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Tag: Innovation

Agri-food innovation for a sustainable workforce

Publié le by Angelina Chardonnieras

These last few years of the pandemic have impacted the world economy, redefining the way we all work. And the agri-business industry was no exception. The need for on-site labour is a major obstacle to the economic development of the manufacturing sector, which needs to grow by 50% to meet agricultural demand by 2030, according to the Agri-Food Interim Report.  

The labour shortage comes with serious implications. According to a survey of Manufacturiers et Exportateurs du Québec (MEQ), 98.5% of manufacturing businesses surveyed are in need of labour and 49% have had to refuse contracts or pay penalties for production delays.  

As the high school graduation rate of individuals ages 25 to 44 in Québec increased 42% to 80% between 1990 and 2020, finding experienced employees for non-specialized jobs has become increasingly complex.  

Market pressures also create a need for new solutions to make the agri-food industry more competitive. 

Inadequate solutions 

When facing a labour shortage, it can seem logical to want to hire more workers. However, the agri-food sector holds limited appeal for increasingly educated young people. Given that the jobs affected by the labour shortage do not require degrees, the most promising solution would appear to be hiring temporary workers from abroad. This represents a large number of individuals who are qualified and looking to work in Canada. Nevertheless, the arrival of workers has been slowed by health measures. Despite planning to improve access to permanent residence status in 2022–2023, the shared immigration authority of the federal and provincial governments adds uncertainty to the influx of foreign workers.  

As for employee retention, there are plans to offer better salaries, increased benefits and more flexible schedules. Although such plans help retain employees and keep companies competitive, the losses already incurred mean these solutions are only effective in the short term.  

The root of the problem remains unaddressed: difficult work conditions. Instead of trying to adjust the cost-benefit ratio to increase the appeal of the agri-food industry to potential employees, why not offload the difficulty of these conditions onto technology? Technology doesn’t care about tough conditions and carries out many tasks faster and more accurately than its human counterparts. Digital transformation could therefore lessen how much companies depend on human labour while providing value-added employment for individuals. This reasoning is gaining ground in the industry: 55% of companies in Québec’s manufacturing sector believe that emerging 4.0 technology can help with labour scarcity, according to a Léger survey for Économie et Innovation Québec (EIQ).  

Not only could technology solve the agri-food industry’s labour shortage problem, it could do so while also boosting productivity and competitiveness.  

Download the agri-food industry outlook to identify all sectoral issues and anticipate the solutions. 

Technology drives competitiveness 

Among the companies surveyed, the expected long-term impact of 4.0 technologies comes alongside hopes to increase the use of digital technologies in processes related to production (64%) and management (60%). Most manufacturing companies in Québec, including those in agri-food, are therefore investing in digital transformation initiatives.  

While people play an essential role in agri-food, artificial intelligence (AI) and production automation offer a range of ways to support employees. These two innovations have the combined effect of simulating human behaviour for tasks that are repetitive and exhausting for employees while reducing shutdowns by 70%, according to Conure. Productivity is thus significantly boosted.  

The Internet of things (IoT) is a network of connected physical objects that share their data through a cloud platform without human intervention. The agri-food sector is the ideal environment for it. The IoT effectively optimizes data sharing in addition to ensuring a safer work environment with smart watches and hard hats. IoT sensors also facilitate inspections and optimize machine operations with predictive maintenance. This lets employees concentrate on their value-added tasks rather than the status of the machines. The IoT is one of many innovative technological solutions for working around the labour shortage in agri-food.  

Digital transformation is not limited to production. A wide range of algorithms assist operations in corporate management, product design, supply and logistics. This includes integrated ERP management systems, which are used by 58% of companies surveyed by EIQ, computer-aided design applications (52%), supply chain management systems (37%) and warehouse management systems (28%).  

