Competitiveness in food industry: the role of Industry 4.0

Abstract

The food and drink industry are the largest manufacturing sectors in Europe in terms of jobs and value added. The industry is rather concentrated and in such circumstances, it would be very important to know what are the competitive advantages of the manufacturers, what can less developed countries learn from the corporate practices of the more advanced countries. Within the food industry, research into the dairy industry has been reduced. The aim of the researchers is to explore the position of Hungary among the major dairy producers and define, what to learn, what technology should be developed - especially with regard to the opportunities offered by digitization - to increase the competitiveness of the Hungarian sector. The study uses two methodologies. On the one hand, it explores the areas and solutions of digitization technology in the dairy industry in detail through literature analysis. On the other hand, interviews has been carried out with Hungarian players in the industry to explore the possibilities of using these modern technology solutions at companies with different corporate backgrounds, and in companies of different size.