b'DAN CUSTIS Top 3 Mistakes to Avoid When CEO AND CO-FOUNDER, ABMdan@abm1st.com Investing in an Optical Color Sorterabm1st.comWHILE OPTICALcolor sorters arethe machine for 5-10 years, then a Celebrating People not yet commonplace in the seedcalculation of the savings from buying sector, more and more seed compa- from a supplier with a good network and Collaboration nies are starting to invest in them. So,can easily be made. I thought it would be a good idea toA second mistake is that buyers TWENTY-ONEyears ago, before ABM evenshare the top three most commondo not test or do not want to test the existed, I got my start working on selling hardmistakes companies make beforemachine. They do not make the effort chemistry: inoculates, fungicides, seed treat- purchase and how to avoid them. to compare the machine of supplier ments, insecticides and more. Id have to goOne of the first mistakes thatA with the machine of supplier B. into the seed plant, calibrate the treaters andprocessors make is only looking atThe technology may look the same machinery for the customer, and Id spendthe price. They often want to buybut looks can be deceiving. This is about half a day in the plant ensuring every- the cheapest machine, and therebybecause some suppliers merely bring thing worked as it should.ignore other important aspects oftogether some off-the-shelf parts I would always come out sneezing.their investment. In addition to price,and somehow the machine works, Sneezing reds, blues, pinks, greens potential buyers should also con- whereas other suppliers design the I was tired of it, and thought there had tosider the size and distribution of thevarious parts, such as cameras, soft-be a better way to do this. I really wanted toservice network. Imagine you haveware or the circuit boards, and make develop companion products to go with thean issue with one of your sorters andsure they form a perfectly finetuned hard chemistry going on the seed. Thats howhave to wait a long time for an engi- sorter that fits with the exact needs ABM got its start. I was tired of sneezing! neer to come and repair it. Having aof the buyer.This year, were celebrating 20 years ofgood support network with multipleAnd a third common mistake is ABM, and while weve had ups and downs,engineers, that speak your language,that potential customers buy from I can say that its all thanks to one thing: ourcan make a huge difference, e.g.inexperienced sellers who do not people.during the holiday season, or if onespeak the native language of color Our team members, our customers and allof the engineers is sick. Halting yoursorters. I have met suppliers who the people whove helped us along the wayproduction for several days becausecould not explain the workings of have contributed to our success. Our team hasyou are waiting for an engineer tomachine in detail or were targeting taken charge and made us successful. Andcome can cost a whole lot morethe wrong crops with their machine. thats the secret to 20 years of ABM: our team. than the initial price difference. AddSeed sorting is a highly specialized Without the team we put together, weto that, that you will probably usejob that requires a lot of detailed and wouldnt have been able to make it 20 years. Wecrop specific knowledge, plus many can have all the top products, the most currentyears of experience. So, dont take technologies and everything perfectly in place,any shortcuts!but without the right team in place to take it toTo summarize, when youre look-the marketplace, youll never get it done.ing for your next color sorter: dont But the one set of people Id like to cel- buy on price alone; dont buy without ebrate most this year is our customer. testing and dont buy from inexperi-Without the farmers, we would not haveenced dealers. had 20 years of success on the biological side. Weve spent years ensuring that the products we bring to the farmer is a return on their investment and is a benefit to them. Theyve been driving our product development, and theyve allowed us to see what works andARON DEMETERwhat doesnt.HEAD OF SEGMENT GRAINS & PULSES,In the future, were looking forward toBHLER SORTEXcelebrating 20 more successful years witharon.demeter@buhlergroup.combuhlergroup.comour customers, our co-workers and everyone weve collaborated with. 40/ SEEDWORLD.COMDECEMBER 2020'