b'ARON DEMETERNavigating HEAD OF SEGMENT GRAINS &International SalesPULSES, BHLER SORTEXaron.demeter@buhlergroup.combuhlergroup.comIT ALL STARTEDwith a call fromFor companies looking to a gentleman in Ukraine. And thatexpand into international markets, Sortex Leaves awas the beginning of our step intothe most important thing you can international sales, back in 2007. do is homework. Gather as much The Ukrainian contact had ainformation about the agricultural Lasting Impression farm but couldnt access the inocu- sector in that local country as you lants he wanted to use. He was alsocan. Its also important to under-interested in becoming a distributorstand the cultural aspect of how the TWELVE YEARS AGO,I traveled to Hungary tofor our products. He found us onagriculture value chain works in the visit an agricultural seeds customer. During a break, Ithe internet and simply called ourcountry youre targeting. stopped off next to a roadside company which wasoffice. Dan took the call and imme- And finally, and this is critical, selling seeds. There I met an elderly lady and wediately saw it as an opportunity tofind a local person to work with began conversing. She told me that 40 years agoexpand into Europe. He workedwho speaks your language. It takes shed worked for a seed processing company. Theywith the gentleman to registerplenty of skill to communicate with used color sorting machines, which were installed inABMs products in Ukraine wherefarmers and regulatory officials rows against a 25-meter wall, each able to processthey could be sold exclusively. Afterwhen it comes to the technical around 30-50 kg per hour. Racking her brain, shethe success in our first year, weaspects of agricultural products. It vaguely recalled that the manufacturer was calledstarted looking at how to expand togets even more challenging with something like Shortex.other international markets.technical terms that must be trans-At that point I began to smile, pointing to my tur- We picked five target markets,lated into a local language that both quoise t-shirt that displayed the Sortex logo. Her eyesfrom a crop and acre standpoint,farmers and regulatory officials will immediately lit up: Ah yes thats it, Sortex! I explainedand then went to work understand- understand. how nowadays just one small sorter (able to processing the regulatory constraints toMiscommunication is always one ton per hour) can handle the same capacity forregister ABM products in thosecostly but even more so when cul-which multiple sorters were needed back in the 60s.markets. Once we understood thetures, oceans, time zones and many Over the years our Sortex technology has beenregulatory requirements , we tookmiles separate you. Be sure to pick on a steady journey of evolution, becoming more andanother hard look and consideredthe members of your team with more innovative and streamlined.if the market opportunity lined upgreat care. Sortex began in May 1947, with two Hungarianwith the regulatory rules and time-brothers looking for ways to speed up the practice ofline we had set to meet our revenue handpicking seeds. They hired a small team of scien- goals on time and within budget. If tists, following the lead of Bhler apprentice Herbertit sounds like a lot of up front work, Fraenkel, later to be recognized as the father ofit was. But we believe it was critical optical sorting. A machine was eventually developedto our success.which would improve the quality of seeds for trade, theToday, the majority of our sales SORTEX G1, the first ever Sortex optical sorter.are in the United States and thats In the agricultural seed industry, domestic andbecause we have the luxury of international regulations are becoming stricter. Theoperating in one of the most robust challenge is to consistently remove specific hard toagricultural markets in the world. detect foreign seeds and weeds to ensure food safety.But international sales have the Our Sortex aim is to find out the specific pain pointsopportunity to become one of the of our customers so that we can best help them andfastest growing segments of our through collaboration, provide tailor made solutions forbusiness. their specific requirements. We pride ourselves on our long-term commitment to nurturing and upholding our customer relationships.As I said goodbye to the lady, I sat back in my car and began to think. Few brands are able to bring aBRAD CUSTISsmile to peoples faces after 40 years, Sortex is trulySALES DIRECTOR, ABM one of a kind. bradcustis@abm1st.com abm1st.com26/ SEEDWORLD.COMOCTOBER 2020'