EUROPEAN-SEED.COM I EUROPEAN SEED I 43 In order for our company to be in the leading position and innovation in the seeds supply chain, we decided many years ago to embrace the EDI process for exchanging messages with our partners and customers in the seeds business. EDI is the acronym for Electronic Data Interchange which is a universal computer-to-computer communication language, and applies to all types of doc- uments (commercial, logistical, finan- cial, administrative, accounting, etc.). Furthermore, it is independent from computer type, operating system and from the programming language, which is really great. This process consists of transforming and digitizing a material- ized medium into a digital medium. This can be for example a paper document; a non-automated document flow (fax, mail, telephone) or a manual processing of doc- uments (re-entry). Under the EDI process, transmission takes place in real time and data entry CORN, SORGHUM AND OILSEEDS How to Improve the Traceability of your Seeds? BERNARD DUBOIS Head of Supply Chain • Euralis Semences, France is digitized without the risk of error. We have noticed that implementing such a system leads to a cost reduction (admin- istrative processing, exchange and archiving costs). In addition, it also leads to a reduced operating cycle for supplies, billing and regulations. Today around 60 % of our seeds sales administration in France from order to invoice is done through EDI. Since 2 cam- paigns our EDI delivery advice message ‘DESADV’ includes the data matrix cod- ification of ours commercial units: seeds bags and our handling units: pallets. So our customers can link automatically the EDI message DESADV we sent them when we ship the seeds with physical reception of the pallets when they get them in their ware- house. This way insures a full traceability. To develop EDI messages and codi- fication of our products, Euralis works in the frame of the Agro EDI Europe associ- ation. This association has been involved in the development of electronic data In the time of autonomously driving cars, intelligent robotics and smart machines, the seed processing industry still has a very primitive level of control and meas- urement. This achieves the requirement of seed quality in the past. However, the demands on the constant seed quality are increasing, as well as the complexity of the machines, thus we need a different level of control. Today for example, the operators in the processing plant find the right adjustment of each machine according to the current processed seed, followed by further control and checks. Most of the machines do not have contin- uous regulation and the knowledge of the operator here is very essential. Therefore, you will find sometimes two different qualities from one seed lot in the same processing plant. To eliminate the human factor and to react towards the changing of the input quality, a revolution in seed indus- try is required. Our company started its SEED PROCESSING AND HANDLING Seed Industry 4.0 KHALED RAED Innovation manager • PETKUS Technologie GmbH contributions to this revolution with driv- ing the innovation of the seed processing machines. The goals of that innovation mission are not only to archive different levels of the process quality but also to build smart machines and smart facili- ties. We call this “seed industry 4.0”. We move to seed industry 4.0 in two phases. In the first phase, the design of the new machines has been changed to include electrical control components connected to programmable logic con- troller (PLC). The new control system allow us to integrate more sensors, develop complicated algorithms and save the many recipes for the different seed types. A huge advantage in that system is the user friendly operation by mirroring the touch panel through smart mobiles or tablets from each place in the processing plant. Additionally, that gives us the pos- sibility to support the customer worldwide through direct internet connection to the machine. You will find this advanced control system in the new generation of gravity tables, the MultiCoater as well as in the Opto Selecto. Our optical sorter OS900 is including intelligent software, called TechNSort, which makes the teach- ing procedure of the machines very easy for the operators. Nevertheless, teaching the machine “what a good seed looks like” leads to a continuous quality control and selecting out each foreign kernel. The next phase of moving to seed industry 4.0 is the realization of real connectivity between the different pro- cessing machines to achieve a smart processing plant. For example having live data about the changing of the caliber size allows the MultiCoater to react, equivalent to having full coverage by changing the quantity of the coat- ing liquid. Now and in the near future you will find more smart machines and processing plants built by our company which leads to a continuous high quality of the seeds. That is seed industry 4.0! interchange in the agricultural sector. To support the evolution of the different types of exchanges and to standardize them, Agro EDI Europe ensures the cre- ation of standardized messages, specific to those of the agricultural sector, in accordance with the existing interna- tional standards. So in terms of outlook for the future as a company we wish to promote the development of digitization and tracea- bility in our distribution in both France as well as in Europe. In that respect, we prefer to be leaders rather than follow- ers and as such, we want to be ready for future evolutions which includes a.o. the dematerialization of invoices and phy- tosanitary certificates.