To construct and maintain an organizational network in times of digital transformation and industry 4.0 is a quite complex, although necessary, task. Technological innovations, mainly those applied to the organizational field, have allowed stronger and more dynamic interactions among value chains. These connections have provided new opportunities to reduce barriers and leverage business.
To the degree that new technologies are inserted in the market, new space opens for remodeling businesses, whether through the introduction of new products and processes or through renewed partnerships and strategies.
These innovations add to and transform how companies and institutions conduct business, operate, affect society, and leave their mark on the environment.
Society will become increasingly connected in networks, creating social transformations from highly complex interactions between machines, the internet of things (IoT) and human beings.
In this fully connected society, the EGO concept – in which organizations are focused on themselves and directly on their stakeholders – is exchanged for an ECO concept, which focuses on the ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship and the search for an associated social evolution. This concept understands that governance should have actions based on a collective conscience. This allows the ecosystem to become fluid and aligned.
This post will help you better understand the role of the 4.0 organization for the implementation of advanced manufacturing in agribusiness and the possibilities that traceability in the beef cattle sector can bring to the sector.
Advanced Manufacturing for Agribusiness
To reach the level of total integration proposed by industry 4.0, a corresponding organization is needed that is ubiquitous, synergic – and energic – in all sectors. As a first impulse of this transformation, the Advanced Manufacturing Network for Agribusiness (RAMA) was developed.
More than a simple agglomerate of entities, RAMA strives to be an organization that provides incentives, and which works as a link between administrators and teams from different fields and sectors, guaranteeing the synergy needed to align actors and their identities, steering efforts and groups.
Created with the support of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI), and the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) and coordinated by the CERTI Foundation, the RAMA project was born with the mission to promote increased competitiveness and cost reductions on the beef cattle chain through collaborative actions based on digital transformation.
This involves acting in an integrated manner on the chain, to be able to express the perceptions of value of each member of the ecosystem. This allows focused action by companies, consumers and government, considering the demands of all working with the concept of ecosystem.
This environment of interaction brings direct opportunities for the strengthening of the business channels, making viable projects with multiple sources of financing, stimulating the sharing of actions and experiences between companies, governments, and institutions.
Digital transformation to integrate the chain
To meet the project’s objectives, however, the tools and models of digital transformation must support gains in productivity; the creation of data bases of opinions; traceability; connections among agents; statistical analyses for basing regulations and decisions; and other actions.
In this sense, the technologies that allow advanced manufacturing perform an important role as integrators of the agents of the chain – this is the main objective. After all, when we speak of industry 4.0, we are speaking of integration of value chains, considering the technologies that allow this to be possible.
It is necessary to integrate the chain, creating a concept of systemic competitiveness and national impact. In addition to the technological innovations, the development of new business models must be sought, and the integration of the production chain and approximation of consumers with each of its links.
It is with this purpose that RAMA proposes to deliver a business model and plan, as well as negotiations and perspectives to advance in other sectors of Brazilian agribusiness, seeking a sharing of understandings and solutions.
Traceability in the beef cattle chain
The traceability of data on the beef cattle chain allows the generation of value and provides benefits for all its links: production, processing, distribution, sales, and consumption.
The technologies that make possible industry 4.0 provide greater security to each step of the process and each one of the links. Innovations such as intelligent sensors, the internet of things, geolocalization, Big Data, cloud computing and artificial intelligence allow greater integration, generating sustainability of connection in the network and greater value in all the phases.
Applied to the field, these technologies provide benefits to all the links. Farmers gain concrete data that allow making better decisions and estimate demand; processors (meat packers), can monitor physical information and data about the quality of animals; the other links can evaluate data about products at any one of the points of the chain, verifying if everything conforms to the law and quality declarations.
It is important to note that this flow of information also takes the reverse path, that is, the integration and the possibility for consumers to interact with other links of the chain, allowing the first links to better know the habits of consumers and the needs of clients, and to identify trends.
For these reasons, the collection and maintenance of data is translated into value for the entire beef cattle chain. For the final client, it means counting on precise information about products, such as the conditions in which they were produced, stored, and transported, for example. And this is essential for consumers who are increasingly demanding and focused on environmental issues, animal well-being and regulations.
At the other end, the other links of the beef cattle chain can, through this greater interaction with consumers, analyze demand, determine the most appreciated characteristics and develop new ways to aggregate value to the product.