Adecoagro Advances On Its Digital Transformation With Motorola Solutions

New digital communication system increases security at plants, safety in remote areas and reduces the number of accidents and cargo losses.

With over 6,500 employees just in Brazil and three industrial units with a joint annual grinding capacity of approximately 14.2 million tons of sugar cane, Adecoagro (NYSE: AGRO), is one of the largest producers of food and renewable energy in South America. The company will rely on the new digital radio communications system from Motorola Solutions to drive the digital transformation of its operations at its facilities in Mato Grosso do Sul.

Adecoagro unified the digital communication systems between the sugarcane trucks and the Agricultural Operations Center (COA) with the objective, among others, of obtaining greater control of the speed of the vehicles, ensuring more safety and efficiency in the transportation of cargos.

The company's Agricultural Operations Center, responsible for identifying bottlenecks that could compromise productivity and resource optimization, was facing complex challenges related to monitoring its fleets and controlling the speed of equipment with the GPRS signal, which did not cover the company's 100 km coverage radius, an area larger than the whole of Belgium.

A detailed coverage study and extensive research on communications needs, showed the need for a new digital radio communications system and management software as one integrated solution.

“The new solution helps our Operations Center to directly be in contact with drivers, thereby increasing our safety levels, avoiding time loss and route errors by redirecting to alternative routes in case of unforeseen events, such as blocking items on a road,” said Marcus Vinicius Silva Migliorança, COA and Geotechnology Supervisor at Adecoagro.

The Supervisor said the number of accidents or loss of load was reduced after the system was implemented. The trucks run more than nine million kilometers a year, the equivalent of twelve round trips to the moon, and the system allows constant monitoring of the most dangerous sections of the road, increasing the safety level of drivers.

The solution supports fleet management applications, speed control of vehicles, integration of voice and data recording solutions, GPS-location tracking and management reports, among others.

Motorola Solutions also provides radios for around 900 users allowing for greater control of vehicle movement, and more safety and efficiency in cargo transportation. Besides that, reports generated through real-time monitoring, help analyze the quality of work, such as the use of virtual fences to monitor the time a person or vehicle spends in a given location. The reports also provide information on speeding, helping to raise awareness and prevent accidents.

Operating on a private DMR digital two-way radio network, the system runs 24x7x365, reducing the possibilities of being affected by unplanned downtime to a minimum. This is because it differs from GPRS or satellite systems, which have shaded areas (without signal coverage) or are affected by adverse weather conditions.

“Safety has always been our top priority. We are very pleased to be working with Adecoagro and our partner, Grupo Ferrante, to reduce the risks of operating in remote areas, providing effective communication where it is hard for other systems to reach,” said Luis Rocha, channel sales director at Motorola Solutions. “Our system streamlines operations and provides managers with the visibility they need to reduce costs and improve production,” he added.

In the future, Adecoagro's partnership with Motorola Solutions aims to expand the project in the Mato Grosso do Sul cluster for the other equipment used in the operation, such as sowing and soil treatment and preparation, as well as the Monte Alegre (MG) plant expansion, the use of other agricultural business applications and the integration of sensors.