PepsiCo

PepsiCo saves water with WINT

Posted on by Techtime

PepsiCo has started to integrate WINT’s water management and leak detection systemin dozens of its factories around the globe. This step is part of the American food and beverage giant to cut expenses of water consumption. PepsiCo has set an initial goal of reducing water consumption by 15% until 2025, as part of a wider perennial program aimed to save resources and reduce environmental damage caused by the company’s activity.

WINT’s platform interfaces with the factory’s existing water systems, and is capable of identifying – using AI algorithms – water consumption anomalies at the production line, whether it is a technical issues like faulty engine/valve or merely water waste.

Yaron Dycian, WINT’s Chief Product and Strategy Officer, says to Techtime he experiences a change in industries’ attitudes towards water usage. “The industrial sector is responsible for fifth of the global water consumption. As water are considered a cheap resourse, saving water was not the primary concern of the industrial companies. Today, with the arousal of environmental consciousness, and since water waste increase carbon footprint, we witness a change and desire to use water effectively. Our cooperation with PepsiCo is strategic and sustained, and our intent is to extend our technology integration to more PepsiCo factories”.

Identifying a leaking toilet at the 20th floor

Together with the industrial sector, the main target market for WINT is the residential and office buildings, which suffer from a chronic water waste problem. For example: there are estimates that water damage in facilities is a major source of insurance claims, with over $13 billion in annual payouts.  At the UK, this amount is estimated at £1 billion.

WINT’s platform is an analytic one, based on detection of water leaks and waste using AI to identify anomalies in the facility’s water consumption graph. In order to gather the required data, unique devices are installed on the water meters at a various strategic points across the building. Using machine learning algorithms, the system learns site’s usage patterns, and alerts the maintenance managers on any anomaly that may indicate a leak. According to the company, the solution may save 20%-25% of water expenses.

Dycian: “People are unaware of the amount of water wasted in their building. Current estimates are that around 25% of the amount of water entering a building – is wasted. Main issue is that leaks are detected in late stages, for example – when a pipe is exploded. Our system can detect a leaking toilet in a skyscraper”. Currently, WINT has around 400 clients in Israel and around the globe, to include the real estate company TIDHAR, Mellanox, several Israeli insurance companies as well as financial worldwide institutes such as Bank of America and Citibank. Together with its offices in Rosh-HaAyin, the company holds offices in the UK and the USA and employs a total of 50 employees.

Meanwhile, WINT announced it had completed a $15 million Series B funding round. The round was led by New York-based global private equity and venture capital firm Insight Partners and with participation from existing investors which include Marius Nacht, one of Israel’s leading serial entrepreneurs, founders, and investors. The round also included numerous global construction and real-estate companies, who are keenly looking to solve the challenges posed by water sustainability and damage in their facilities and construction sites. These include Suffolk Construction, a national technology-driven general contractor, the Consensus Business Group, the UK’s largest owner and manager of residential and commercial property, Tidhar, Electra, Ashtrom, Rogovin, and the Israel-Canada group. 

PepsiCo Chooses CropX to Achieve Global Sustainability Goals

Posted on by Techtime

CropX, a leading global Ag Analytics provider and PepsiCo México, an American multinational food, snack and beverage corporation headquartered in U.S.A., expand their collaboration to help PepsiCo’s Mexican potato farmers reduce water and fertilizer consumption, improve soil health, lower greenhouse emissions and improve crop yields. By collaborating with CropX, PepsiCo can now help growers in Latin America improve farm input application efficiency and become environmentally sustainable, providing its growers with CropX’s data-driven farm management solutions.

PepsiCo has set a number of interconnected goals that aim to contribute to its positive water impact, designing its efforts and partnerships to enable long-term, sustainable water security for its business, and setting the ambitious goal of 15% water reduction by 2025. As part of this effort, CropX collaborates with PepsiCo Mexico (PepsiCo’s largest operation in Latin America) to help the producers supplying the potatoes used for its products reduce the water used for potato production.

CropX ran pilot tests in partnership with PepsiCo Mexico of the sensors and technological solutions offered by CropX, with the objective of demonstrating reductions in water used for potato production under drip and pivot irrigation. CropX’s sensors were deployed across several fields owned by two farmers supplying PepsiCo. The data collected by CropX’s sensors was monitored continuously throughout the season and the actionable insights generated by CropX’s algorithms helped the farmers make science-based decisions. To demonstrate the benefits of sustainable agriculture using state-of-the-art technologies, PepsiCo compared the results of the ‘Best Ag Practices 4.0’ plots vs. the control group, where the farmers used standard practices. The results were significant – ‘Best Ag Practices’ plots where CropX tech was used achieved higher yield, while applying 15% less water and less fertilizers, compared to the control group. The combined water and fertilizer savings had also curbed down greenhouse gas emissions significantly.

“We strongly believe Digital Agro technologies will unlock greater value in the farm system and will become a key enabler in the sustainability journey. We have developed an ambitious digital strategy for México and LATAM aimed at increasing the efficiency across the agro supply chain and reducing the use of resources such as water. In México, the water crisis poses major challenges; that is the reason we are piloting and deploying digital technologies to save water while improving yields” said Servando Valdez, Agro Director Lead for PepsiCo México,

“Water scarcity in Mexico is severe, and with an ever-increasing demand, combined with the fact that agriculture accounts for almost 78% of water use, certain cities in Mexico risk being void of water. “With PepsiCo using CropX’s data-driven soil management platform in large scale we have the opportunity to make a huge impact and to significantly improve water-use inefficiency and soil health for potato production in Mexico.” said Matan Rahav, Director of Business Development at CropX. “The collaboration with PepsiCo will help the Mexican potato farming industry become more efficient and sustainable. We’re very excited to have partnered with one of the world’s leading food corporations which has committed to help tackle some of the world’s most pressing challenges.”

Producers working with PepsiCo Mexico can now get the benefits of CropX sensor technology and artificial intelligence software – from money savings by irrigation and fertilizer efficiency and higher yields by optimizing water usage, to the peace of mind that comes from maintaining the ideal environment and growing conditions for crops. Together, PepsiCo and CropX will empower Mexican potato producers to improve farm management practices.

CropX is an AgAnalytics whose vision is to revolutionize & automate the farm and the decision-making process by combining above-ground data sets with real-time soil data measured by proprietary in-house-developed soil sensors that transmit the data to a cloud-based platform, and analyzed by AI-based algorithms, to provide insights & automations via the CropX app.

serving over 3,500 paying customers with almost 10,000 installations since its launch in 2017, CropX has demonstrated over 50% water savings across different crop types, with 20% yield increase. Backed by a world-class syndicate of strategic partners & investors and having raised over $20M in funding rounds including a recent B-round, CropX is determined to continue its global expansion, acting as the Big-Data North star for the entire global AgFood value chain.