Danish technology can help achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals
Vision technology from TriVision halves food waste in the production process and can be a decisive factor in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) on reducing food waste.
Every year, TriVision’s technology saves around 10,000 tonnes of food waste globally, across more than 25 countries. The vision technology takes and analyses images based on predetermined characteristics. This way, flaws in food products, packaging or labels are immediately detected and production can be adjusted. The result is significantly less food waste, not least because product recalls are avoided. At the same time, the technology collects data, allowing food companies to optimise production and make it much more sustainable. The Danish technology is ready to assist companies when the new EU regulations on more sustainable production becomes effective in 2021.
“With increased focus on the SDGs in companies, it is key that our vision technology can halve the waste of food, packaging and the CO2 used for what is known as protected atmosphere in for example meat packets. Previously, companies typically invested in the technology for quality assurance of food products and packaging, for example to prevent containers of meat being rejected in China because of an incorrect character on the labels. Or to ensure that imperfect welds in the plastic packaging are detected so quickly that the welding machine can be adjusted immediately. However, with the growing focus on avoiding food waste, it is increasingly used to collect data from the production and optimising it. These Industry 4.0 possibilities cut down on considerable amounts of expenses and simultaneously improves quality and sustainability already at the production level,” explains Jesper Bach, CEO of TriVision.
Saving 100.000 tonnes of food with technology
TriVision has developed a number of technologies that can quality check packaging and labels, thereby detecting errors in the food products. With a combination of cameras and advanced software, errors are detected at an early stage and reveals where in the production environment there are deficiencies.
“I would say that TriVision’s technology has saved at least 100,000 tonnes of food waste since its launch. We are proud of that. Besides saving a lot of money for large food companies, such as Arla or Danish Crown, it ensures much less of the good food products and packaging going to waste,” Jesper Bach continues.
Arla Foods uses TriVision’s vision technology to ensure that errors in the packaging of for example small packets of butter do not hamper the success of good content. The technology identifies weld flaws, quality defects and incorrect labelling. This way, problems are detected at such an early stage that they can be remedied before the damage gets too extensive. After having implemented the technology, Arla has experienced less and shorter periods of quality-related production stops. At the same time, the number of customer complaints have fallen along with the volume of waste.
“The new system has fixed many problems in all parts of our production process and the number of customer complaints has fallen considerably,” confirms Bjarne Randrup Nielsen, Production Line Manager, Arla Foods.
Global food waste accounts for 1.3 billion tonnes a year, with one third coming from the production environment. Target 12.3 of the United Nation’s 17 SDGs states that by 2030, global food waste per capita must be halved at the retail and consumer levels, while food losses must be reduced in production and supply chains.
Learn more on www.trivision.dk or see for yourself in this clip.
Credit: Verdens Bedste Fødevarer