability challenges, he stated.
A digital twin is a digital illustration of a bodily product or course of, used to grasp and predict the bodily counterpart’s efficiency traits.
As a part of digital twin know-how, the Web of Issues will collect information from enterprise operations and its data know-how, whereas cloud computing and associated software program will allow the move of knowledge from the actual world and the digital world to allow digital twin customers to realize a holistic view of sustainability alongside their worth chain, stated Mr Kong.
“World beverage and native liquor companies are among the many high prospects of the digital twin system in Thailand,” he stated.
Mr Kong stated agriculture is shifting in the direction of sustainability as local weather change impacts manufacturing yields. One development is controlled-environment agriculture by way of vertical farming.
By rising meals in high-tech, controlled-environment amenities, farmers can keep away from a few of the issues related to conventional agriculture, resembling excessive water utilization, soil degradation and the impression of unpredictable climate circumstances.
Vertical farming is revolutionising meals manufacturing in the direction of sustainability by minimising water utilization (95% much less water in contrast with conventional farming), maximising productiveness (300 instances extra produce per sq. foot), lowering carbon footprint and producing much less waste.
This answer operates on 100% renewable vitality and eliminates the necessity for pesticides, in accordance with Siemens.
Sascha Maennl, senior director for manufacturing facility automation gross sales in Asia-Pacific at Siemens, stated by utilizing synthetic intelligence, cloud and edge computing, and 5G wi-fi know-how, corporations can empower industrial automation and vertical farming.
The applied sciences may remedy the labour scarcity in farming, whereas robotic harvesting is within the pipeline, stated Siemens.
