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25 Jun 2020

Econ Digest

COVID-19 has accelerated the food processing industry to use automation systems, reducing reliance on labor and raising food safety standards

คะแนนเฉลี่ย
        The COVID-19 pandemic and labor shortage in food processing plants have driven the labor-intensive food processing industry to increasingly consider using automation systems. This is because automation systems can help to reduce risks associated with labor reliance and enhance food safety standards. This shift responds to consumer’s increasing expectations for food quality and safety, which have increased since the COVID-19 pandemic.
        KResearch estimates that the use of automation systems in food processing will reduce the workforce by an average of 11.2 people for every THB1 million investment. Over the past 5 years, the automation market for the food processing industry in Thailand has grown by about 4.6% per year, contributing to a yearly decline in employment of more than 5.5%. Currently, manufacturers tend to use computer numerical control (CNC) machines rather than industrial robots (IRA) because CNC machines are four times cheaper and have been utilized in food processing for many years. Although IRA systems are more expensive, they can perform flexible and delicate tasks that require human skills, solving bottlenecks in the labor-intensive production line. Therefore, IRA systems are suitable for manufacturers aiming to upgrade production by replacing skilled labor with IRA systems while using CNC systems to complement the automatic production line to make it more complete.
        Although the use of automation systems in the production process will reduce overall human labor needs, workers are still necessary for system control, monitoring, troubleshooting during production, and system repair and maintenance. This change in the labor role makes skill development for working alongside automation systems a key that should be integrated from the education sector to industrial operators.

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Econ Digest