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Revolutionizing agricultural operations with IBM Global Business Services
Technology Category
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - API Integration & Management
Applicable Industries
- Agriculture
Applicable Functions
- Logistics & Transportation
- Procurement
Use Cases
- Supply Chain Visibility
- Inventory Management
Services
- System Integration
- Software Design & Engineering Services
The Challenge
COPROB, one of Italy’s largest sugar beet processors, was facing challenges in managing its large network of farms and expanding into new areas such as biomass energy. The company's existing systems and approaches were largely untouched by technology, with many processes being manual or overly reliant on department-specific expertise. This lack of technological integration was hindering the company's growth and ability to manage its operations effectively. The company needed a solution that could streamline its workflows, reduce complexity, and provide faster and more mobile access to detailed enterprise-wide information.
About The Customer
COPROB is a leading sugar producer in Italy, producing around 284,000 tons of sugar, which accounts for approximately 56 percent of the nation's output. The company employs 310 people and works with 5,700 partner farms in northern Italy, generating sales of some EUR 335 million. COPROB is also expanding into new areas such as biomass energy. However, the company's growth and expansion were being hindered by its outdated and manual systems and processes, which were not equipped to handle the increasing complexity and demands of the modern agricultural industry.
The Solution
To address its challenges, COPROB engaged IBM Global Business Services to design and deploy a complete enterprise process management solution based on SAP software. IBM expanded COPROB’s existing SAP ERP landscape to encompass the agricultural planning and procurement processes, adding SAP CRM for managing the relationships with farmers and IBM ILOG for logistics management. The integrated, agile SAP solution helps COPROB to manage agricultural supply chain processes more efficiently and see a single version of the truth. COPROB is now introducing SAP Mobile solutions to enable its agronomists to capture data on seeding, tonnage and sugar yields during farm visits, helping them assess likely future output and ability to fulfil biomass energy contracts.
Operational Impact
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