Silicon Collar looks at machines and humans at work in over 50 settings across industries and countries. On this blog I will excerpt many of those settings over the next few weeks. On Deal Architect I will excerpt more of the policy parts of the book.
The supply chains for Tropicana (owned by Pepsi-Cola in nearby Bradenton) and Simply (owned by Coca-Cola in Auburndale) orange juice provide a glimpse of the automation needed to produce juice and illustrate how jobs in the industry have evolved.
Larger orange groves utilize robotic harvesters. The Oxbo tree shakers and pickup equipment can work day and night and collect up to a million pounds of fruit a day. Frost, which can be deadly to the crop, is easier to monitor with today's sensors. Satellite imagery is used these days to optimize picking times.
Then you get into the processing, and the steps there would humble most brewmasters—getting the aroma, color, and taste just right; the flash pasteurization; and the handling of all the by-products (including using the peel to create a form of ethanol). Next is the state-of-the-art packaging, and finally shipping, via pipeline, refrigerated rail cars, and shipping containers.
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