How is ice cream being digitized?

Industry 4.0, including Cloud connectivity, machine learning (ML), and artificial intelligence (AI), is transforming many industries. The ice cream industry is no exception. This article reviews how Industry 4.0 can contribute to more sustainable, higher-quality, and more efficiently delivered ice cream. All ice cream contributions are appreciated!

More sustainable ice cream

The European Union is leading the way toward more sustainable ice cream through its Environment, Public Health, and Food Safety (ENVI) program. One aspect of ENVI will be the requirement for labeling that describes the carbon footprint (CF) of food products, including ice cream. CF is defined as the entire life cycle impact, including the packaging, and is part of the overall “Farm to Fork” project (Figure 1).

A lower CF may be another way for ice cream makers to establish a unique market position in the future. Work is underway to identify the ice cream technology and production process with the lowest CF (CFtech). Replacing traditional ingredients with fat and sugar substitutes does not necessarily lower the CF of ice cream.

One study found that the CF of ice cream using a traditional mix was 0.360 kg CO2/kg product, and for ice cream using healthier substitutes for fat and sugar, the CF was higher at 0.385 kg CO2/kg product. The study focused on the three stages in ice cream production with the highest impact on CO2 emissions: pasteurization, homogenization, and ripening, also called forming (Figure 2).

Looking for bad cones

Ice cream requires continuous production to maintain quality. Any line stoppages can result in a ruined product. Machine vision is one tool used to maintain quality and support continuous production. That can be especially important for producing ice cream cones. A typical ice cream cone production line makes a cone every 1.5 seconds. Even a short outage can result in many lost cones.

In one case, a thermal camera with a resolution of 382 x 288 pixels is being used to identify defects in ice cream cones. The camera is positioned over the top as the cones pass by, capturing images of an entire row of cones. The 80 Hz frame rate supports real-time monitoring, and the camera can be connected to a laptop or computer that implements the AI image processing algorithm (Figure 3).

Making sure there’s ice cream to purchase

In addition to monitoring the quality of ice cream on the production line, AI is being used to monitor the availability of ice cream in retail shops. Unilever owns about 3 million ice cream freezers worldwide and has installed AI-based vision systems in about 50,000 freezers.

The camera periodically takes a picture of the inside of the freezer and sends it to the Cloud, where an AI tool analyzes the freezer contents (Figure 4). This system enables consistent monitoring and helps shopkeepers maintain the optimal ice cream inventory. An optimized inventory can boost sales by up to 35% and support the success of targeted sales promotions.

Mass personalization

Mass personalization can have different meanings in different types of Industry 4.0 operations. In some cases, it means customizing a product’s features to suit the needs of individual applications. In the case of consumer products like ice cream, mass personalization often means giving consumers more control when placing an order.

Like other quick-service food operations, ice cream parlors are adding kiosks that customers can use to place and pay for orders. These kiosks enable (encourage?). Customization of orders. This often results in larger and more individualized orders, increasing both customer satisfaction and revenue.

In addition to kiosks, robots are used to take orders and serve ice cream to consumers. For more information on robot uses, check out the article “How can robots improve the Ice Cream Experience?”

Summary

The impact of Industry 4.0 on the ice cream industry is significant. It’s already helping to improve the quality and availability of ice cream, and in the future, it’s expected to help increase its sustainability.