Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 7646 / SEEDWORLD.COM FEBRUARY 2017 IF YOU DON’T make breeding decisions using all your data, you won’t be able to make the best decisions possible. The way to do this is with good data- base software designed specifically for plant breeding. There are many facets to the breeding process, and they all have to be managed, linked, and recorded in order to make optimal breeding decisions. The second part is good analysis. Those two main components are crucial for any breeding program. Any good database should be able to: Show you all the data for a given trait. Maybe you have clubroot disease or a new race of stem rust. Pull up all the data that you gathered on it last year — you might see something there. Give you all the data on one genotype or one variety. It’s like opening hundreds of Excel sheets all at one time. This allows for more structured queries, and in the event you want to pull up all the data on one hybrid as compared to a check, the data is at your fingertips. Or what if you really need to do this for several or many varieties all at once? Make an instant comparison. I have spoken with people who have told me they have all their data accessible in Excel, but can’t open or see all the data at once. Not only does this not make for instant access, it negatively affects your decision-making. A good database makes things easier and gives you the ability to probe your data and make the best decisions pos- sible. This will save you time, which is one of the most valuable commodities you have. I recall a client re-analyzing 25 years worth of data using the most sophisti- cated plant breeding database software, SOFTWARE/DATA MANAGEMENT Are You Using ALL Your Data? DIETER MULITZE AGRONOMIX PRESIDENT, CEO AND FOUNDER mulitze@agronomix.com • agronomix.com and discovered it had indeed enabled him to release the best hybrids possible over all those years. That gives you a major competitive advantage. A lot of people say, “Well, we’ve been releasing hybrids for years using Excel.” But what if they weren’t the best ones? What if by mining all the data possible, you could have found better ones? How much more revenue could that have provided for your company? The quality of your database impacts your ability to discover the best possible hybrid that you’ve got, and you’re only going to do that if you mine all the data that you have. Use all your data to maximum advan- tage to maintain — or gain — your com- petitive edge. A LOT OF DIFFERENT factors are taken into consideration when it comes to selecting a storage, conveying and handling equipment solutions provider, not the least of which is product quality. It’s often touted as the No. 1 consideration when shopping around. Quality is important, of course, but something comes before product quality and includes the expertise and knowl- edge possessed by the people behind those products and services — a strong commercial team. There are a few key things to look for in a provider’s commercial team. Expertise — Expertise is about more than just having experience; it’s about having the real-world knowledge behind you to know you’re offering the right solutions through storage, conveying and handling equipment. Not only should the team have seen many successes, but a natural part of having expertise means they’ve seen what goes wrong when things aren’t done the right way, so they can prevent problems before they even happen. Resources — One major advantage a good commercial team should have is possession of enough resources in-house to provide great service. Can the commer- cial team deliver a complete package, or do they have to go and purchase certain pieces of equipment from one provider and other equipment somewhere else? Teamwork — This means the com- mercial team should be able to work well together to provide the solutions needed. It should be easy for them to pull all the pieces of a project together. All mem- bers of the team should be specialists — they should know, for example, what the best cone degree is, the best open- ing size, type of gauge needed, what- STORAGE AND HANDLING What Makes a Strong Commercial Team TERRY FRIESEN INDUSTRIAL SALES MANAGER tfriesen@meridianmfg.com • meridianmfg.com ever is needed to make a product flow. Some products, like distiller’s grain, are hard to handle, store and keep moving, while other products can fluidize, caus- ing flooding of your conveyors. Handling seed/grain properly it is not something you want to learn through trial and error, so you want to trust the experts. All these factors come together to provide a truly great experience for the customer. A good team can advise you not only on what you need now, but what you might need coming down the road. For example, more and more coun- ties and cities require stamped, engi- neered drawings. A strong commercial team should have engineering staff that will review the product and make sure it passes all codes and zoning where it’s being shipped to, and make sure it func- tions properly when it gets there.