By integrating advanced technology throughout a company’s value chain, businesses can address problems like labour shortages while also fostering a culture of innovation, in turn increasing competitiveness and business resilience. It offers substantial benefits for the organization:  

  • 90% increase in productivity 
  • 100% improvement in speed to market 
  • 50% boost in energy efficiency 

Digital transformation in agri-food is increasingly widespread as it achieves concrete results that address the labour shortage and boost production efficiency. 

Case study: Patates Dolbec, OCTAS award winner for innovation 

A Québec leader in potato farming, Patates Dolbec is now a pioneer in agri-food technological innovation. The company won the OCTAS award for innovation and disruption for integrating AI into its product quality control. By investing $12 million a new factory with AI-powered quality control, Patates Dolbec has helped their workers concentrate on value-added tasks. The company’s modernization has also helped them avoid the impacts of the agri-food industry’s labour shortage. 

Integrating AI in quality control brings clear added value to the existing workforce and has made the company much more efficient. More specifically, their 30% error rate using an optical sorter fell to 5% with AI, representing a 25% increase in efficiency. This investment has allowed them to avoid significant losses in potatoes and revenues while also revitalizing their workforce. 

Patates Dolbec’s digital transformation required computerizing everything that could be computerized to simplify their processes.  

Automation, digitization and other technologies have become key to keeping the Canadian agri-food industry competitive.   

Partner with the right people for your digital transformation 

Technological transformation is essential for agri-food businesses to survive the industry’s unprecedented disruptions. Many companies like Patates Dolbec have already allotted human and financial resources toward these technologies to ensure their company’s long-term success. 

The transformational process is one that’s done across all departments by a multidisciplinary team. We do not adopt a sequential, siloed transformation. Instead, we apply a holistic approach that brings all expertise types together from the start, providing a value-added consulting service. 

Download the agri-food industry outlook to identify all sectoral issues and anticipate the solutions. 

Top 5 agri-food industry challenges

Publié le by Angelina Chardonnieras

Every year, there are more floods, droughts and storms in Canada. These phenomena harm agricultural land, which, in turn, disrupts food production. The impacts, however, go far beyond that.  

Download the agri-food industry outlook.

The 2021 drought devastated half the mustard seed crops in Canada, which is one of the top three producers along with Ukraine and Russia. The political climate in Ukraine has also revealed how dependent we are on Ukrainian food sources while there have been risks of flour, pasta and sunflower oil shortages. With ongoing natural disaster and geopolitical instability, the agri-food system itself has been destabilized.  

As a result, the agri-food sector is facing an onslaught of disruptions that jeopardize companies’ ability to stay competitive. In order to anticipate market shifts, it’s crucial to understand the industry’s top five challenges:  

  1. Labour and raw material shortages 
  2. The agri-food sustainability paradigm 
  3. Technology and competitiveness 
  4. Free-trade and regulatory pressures 
  5. The growing global market 

The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) include promoting more efficient use of global resources so that increased consumption and production do not destroy the environment. These efforts are further justified by the food price inflation caused by land degradation and the conflict in Ukraine. Inflationary pressures affect the entire supply chain and the costs of fertilizers and transport.   

The watchword for the agri-food industry is adaptation. Facing inflationary pressures, growing global demand, and labour and agricultural land shortages, the industry needs to be able to remain competitive while reestablishing a balance between supply and demand. This set of factors explains why the new paradigm is sustainability. 

Addressing human and material resource shortages 

The agri-food industry was particularly affected by the pandemic as travel restrictions complicated the arrival of temporary foreign workers, the advent of telework was favoured over necessary manual labour in the manufacturing sector, and emergency assistance benefits decreased the appeal of employment. 

With the sector struggling to hire locally and the uncertain availability of foreign workers, there has been a lack of immediate solutions. Increased salaries risks causing an increase in food prices, while finding food on the shelves isn’t a guarantee, with 28,000 positions vacant in the food processing sector according to Food and Beverage Canada.  

