Edge Computing: The Secret Ingredient for Food & Beverage Success

Food and beverage manufacturers are in the midst of a digital revolution. Cloud computing, a cornerstone of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, has long been integral to the IT infrastructure of the food and beverage industry, processing an ever-growing flow of data, particularly due to the rapid development of the Internet of Things (IoT).

However, a significant challenge arises: the actual amount of data that can be processed is limited by insufficient bandwidth; in other words, it is often impossible to fully utilize all the data generated by the processes. Businesses must be agile in analyzing, classifying, and migrating operational information, as every second counts in this industry. In the production environment, speed is as crucial as the volume of work to achieve profitability.

As the innovation snowball continues to roll, companies in the food and beverage sector need to "revamp their recipe," leveraging the right technological ingredients to overcome challenges swiftly. This includes tasks that require intensive computing resources, such as AI, machine learning, and blockchain.

On-Premise and Cloud: The Best of Both Worlds 
Today, it is clear that industrial automation systems must be fast, efficient, and adaptable. The question is: What is the best solution? Edge computing, combined with the cloud, emerges as the optimal solution, bridging the gap between central data processing and the devices connected to it in the factory or plant. By having the processing close to the machine, it is carried out smoothly and efficiently, even using high-frequency data that only allows a short response time (latency).

One of its greatest advantages is that, in this computational model, applications can be updated at any time without interfering with the production process, unlike local network infrastructures. Direct connection to the cloud also makes it easier for edge devices to upload processed data directly and continuously.

This is a significant advantage for the food and beverage industry, which often has multiple heterogeneous systems and machines, most of which are not yet connected to the internet via IoT. Its benefits extend further: With advanced analytics, edge computing enhances existing automation methods through machine-oriented data processing, providing new ways to utilize data in production by bringing AI and machine learning closer to the data source.

Leading analysts forecast that an increasing number of cloud services will incorporate edge computing, and a greater number of systems and endpoints will run AI algorithms, creating a highly distributed IT architecture where network connectivity will be critical. The International Data Corporation (IDC) reports that global spending on edge computing reached US$228 billion in 2024, representing a 14% increase from 2023. This includes the combined spend of enterprises and service providers on hardware, software, and professional services for edge solutions. The organization anticipates strong and sustained growth through 2028, with expected spending close to US$378 billion.

Building an AI-Powered Industrial Edge Ecosystem
At Siemens, we are clear that this is the time for the food and beverage industry to take the step toward building this new IT environment that enables real-time operations and optimizes the agility and accuracy of decision-making, in a sector where every second counts.

Our Siemens Industrial Edge solution, composed of hardware and software proven to form an architecture centered on an edge management system, centrally manages the connected edge devices, monitoring their status, updating the different edge applications available, ensuring that the latest version of these is always distributed, and doing so efficiently and securely across all devices.

By integrating the data generated in production with digitalization functions with global quality assurance, on locally installed edge computers adapted to the respective digitization task, an open environment is created, which easily integrates into existing automation environments, and allows machine and plant manufacturers, as well as technology providers, to develop useful edge apps that are part of the ecosystem, and publish them as certified partners through the Edge App Store.

Industrial edge applications offer the right degree of flexibility and application possibilities for edge devices. They are software modules, programmed in high-level language for a wide variety of tasks, allowing either to process, edit, and analyze the data generated in the process locally, or to transfer it in an aggregated form to overlay IT systems, or to local or external cloud systems, such as the cloud-based open IoT operating system Siemens Cloud Apps & Services.

Siemens Industrial Edge also includes a security solution to protect data in the cloud, as well as devices and data in the system. In addition, the interface with machine automation technology is found in edge devices decoupled from the process, which record and process large amounts of data in real time while providing connectivity by being equipped with edge execution software.

With computing capabilities directly in their production facilities, companies in the sector have a greater chance of detecting complex anomalies: a beverage manufacturer, for example, optimizes its production processes thanks to the fact that, with edge computing, it quickly analyzes factors that affect the filling of bottle,such as product temperature, filling speed, the size of the container, and the humidity of the air at a certain time of day, to correct opportunities for improvement promptly. And this is just the beginning.

Edge computing and the cloud are a new generation of digital automation that facilitates predictive maintenance while reducing energy consumption and downtime in the plant and overcoming obstacles such as long latencies or limited bandwidths. Edge computing is not an end in itself, but a means to achieve specific goals based on the unique needs of the enterprise. It must be clear that cloud and edge computing are not mutually exclusive, but rather complementary.

In the food and beverage industry, where production facilities are often outdated and investment funds are low, a step-by-step approach to implementing edge computing is an obvious choice to guarantee success in the deployment of these technologies.