Pollen hosts event to debate Industry 4.0's impact on FMCG
This Friday, on August 9th, Pollen Consulting Group is organising an invitation-only event for senior professionals focused on how emerging technologies can unlock breakthrough benefits to factories and food & beverage manufacturing environments.
The event, held at Pollen Consulting Group’s office in Sydney, will see a raft of industry and functional experts take the stage to share the latest insights on what is dubbed the Industry 4.0 revolution.
While Industry 4.0 advancements are kicking in across the entire manufacturing landscape, from aviation and automotive to chemicals and high technology, the event by Pollen Consulting Group will focus on the fast moving consumer goods area – the firm’s key area of focus. “In this space, smart factories and digitised end-to-end supply chains are becoming a growing source of competitive advantage.” highlighted Paul Eastwood, the firm’s founder and chief executive, in the run-up to the event.
Industry 4.0 is heralded by analysts as the next big disruption in the manufacturing arena, with one analysis finding that Industry 4.0’s nine main technologies – including big data, robots, industrial internet of things, additive manufacturing and augmented reality – have the potential to add tens of billions in added value to economies. On the back of its potential, investments in Industry 4.0 are booming globally, and interestingly, an analysis by Strategy& found that Asia Pacific is ahead of the rest of the world in the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies.
Panellists tapped for Pollen Consulting’s event include two leaders at FMCG firms – Linda Crowe, Head of Supply Chain at alcoholic beverages company Diageo and Diem Fuggersberger, the top boss of Berger Ingredients, a producer of meals based on natural ingredients. Ishan Galapathy is an expert in lean and operational excellence in the food sector. Now active as a consultant, he previously led several continuous improvement initiatives at Kellogg’s, Green’s and Campbell Arnotts.
Lis Mannes is general manager of CHEP Australia. CHEP is a subsidiary of Brambles, and provides supply chain services including pallet and container pooling services to a range of clients in the food, beverage and retail sectors. The fifth external pannelist, James Magee, is a representative of the Industry 4.0 solutions space – he is chief executive of Operations Feedback Systems, a provider of solutions that integrates manufacturing data to facilitate digital-led workflows.
Topics that will be debated include factories of the future, how technology can be embedded within supply chains, insights that can be unleashed by advanced data analytics and artificial intelligence, and how people skills should evolve to turn Industry 4.0 into reality.
Meanwhile, several experts from Pollen Consulting Group will provide an outside-in view to discussions, with among others Paul Eastwood, Stephan Mang, Scott Varker, Ashley Darley and Oliver North, leader of the firm's Pollen Technology arm, giving acte de présence.
“Those who want to get ahead of the pack now are going to need a new competitive edge and it is becoming more and more likely that it will be embracing and taking advantage of some of the technologies of Industry 4.0. Whether it is harnessing big data to create a digital twin and make strategic decisions or predicting future performance based on live data analytics, digital-driven change is on the way,” commented North.