The shortage and increased costs of raw materials can also drive up food prices. The climate crisis and urban pressures are causing a deterioration in agricultural land, especially in cases of drought, such as those in California that forced one of the biggest fruit producers, Driscoll’s, to relocate production. The price of agricultural land has soared 900% in the last 25 years while farm incomes have remained the same. According to the Union des producteurs agricoles, 400 hectares of agricultural land are lost annually due to urban projects like the third link tramway between Québec City and Lévis.  

This means that agricultural land capital is decreasing and their status is becoming less stable. While there may be plans to optimize how this land is used, there remains a shortage in food engineering expertise. According to Université Laval, agri-food engineers are at full employment in Québec. We nonetheless need their expertise to develop the technology solutions that will make the sector sustainable. Sustainable development and information technology and software needs are nonetheless affecting all sectors and the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec (OIQ) is struggling to attract enough people to the profession to keep up with its growth.  

According to the Agri-Food Table, Canada is struggling to automate and digitize amidst growing competition. Shortages in engineers and agricultural land are driving up costs and making the Canadian agri-food industry less competitive. To remain competitive in the agri-food sector through automation and digitization, the industry needs a workforce with the right skills.   

The agri-food sustainability paradigm 

Some major trends can be observed among consumers and in the industry: the importance of high-quality products and appreciation of agricultural products. Sustainable supply leads (44%) among the sustainable objectives expressed by organizations, companies and governments, following by GHGs (16%) and land use (16%). Among the population, 82% of people in Québec are buying more local products.  

Concretely, the movement includes initiatives to reduce GHGs and environmental footprints. For example, Canada invested $3.9 million in developing technology to reduce pesticide use and loss of crops. This comes in addition to the Pesticides Act that aims to support companies in their pesticide use.  

Sustainability and transparency are key to design and optimize the food supply chain. For this reason, all levels of the supply chain are moving toward a circular economy. Transparency means more awareness around consumer health, which translates to more innovative approaches to product traceability. 

Download the agri-food industry outlook.

Technology and competitiveness  

When considering the shortage and increased costs of raw materials, the labour shortage, and the push for sustainability in the supply chain, the leading solution is integrating innovative technology. The government, companies and other economic players are investing in developing technological innovations. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) announced an investment of up to $3.9 million to upgrade technology that helps reduce pesticide use and crop losses. 

Companies are starting the technology adoption process. This process includes a 4.0 audit of the company’s core operations to identify opportunities to automate and optimize performance with digitization.  

Digital innovation offers an ever-growing range of added-value opportunities to stay competitive in the agri-food industry. These opportunities directly address the industry’s largest issues at every step of the supply chain according to the World Economic Forum. Implementing food detection technology that uses hyperspectral imaging makes it possible to trace products more efficiently, which improves consumer health, corporate transparency and the costs related to transporting goods and product recalls.  

Other technologies like e-commerce and the Internet of things (IoT) target the imbalance between food supply and demand caused by the pandemic, the political climate and economic growth. Innovations of this type not only reduce Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, but contribute to creating added-value jobs in the industry. When part of the burden of production is delegated to technology, the workforce is able to develop additional skills that collectively build the resilience of Canada’s agri-food supply.  

Free-trade and regulatory pressures 

Canada aims to become an agri-food industry leader. To achieve this goal, the government is implementing measures to ensure exemplary working conditions in the sector and see that the supply chain reflects consumer values, especially in regard to sustainability and transparency. Companies must also adapt to various commercial agreements and government regulations.  

To limit pollution from billions of plastic objects in the ocean and the ingestion of microplastics, 6 single-use plastic products will be banned in Canada in 2023, with other products to follow. As a result, some 1.3 million tons of plastic will be eliminated from landfills and 42,000 jobs will be created in Canada by 2030. Companies themselves are playing a role with compostable, recyclable, edible and plantable packaging and a carbon label to fight greenwashing. Eliminating single-use plastic is also part of the 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan, which is allocating a $1 billion investment to sustainable agriculture. 

In addition, the 2022 budget allocates a number of investments totalling $156 million to the TFWP. The measures aim to improve the health, safety and quality of life of temporary foreign workers by increasing the capacity for shorter employer request processing times. 

