Digitalization brings transparency for industry and consumers

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Two out of three companies in the food industry already use digital applications
Digitalization is seen as a solution to the challenges facing the industry
Food from 3D printers, intelligent packaging to check shelf life and digital tracking of products from the plate to the field - in just ten years the food industry will change radically. This is the result of a representative survey of more than 300 companies in the food industry commissioned by the digital association Bitkom and the Federal Association of the German Food Industry (BVE).

According to the study, two thirds of companies (68 percent) predict 100 percent traceability back to the origin of the goods thanks to digital technologies such as big data or blockchain. Two thirds (65 percent) also see food in batch size 1, i.e. produced individually for the consumer, as a common scenario in 2030. Almost every second company believes that consumers can check the shelf life using intelligent food packaging (46 percent).

"The food industry is already technologically up to date," says Bitkom CEO Dr. Bernhard Rohleder. "With robotics, big data and blockchain, the industry will not only further optimize its business processes, it is facing a real revolution." Christoph Minhoff, CEO of the Federal Association of the German Food Industry (BVE): "Digitization in food production will not stop with agriculture, because it brings completely new dimensions for companies along the entire production and processing chain and also for consumers, for example in terms of food safety. It is now important that digital processes are integrated from the field to the plate. This brings the greatest benefit for our companies, the entire chain and the consumer."



84 percent see digitalization as an opportunity
Seven out of ten companies (70 percent) currently see digitalization as a major cambodia gambling data challenge for the food industry. High wages and rising production costs (76 and 74 percent respectively), increasing market competition (76 percent), rising consumer expectations and the shortage of skilled workers (73 percent each) are mentioned even more frequently.

According to the survey, the vast majority of the food industry (84 percent) sees digitization as an opportunity, but companies still see major hurdles on the way there. Almost nine out of ten companies (88 percent) believe that the shortage of skilled workers is an obstacle to digitization.

Only just under three out of ten companies (29 percent) have their own team that deals exclusively with digitization, and only 3 percent of companies have a Chief Digital Officer. 80 percent see the high investment costs as a hindrance, 77 percent the lack of practical maturity of the technologies and seven out of ten companies (70 percent) the risk of espionage of operational data.

Minhoff: "Companies are ready to invest in digitalization. However, there is a lack of skilled workers to actively shape the digital transformation. This shortage must be remedied."