During the Era of Industrial Revolution 4.0, palm oil plantations must implement digital technology
At this time the world is in the era of the 4th Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) which is characterized by the implementation of artificial intelligence, super computer, big data, cloud computing, and digital innovation that occurs at speed exponential that will directly impact the economy, industry, government and even global politics.
Industrial Revolution 4.0 is characterized by a smart industrialization process that refers to enhanced automation, machine-to-machine and human-to-machine communication, artificial intelligence (AI), and the development of sustainable digital technology.
Industrial Revolution 4.0 is also interpreted as an effort to transform the improvement process by integrating the production line (online production) with the cyber world, where all production processes run online through the Internet connection as a support. major.
Roadmap towards Industrial 4.0 in the palm oil industry
In Indonesia, the application of industry 4.0 is expected to increase productivity and innovation, reduce operating costs and efficiency, which led to increased export of domestic products. In order to accelerate the implementation of Industry 4.0, Indonesia has developed a roadmap for Industry 4.0 by establishing five manufacturing sectors that will be a top priority in its development, including food and beverage, automotive, electronics , textile and chemical.
The five industrial sectors are favored considering that they have demonstrated their great contribution to national economic growth. For example, the food and beverage industry, especially the palm oil industry, has a growing market share that reached 9.23% in 2017. In addition, the industry also became the largest foreign exchange contributor in the world. non-oil sector, which reached up to 34.33%. % in the year 2017.
The magnitude of the contribution of the food and beverage industry sector can also be seen in the value of exports which reached US$31.7 billion in 2017, even with a trade balance surplus when compared to the value of imports of just US$9.6 billion. This figure also places the palm oil industry as the largest foreign exchange contributor to the country.
To optimally increase productivity and efficiency, it is imperative to implement the technology that supports the industrial revolution 4.0, including the implementation of the Internet of Things (IOT), Advance Robotics (AR), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Digitized Infrastructure ( GAVE).
The structural transformation from the agricultural sector to the industrial sector has also increased per capita income and moved Indonesians from agrarian economies to economies that depend on an industry-driven value-added process accelerated by the development of digital technology.
In the context of this industrial revolution 4.0, the palm oil industry sector needs an immediate clean-up, especially in the aspect of digital technology. This is considering that the domain of digital technology will be the key that determines the competitiveness of Indonesia.
Because if not, the Indonesian palm oil industry will fall further and further behind other countries. If we do not improve our capabilities and competitiveness in priority sectors, we will not only be able to reach the goal, but we will be overtaken by other better prepared countries in the global and domestic markets.
Digitization era in the palm oil industry
As a major player in the global palm oil industry, Indonesia needs to clean up soon. Absolute operational and process efficiency is immediately achieved, especially with regard to labor-intensive activities such as field work (activity in the field), such as crop maintenance, land treatment, the activity of fertilization, weeding, harvesting and transport of fruits for weighing and classification. This is because there are often time and cost inefficiencies in this sector.
Digital technology has made a lot of work easier in the palm oil industry. Now it is no longer necessary to manually compile the statistical data collected from a series of palm plantations. The ease and other advantages of digital technology is being able to capture images or photos of fresh fruit bunches as well as the precise location of the orchard using a tablet that can access GPS.
That way, field managers can not only easily track and monitor real-time activity in the garden, but also see for themselves the quality of the palm fruit and know exactly which areas are experiencing the problem. And incredibly, he doesn’t need his presence on the field.
In addition to the ease of transferring the data from the field to the Excel sheet on the computer and also making reports on the quality of the palm fruit, digitization also makes it easier to record the presence of employees and field workers and then process the data with compensation and incentive purposes.