With so many changes unfolding in the world around us, some at unprecedented rates. The time for innovation across industries and sectors has never been of more significance than it is now. 2020 was a year that stopped the world in its tracks, shutting countries, borders and economies.
Those of us that are still in operation today have a set of common challenges to face. These include the need to adapt business models, innovate with technologies and navigating current and future geopolitics. We have compiled a few of the most relevant trends for Archem PRS, our partners and customers.
The meat and poultry industries have, once again, seen a steady increase in attention to safety, quality and integrity of meat products and sources. Changes to regulations such as the ‘Food Safety Regulations – COVID-19’ have impacted the ways in which you need to inspect your meat and poultry products specifically.
In 2020 The FDA worked on a strategic framework for the “era of Smarter Food Safety”
“Smarter food safety is data-driven, in that those in the food chain – including growers/farmers, manufacturers, retailers and foodservice operators are taking advantage of (or should take advantage of) technologies that allow for greater traceability and quicker responses to suspected illnesses or injuries. In addition to traceability, FDA’s take on smarter food safety underscores the importance of tools that prevent food safety problems and highlights the need for a stronger food safety culture within organizations that have a role in providing foods and beverages to consumers.
(Source: ‘Creating a Food Safety Culture’ on the Eagle Quality Insurance website).
The Printing and the Graphic Arts sectors, heavily reliant on the hospitality sector, are suffering badly but this is driving new low/no cost innovation hard as they battle to survive. In the same way that wars have done in the past, hard necessity is allowing innovation to move at a pace that far out strips more “normal” times.
Hybrid events and business meetings are definitely a part of our present and future. The use of virtual tools and technologies give a level of access to events such as expos, conferences, product launches, etc that would simply not be possible for some in the traditional form of on site only.
For SMMEs this presents as a “leveller of the playing fields’ ‘ as cost of inclusion would often prohibit attendance and some of the best networking and business deals are facilitated through these large scale industry expos.
A cultural impact of the more remote and virtual mode of communication is that it can be more difficult to network and to develop solid working relationships especially within cultures that place value on such interaction.
“Meeting people is second nature, especially for people in the Asian continent. I foresee an era of hybrid exhibitions.” said Milind Dixit, managing director of Koelnmesse; organizers of more than 80 trade fairs, exhibitions and events in Cologne and in the world’s most important markets including the largest food and food technology trade fairs in India.
For others however, such as the technology pioneers, digital nomads and silicon valley generation in general, this trend simply provides more room to play and develop the next set of apps, softwares and tools to facilitate the 4th Industrial Revolution.
Finally, we are excited for the expansion in the vast territories of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Market. Indonesia has highlighted the Food and Beverage Industry as a priority industry for their economy, said to be one of the fastest growing markets in the ASEAN region.
We look forward to sharing more insights over the year to come. We are committed to providing only the highest quality powders and continue to innovate with technologies within our manufacturing processes whilst continuing to offer the quality assurance of globally recognised certification with our BRC accreditation.
