FarmERP Bolsters the Operational Efficiency of Singapore’s Biggest Hydroponic Enterprise
Introduction
A Singapore-based hydroponic grower produces a wide range of leafy vegetables, including lettuce, cabbage, etc. Planning and managing the end-to-end operations was proving to be a major hassle for the hydroponic grower a few years ago. As a result, the enterprise approached FarmERP to gain more control over data management, operations planning, infrastructure mapping and many more business functions.
FarmERP formulated innovative strategies to tackle the challenges faced by the client. Right from planning and scheduling operations to optimising accounting and eliminating pest threats, FarmERP provided a host of solutions. The hydroponic grower witnessed staggering growth as the process outcomes and yield quality touched new heights with FarmERP.
Challenge
- Planning and keeping track of the tedious operations for multiple crops across the hydroponics growth cycle using manual systems was extremely demanding.
- As leafy vegetables are highly perishable, the client was facing huge post-harvest losses.
- Owing to a complex and intricate growth stage cycle, data management was one of the most critical concerns of the client. Efficiently managing accounting functions had also become arduous for the client.
- Earlier, when poor quality agriproducts were found in a store, it was not possible to identify the batch it belonged to. Food producers were thus not able to find out the exact stores where these low-quality or unsafe agriproducts were delivered.
- Inefficiency in infrastructure mapping, capacity management and inventory management was a serious issue affecting the planning and scheduling functions.
- Identifying material requirements and scheduling daily seeding operations accordingly was one of the toughest challenges for the hydroponic grower.
- With lesser visibility into the seeding and harvesting activities, preparing accurate sales plans was quite difficult.
- Due to mortality, there were significant variations in the actual outcomes as compared to that of the projections.
- With the inability to identify how old a specific batch of agriproducts is, the threat of pest infestations and crop disease outbreaks was high.
Approach
After assessing the existing scenario and identifying the key concerns of the hydroponic grower, FarmERP defined a new, unique solution to meet their specific needs. By shifting a number of procedures from a manual to an automated system, FarmERP streamlined client’s operational workflows. All practices followed were according to the requirements of GLOBAL G.A.P. as FarmERP is a certified member of this renowned organisation.
- FarmERP’s next-gen ERP platform helped the client with infrastructure mapping to optimise all of their operations.
- With the planning module, FarmERP enhanced the client’s task allocation capabilities to maintain seamless workflows.
- The FarmERP platform provided detailed insights into seeding and harvesting operations, which helped the client to plan sales activities well in advance.
- FarmERP facilitated the real-time monitoring of the moving gully system. The advanced ERP platform also provided the client with a QR code to easily identify the number of occupied benches, crops that occupy that benches, as well as the number of occupied holes at any given time.
- FarmERP assisted the client to define growth stages and schedule activities based on production requirements. Similarly, FarmERP also set up an irrigation and micronutrient management system for the client.
- FarmERP provided the client with daily reports that gave information about the requirements of seeds, trays, as well as labour.
- With the traceability feature, the client was empowered to always be alert and quickly recall a specific batch containing agriproducts that are below desired quality standards.
- FarmERP enabled the client to track the availability of holes in the moving gully system as well as helped them manage their inventory in real-time.
- FarmERP integrated a third-party ERP to streamline the accounting functions of the client. With FarmERP, the client could identify how old the crop batches were and accordingly take measures to eliminate post-harvest losses as well as mitigate the threats of pests and diseases.
- Similarly, by taking into consideration mortality and other risk factors, FarmERP provided the client with accurate projections.
Benefits
With FarmERP as their agritech partner, the hydroponic grower managed to mitigate post-harvest losses and get crop outcomes of the highest quality standards. FarmERP’s cutting-edge solutions ensured that the client had complete control over all aspects – forecasting, scheduling, seeding, tracking, irrigation, and accounting. Similarly, FarmERP’s expertise enabled the client to identify risk situations and take appropriate preventive measures well in advance.
- With proper plans for each stage, FarmERP provided the client with accurate production projections. FarmERP took into account factors such as mortality and other risks which ensured that the projections were very accurate.
- Batch-wise traceability helped the client in making smart decisions in case of recall situations.
- The hydroponic grower became able to make perfect sales plans or even schedule their operations based on received sales orders.
- Integration with a powerful third-party application helped the client to save a lot of time and made their accounting practices more efficient.
- Details about the capacity and availability of holes and benches simplified planning and management to a great extent.
- The irrigation and micronutrient management system assisted the hydroponic grower to monitor the consumption of micronutrients for each and every crop.
- Infrastructure mapping, capacity management and inventory management encouraged the client to smartly allocate resources and meet their production targets.
- With FarmERP’s future-ready ERP, the client managed to mitigate the possibilities of pest attacks and diseases.
- Through the FarmERP system, the client was able to forecast material requirements precisely which assisted in improving the quality and quantity of their crop outcomes.
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