Canada’s various commercial agreements with foreign countries facilitate access to growing markets. The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) gives Canadian companies access to 450 million consumers across Europe. Canada has also improved its access to the Asia-Pacific market and its nearly 500 million consumers with the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Nonetheless, free trade increases competition: The Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) foresees a $607 million increase in American dairy and poultry exports to Canada, which would represent 2.69% of total Canadian manufacturers’ dairy and poultry sales in 2019 according to Farm Credit Canada (FCC).  

Commercial agreements provide excellent opportunities to access growing markets, even if this access is not guaranteed. Companies are still tasked with validating the equivalences of certifications, quotas and import permits. Restrictions on GMOs and the composition of products are also variables that make access to markets in free-trade zones more complex. 

Download the agri-food industry outlook.

The growing global agri-food market 

By 2050, agricultural demand will be 50% higher than it was in 2013 according to the Agri-Food Economic Strategy Table. Recovery from the impacts of the pandemic has caused lingering inflationary pressures. Droughts and other extreme weather events also play a role in the supply-demand imbalance. Due to these combined factors, Canada’s agricultural and agri-food sector must grow to stay competitive.  

In 2021, the whole agriculture and agri-food system: 

  • employed 2.1 million people 
  • provided 1 in 9 jobs in Canada 
  • generated $134.9 billion (6.8%) of Canada’s GDP 

According to AAC, in 2021, food and beverage processors generated $33.2 billion in GDP (1.7%) and created 303,100 jobs. Agri-food is also the country’s biggest manufacturing sector, accounting for 17.8% of the GDP from manufacturing activities.  

Canada certainly benefits from many advantages that support the growth objectives of agri-food businesses. Nonetheless, the industry faces a number of obstacles for staying competitive amidst increasingly open markets. Despite its wealth of land and water resources, the industry is lagging behind in its digitization and automation efforts compared to other countries. Companies are seeking expertise to sustainably develop the sector and qualified labour to carry out this transformation. Market changes call for greater efforts to respond to these issues and become a leader in sustainability.  

The biggest challenge faced by Canada’s agri-food value chain is adaptation. There are many factors exerting pressure to invest financial and human resources in automation and digitization. There are also a large number of factors that hinder sustainable development. The industry’s change process therefore requires major planning, accompanied by a broad range of expertise. 

The transformational process leverages cross-functional and multidisciplinary expertise. Although demanding, leveraging many different kinds of expertise throughout the transformation instead of siloing them is part of providing high value-added consulting services.  

Download the agri-food industry outlook to identify the different industry shortages.  


Talsom at C2 : Meetings at the juncture of humans and technology to promote innovation

Publié le by Talsom

Digital and human transformations define our era. Every organization is affected – yours as much as ours. These deep, sudden transformations are continuously redefining the keys to success and criteria for survival in the business world. For eight years, Talsom has been evolving to equip you with the very best tools for a successful digital transformation. By completing our own daily transformation, we have acquired valuable skills and insights regarding the collision and synergies between humans and technologies. With this in hand, we are able to harness our talent to ensure your success.

What will the reality be tomorrow and what should it be today?To answer this question, we are joining C2 Montréal as a partner on May 23, 24 and 25, 2018, where we will be present with our entire team.

What is C2 Montréal?

C2 Montréal is an event where the worlds of commerce and creativity collide to explore substantial, upcoming trends, opportunities, disruptions and mutations. Every year, more than 6,500 creators and decision-makers come together to shape, live and reinvent the future of business. As every member of our team will attend, the sum of our parts will help drive innovation within our organization and ultimately within yours.

PEOPLE + TECHNOLOGY - INSPIRE, DRIVE, RECOGNIZE = INNOVATION

 

Our Initiatives

In addition to allowing each of our employees to grow their knowledge and develop new ideas through the different activities proposed by C2 Montréal, we will also launch several initiatives to gather today’s visionaries and to promote the revolutions of tomorrow.

