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Coffee shops run by machines? Hawker fare needs human touch

I refer to the report “Why Singapore wants its food courts to be run by machines, not people” (Oct 31, online), on automation and productivity.

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Benjamin Chin Seo Kiat

I refer to the report “Why Singapore wants its food courts to be run by machines, not people” (Oct 31, online), on automation and productivity.

For years, real wages in Singapore have risen without a corresponding increase in productivity. In this regard, I applaud the initiatives undertaken by government agencies and small and medium enterprises to meet the challenge of raising productivity through automation.

As the report mentioned, Spring Singapore is trialling a “productivity-weighted system on all future tenders” for new coffee shops. Such a move, however, may signal an overemphasis on productivity.

I am concerned about the possibility that automation may kill the human factor integral to hawker heritage and the hawker food experience. As a customer, I prefer the small talk with stall attendants rather than pressing buttons on a screen.

Certainly, local businesses must keep up with the times and confront the realities of a shrinking labour force. We would probably only see a trend towards automation in the pursuit of productivity.

But we should also think of ways to maintain what is essential to hawker excellence. It was not long ago that two of our hawker stalls, with food prepared in the traditional way, received a Michelin star.

We can learn from military deployments of drones. Despite rapid advances in autonomous technology, military planners are well aware of the need to always maintain the human element. Among other considerations, humans are capable of making intuitive judgements.

Similarly, behind every bowl of well-executed bak chor mee is a hawker who operates on intuition. Furthermore, a simple smile or short conversation elevates hawker fare to a happy feast. This may never be replicated with machines.

We should strive for a balance between automating and maintaining the human connection.

Singapore is known, internationally and locally, as a food haven with a rich hawker heritage. It would be sad if vending machines and LCD screens replace hawker uncles, aunties and young “hawkerpreneurs” as the new face of our food paradise.

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