Stara: Bringing IoT to Agribusiness with SAP HANA Cloud Platform and SAP ERP Central Component

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1 Stara: Bringing IoT to Agribusiness with SAP HANA Cloud Platform and SAP ERP Central Component Stara S/A Indústria de Implementos Agrícolas, active on five continents, is one of the largest Brazilian manufacturers of agricultural machinery. After equipping its tractors with sensors, it developed a solution with SAP Labs that hooks these sensors up to SAP HANA Cloud Platform and SAP ERP Central Component to monitor vital farming processes in real time.

2 Company Stara S/A Indústria de Implementos Agrícolas Headquarters Não-Me-Toque, Brazil Industry Industrial machinery and components Products and Services Manufacture and sale of agricultural machinery BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION Objectives Integrate agricultural machinery sensors with SAP HANA Cloud Platform Transfer data about planting, soil preparation, fertilizing, soil correction, spraying, and harvesting in real time Integrate data with the farm management software to enable real-time analysis Developed a telemetry solution in partnership with SAP Labs Enabled farmers to monitor critical farming processes Gave farmers metrics to make decisions in real time about businesscritical processes 100% Reliability of the data sent to SAP ERP Central Component 100% Faster information retrieval for decision making Employees 2,500 Web Site Partner SAP Labs Benefits Real-time monitoring of vital farm processes Tracking of work targets as defined in the crop planning process Better management of farm and planted areas Read more When we launched our telemetry solution, our customers came to us saying they would like to have the data in their ERP software. We integrated the applications and presented a prototype. More Efficient control 2 / 6

3 Taking technical innovation to the fields One of the most remarkable characteristics of Stara is its strong technological vocation, which is evident from its portfolio of innovative products, which anticipate the needs of rural producers. Over recent years this assertive anticipatory approach has resulted in agricultural machinery that is equipped with sensors that help the company use telemetry to provide strong support for its customers. According to Stara s R&D director, Cristiano Paim Buss, over time the use of telemetry began to attract the attention of the company s customers. With the data being processed on Stara s SAP ERP Central Component, it was natural that interest would be stirred in customers who also use SAP software. After seeing the results of our telemetry, these customers approached us and told us they would like to have that kind of data in their own SAP software, recalls the executive. That s when the idea came to create a solution that would transform tractors, planters, distributors, and sprayers into collectors of field data, which would be sent in real time to rural producers. The technology was already available in the whole of the product line that uses Star s Topper 5500 onboard computer. What was needed was to integrate it all and create a prototype. After seeing the results of our telemetry, these customers approached us and told us they would like to have that kind of data in their own SAP software. 3 / 6

4 Partnering with SAP Labs for sure development of prototype In a partnership with SAP Labs, the engineering and IT team at Stara developed the first tractor capable of transforming field data into information relevant to the farmer. This prize-winning innovation was recognized at an event sponsored by SAP in In practice, the partnership with SAP Labs proved the concept that farm field activities can be monitored in real time in any place by harnessing SAP HANA software. By transmitting the telemetry data by sensor to SAP HANA Cloud Platform, the solution enables users to monitor each of the activities in real time using a simple interface. They can also review the tasks planned for each part of the planted area in real time. Information like the total planned cost per task and the status of what has actually been done allows users to make more accurate decisions with regard to planting activities and crop development, explains Buss. This monitoring ensures the best allocation of resources and the best results. Since the data is on the SAP HANA platform, it can be shared with SAP ERP Central Component or any other SAP solution, he points out. With the combination of Stara telemetry and SAP technology, users have greater control over their operations as well as their impact on the results and which resources are being used effectively. This helps avoid waste. In the medium to long term there will be a command center on farms from where they will control the machinery in real time, Buss predicts. Since the data is on the SAP HANA platform, it can be shared with SAP ERP Central Component or any other SAP solution. 4 / 6

5 Bringing IoT to the countryside for real-time results The solution developed by Stara and SAP takes the concept of the Internet of Things (IoT) to the countryside from which 22% of the Brazilian GDP comes with practical benefits. According to Buss, the solution allows farmers to monitor in real time data such as the amount of seed planted and volume of fertilizer used. Farmers will have data telling them how fast processes are carried out and what areas have been planted, which helps avoid overlapping. They will know the exact performance of operators and their machines as well as performance per plot (area sown to crops). The data can give them better control of costs and purchases. As the farmer plants his crops, he synchronizes the bases and downloads his stocks online, explains Buss. The tractor sends information that triggers an automatic download in SAP ERP Central Component. As a result, the SAP software provides the oversight the farmer needs to exercise control. The solution monitors five core farming activities: planting, distribution, soil preparation, spraying, and harvesting. Some farms have fleets of over 100 machines and it s impossible to manage that on paper, Buss says. The function of the solution is to guarantee that the farmer can take full advantage of the precision agriculture technology already built into his machinery. This covers vital farming metrics like overlapping, operator performance indicators, machinery use percentage, and planting speed. Some farms have fleets of over 100 tractors and it s impossible to manage that with Microsoft Excel and little pieces of paper. This solution support precision agriculture. 5 / 6

6 Stara Prospecting customers With the prototype developed, Stara has been working hard with SAP to find Stara customers who use SAP software. They will be targeted as the first users of a Web site that Stara and SAP plan to develop to put this kind of control directly into the hands of customers. Our idea is to present the case to them to get their opinion. Everything we ve run so far was proof of concept, Buss reveals. We re preparing two real cases. This will be very fast, because the technology is ready. Next year we should get a complete crop cycle in with these producers (16/05) 6 / 6

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