For this year’s event, our talents have identified three “Transformative Collisions” that Talsom will discuss at its booth, which is located at the Arsenal art gallery in Montréal:

#1 Collision between Digital Code and Social Code. On May 23, with our partner TECHNOPOLYS, the movement to promote Quebec’s technology industry, we will discuss the training, recruitment and recognition of female talent in the field of information technology.

#2 Collision between New Technologies and Traditional Industries. On May 24, with our partner ADRENALYS, we invite you to learn how a traditional industry such as agriculture can reinvent itself and prosper with the help of digital technologies.

#3 Collision between Failure and Transformation. On May 25, our partners at CEFRIOwill immerse us in a conversation at their Change Lab to identify the perfect conditions for failure with digital transformation, in order to reveal the keys to success for our Quebec-based SMEs.

For several months, Talsom has also been fascinated about another collision: that among the business sector, technology and non-governmental organizations that work to develop international assistance to create a positive impact in communities that need it the most. In May, Talsom will officially announce its collaboration with the KANPE Foundation and the Humanos Institute for their pilot project for international development in Haiti. Through this collaboration, we will work and develop sustainable solutions in Haiti and to resolve the situation identified by Dr. Niels Billou, who is a Design Thinking Expert at Talsom and Founder of the Humanos Institute:

Charitable doors x skilled volunteers = sustainable international development

 

On their return from an exploratory mission on the ground, Dr. Niels Billou, Olivier Laquinte (President of Talsom) and Isabelle Thibault (Executive Director of KANPE) will lead discussions on this subject in the company of distinguished guests such as the co-founders of KANPE and of Impak Finance. During C2 Montréal and in the context of this project, Talsom will also support the “Design Thinking for Humanity” organized by the Humanos Institute and given by Dr. Niels Billou.

If you are able to attend C2 Montréal this year, do not hesitate to visit our booth to experience transformative collisions with us. Write to us and join us for a breakfast or a drink served by the KINOVA robotic arm during our daily 5 à 7 cocktail parties. And for those who wish to participate remotely, we will post the full discussions and content concerning these collisions in real time via live YouTube links. You will also be able to view these discussions again at any time after the event.

If you wish to learn more about our activities during C2 Montréal, our collisions, and our guests, stay tuned!

Feel free to visit the sites of the Humanos Institute and KANPE to learn more about the actions

iBeacon Technology Overview

Publié le by Talsom

You have surely heard the term iBeacon or come into contact with this technology, which has been described as a transmitter that can awaken smart phones. This technology has been the subject of discussion in particular since the most recent Mobile World Congress.

What are iBeacons?

An iBeacon is a beacon that transmits a low-energy Bluetooth signal that allows for phones in close proximity to be detected.

How do they work?

An application is installed on the phone that receives the Bluetooth signal. Once the signal is received, either the phone decides to awaken the application such that the target receives a notification, or the application executes an action (e.g. recovering a video or providing a fact sheet).

What are some practical applications of this technology?

 

There are many ways in which this technology can be applied. For instance, iBeacons could be set up in shopping malls, where there is a growing interest in the potential to use them to send promotional offers to customers. In so doing, businesses may use iBeacons to collect qualified data, as is the case with e-Commerce, in addition to improving in-store sales. iBeacons also allow for the inexpensive geolocation of customers, who can be tracked by businesses during their shopping experience.

Another potential application of iBeacons is to the tourism industry, where they can be used to complete the automatic check-in of guests upon their arrival at a hotel. Guests enter the hotel’s iBeacon hotspot and receive a message informing them that their room is ready for them on the fifth floor! With iBeacons, tourism can thus become more interactive and personalized.

In the food service industry, customers who walk past a restaurant can receive a push notification containing the menu of the day or information concerning various future events.

How to set up an iBeacon

 

First, install your iBeacon. To do so, create your iBeacon, then start a new “project” for your iBeacon. What is a project? It is one of several content items that you can associate to the iBeacon in question (e.g. different sets of information sent to visitors at a museum according to whether the visitor is a teacher, a student or another member of the public).

