Hitachi Digital Services combats wood waste with ‘first-of-its-kind’ digital solution

Hitachi Digital Consulting and Technology Services subsidiary Hitachi Digital Services is supporting food waste prevention specialist OneThird to develop breakthrough solutions to combat the global food waste crisis.

OneThird selected the digital services of Hitachi Vantara, now a new entity called Hitachi Digital Services, to combine its Azure cloud and application expertise with their deep understanding of sensing and AI technologies to create a real-time data insight platform to achieve a smarter and more flexible food supply chain. This solution enables the fresh produce supply chain to prevent significant amounts of produce wastage (at least 25%) while also saving on the costs associated with these losses.

Although human consumption levels are at an all-time high, as the global population will increase by nearly 2 billion in the next 30 years, about one-third of global food production is still lost and wasted. The economic cost of food waste is huge, estimated at US$1 trillion per year. Solutions must be developed to ensure there is enough food for everyone, which also includes reducing the current food waste crisis.

OneThird has developed a portable scanner that scans produce at a molecular level to analyze its water, sugar and starch content, using non-destructive near-infrared sensing technology and artificial intelligence algorithms to predict the shelf life of fresh produce. Leveraging Hitachi Digital Services’ cloud-based development capabilities, estimated shelf life data is instantly available, allowing all parties involved to decide on the final retail destination of fresh produce or redirect it to other uses, such as dry freezing or processing into soups and foods. sauce.

Marco Snikkers, CEO and Founder of OneThird, said: “The amount of food wasted every year is heartbreaking, especially when so much food is wasted in rich countries. We have worked closely with Hitachi Vantara to develop technology to help address this direct impact Food shortages are an ongoing global challenge. We are proud to be building the first cloud-based, connected product that accurately and objectively predicts the shelf life of fresh produce. Interest is extremely strong and we aim to accelerate the global adoption of our technology deploy.”

Insights gained from scanned data enable retailers to:

• Consider optimal distribution routes based on product shelf life and customer specifications;
• Repurpose items into food banks or processing rather than having products rejected by shoppers due to short shelf life;
• Provide best before and expiration dates based on actual shelf life rather than preset values; and,
• If a product is about to expire, get discounts in-store and put items with a longer shelf life in the back for better inventory management.

To help drive OneThird’s digital strategy and journey, Hitachi Vantara’s consulting services co-created a data and analytics integration platform and interfaces for instant interaction with different external platforms.

“Currently the technology is able to predict the shelf life of tomatoes, strawberries, blueberries and avocados, and by 2024 the technology will be expanded to a range of other products including grapes, bananas, mangoes and raspberries. Notably, the solution The solution solves the ‘avocado problem’ as shoppers no longer need to squeeze an avocado in-store to test its ripeness, which could damage the avocado.” Roger Lvin, CEO, Hitachi Digital Services. “As the food waste crisis continues, it’s important for retailers to have the insights they need to reduce food waste in a truly effective way. It’s exciting that our data-driven solutions are helping to make this happen. We’re proud to Partnering with OneThird on this initiative not only supports sustainable practices but also has huge potential for growth as new product development is currently underway. We are very excited to see what this solution will continue to achieve.”

The technology is already available to those working throughout the food supply chain, from growers to distributors. Additionally, several European retailers are currently in talks to install the technology in-store, while all already use scanning devices in their supply chains.

This co-created digital solution is the latest example of Hitachi’s expertise in helping customers achieve their sustainability goals, most recently working with Golden Grove to improve the nursery’s irrigation methods by 30%, and with Blechwarenfabrik Limburg, which will be Energy costs were reduced by €500,000.

Check out the upcoming Cloud Transformation Conference, a free virtual event for business and technology leaders to explore the evolving cloud transformation landscape. Book your free virtual ticket to gain insight into the practicalities and opportunities of cloud adoption. Learn more here.

Label: applications, supply chain