Leaders in the food and healthcare industries increasingly believe that the cost of sustainability efforts saves their enterprises money over the long term while also saving the planet. Consumers, too, are willing to pay for the rising costs of goods if they are sustainably sourced, manufactured, and transported.
Even so, until recently many CEOs have hesitated to invest in sustainability efforts because they lacked visibility into their company’s operations. Unsure of how to accurately measure the impact of sustainability goals using obscure or unprocessed data, business executives needed more confidence in their decision-making to implement change. Now, fortunately, with the development of modern IoT-enabled Sensing-as-a-Service solutions, clarity and conviction about sustainability goals are well within reach.
In this post, we take a look at how a Sensing-as-a-Service solution helps food service, food retail, healthcare, and pharmaceutical organizations reach sustainable goals — first, by infusing sustainable practices throughout the supply chain, and second, by adopting the best practices of asset and energy management.
A Sensing-as-a-Service solution offers essential IoT-enabled digital tools to implement and maintain sustainable practices across the supply chain:
Creating demand-driven supply networks, minimizing carbon emissions, and reducing product waste are three examples of sustainable practices that enterprises can infuse across their supply chains using Sensing-as-a-Service.
The crucial end of a supply chain is the point of consumption. Managing and optimizing the supply network according to the demands of the consumer ensures:
Demand-driven supply networks (DDSNs) measure the real-time movements of consumer activity. Unlike traditional chains that rely on forecasting and historical trends to assess demand projections, DDSNs respond immediately to demand changes within their network of customers and suppliers. Therefore, DDSNs are inherently more sustainable than supply-driven networks, which focus on the volume of product produced and “guesstimates” of its shelf-availability for purchase.
Reducing carbon emissions is one of the primary methods to bolster sustainability. Because supply chains are often the biggest source of carbon emissions in any business operation, making key adjustments along the chain has a considerable impact.
Many organizations are targeting zero carbon emissions by collaborating with suppliers to buy clean energy. Sustainability goals shared by retailers and suppliers unify renewable energy efforts by disseminating knowledge and best practices across the supply chain. Examples of best practices to reduce carbon footprints include:
These and other innovative practices enable long-term efficiencies that benefit all stakeholders supporting the enterprise at large.
Minimizing waste is another pillar of sustainability. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates that, of the food produced for human consumption globally, 30% is lost or wasted somewhere along the food supply chain. Such unnecessary waste damages margins, destabilizes supply chains, and threatens inventories.
Waste reduction is a major opportunity for both food and healthcare organizations to advance their sustainability programs while improving business outcomes. Considering the scale of many national brands and chains, incremental improvements can have a huge impact on waste reduction at the macro level.
The following best practices increase production efficiency and reduce waste:
Asset and energy management are two crucial components of a sustainability program. The ease, accuracy, and insight of a Sensing-as-a-Service solution can safeguard their success.
Proactive IoT asset management is rapidly becoming a critical factor for improving the longevity and efficiency of equipment and physical infrastructure across an enterprise’s supply chain. In fact, the global asset monitoring industry is expected to reach $6.7 billion by 2028.
With the cost of unplanned downtime ten times higher than planned downtime, the role of preventative asset care and control is integral to maintaining cost-efficient operations. Predictive maintenance models that leverage machine learning and prescriptive analytics are essential to improving asset health to protect products in food retail, restaurants, pharmacies, and hospitals.
Leveraging these tools enhances operational efficiency and improves organizational sustainability efforts. From lighting fixtures and cooling units to retail stores and warehouses, managing an enterprise’s physical assets is a capital-intensive process that merits close attention and active participation informed by accurate real-time data and insights.
Healthcare, pharmaceutical, food service and food retail enterprises should conduct periodic energy audits to identify cost-saving efficiency measures. Recurring audits, however, while a good start, are just the beginning of a successful energy management program.
The continual nature of energy consumption across an organization demands using the most energy-efficient equipment. IoT-enabled energy management systems help operational leaders determine the best equipment makes and models to ensure optimal performance and longevity. They track energy consumption and analyze environmental ambient measurements with real-time accuracy, thus enabling continuous improvement and day-to-day insights that support better decision-making.
Common areas where IoT-enabled systems detect opportunities for improved energy efficiency include:
Enterprise operations that need refrigeration units to maintain the quality and efficacy of ambient-sensitive products — such as pharmacies, blood banks, hospitals, grocery stores, and restaurants — are notorious for their energy consumption.
Refrigeration asset optimization is a major way these enterprises can reduce their energy consumption and increase sustainability. Several operational tactics that contribute to cooling asset optimization include:
Although these tactics sound simple, their timely execution is impossible to achieve consistently without a Sensing-as-a-Service solution: IoT connectivity capabilities, continuous digital sensing, and prescriptive guidance that initiates and confirms employee corrective action. Timely intervention informed by real-time data analysis and priority alerting helps business leaders ensure operational efficiency and fortify sustainability initiatives across their enterprise.