 

Next, create your content. Create a “place”. What does “place” mean? This term refers to a given beacon (e.g. exhibit A in a museum). However, it is also possible to link several locations to a given beacon (e.g. one beacon in a room for exhibits A, B and C). Next, link a place to your beacon and add a “card” to this place.

Information that you may add as a “card” includes tests, images, audio, video, widgets and web links.

Finally, test your technology. To do so, publish your project, open your application on your smartphone, place your beacons and test them by walking close to them with your device.

You are now familiar with the iBeacon technology and will be able to explain this concept to others.

Imagine the Future of Your Business

Publié le by Talsom

On September 13 and 14, Talsom attended the Journées Technologiques Nationales en Alimentaire organized by the Conseil de la Transformation Alimentaire du Québec (CTAQ). Business executives, strategists, and equipment and service providers gathered together to discuss trends relating to a new manufacturing era: Industry 4.0.

This new industry hinges on data and object connectivity. The connection of software, equipment and mass data are becoming essential elements for intelligence creation in a manufacturing system that is more adaptable to production. We are entering the fourth industrial revolution.

From Traditional Factories to Smart Factories

Smart factories aim to optimize the manufacturing process. By connecting to computer control models and a mass quantity of data, food processors will be able to benefit from physical processes that are more adaptable and flexible, and from a more efficient allocation of their resources.

 

The use of digital technologies is not limited to transformation and production procedures. It is essential for optimizing communications between each actor in the supply chain.

For example, manufacturing machines could communicate among themselves so that different types of food packaging can be sorted more efficiently, and in so doing reduce errors considerably. In addition, consumer food preferences could be instantly integrated into the personalization process on a mass level with speed and efficiency.

 

IoT: The Industry’s Future Technology

In the agri-food industry, robots have become indispensable for the production and transformation of products. The use of robots allows for the automation of repetitive tasks and processes that are generally dangerous, based on specific steps and rules. Virtual robots remove humans from the sphere of product handling by working directly with ingredients, sorting finished products, detecting defects and packaging products. As a result, productivity and performance are increased while inefficiency is decreased.

Due to the Internet of Things (or “IOT”), motion sensors can directly control the quality of products by detecting vibrations and humidity.

Smart applications brought about through IOT and artificial intelligence could allow businesses to monitor manufacturing line productivity in real time. By using these applications, employees can thus follow the evolution of their daily production output in real time while executives can consult the data thereby collected on their computer or smart phone.

 

 

Even though 3D printing was still in its infancy two years ago, it is now even more sought out by food manufacturers. Most 3D food printers are deposition printers, meaning they deposit layers of raw material in a process known as additive manufacturing.

Other, more specific printers use edible products such as sugar or chocolate as printing material. This innovation allows manufacturers to avoid the difficulties associated with product testing during product design and, by drawing on imagination and personalization, to obtain more accurate results.

 

 

What Are the Benefits for Agri-Food Businesses?

In light of the technological procedures that we have just mentioned (there are many others not discussed here), manufacturers of food processing products will benefit from more efficient production and from an increase in product quality, thereby leading to a reduction of costs and the potential to offer more competitive prices in the globalized food market.

The smart use of resources also results in benefits on a human level. Businesses will reduce the risks of accidents and injuries on production sites while benefitting from a greater involvement of their teams. By assigning tasks to their employees that are more interesting to them, facilitated in part by the use of robots, businesses will thus reduce the retention rate of their employees.

Is Quebec Falling Behind?

In comparison to the United States, where 76% of businesses have joined the digital revolution, only 28% of Quebec businesses have done the same. Manufacturing and agri-food businesses must accordingly modernize by making greater investments in smart factories and in strategic thinking to remain competitive in this global market. However, Quebec is particularly involved in the excitement behind IoT technology. Initiatives relating to this technology are popping up at an increasing pace, leading to the formation of organizational ecosystems.