Reduction of Input Loss and Standardization of Spraying Through the Implementation of a Feeder

Reduction of Input Loss and Standardization of Spraying Through the Implementation of a Feeder - Success Case Simonetti Citrus

The history of the Simonetti Citrus farms began more than 70 years ago in the city of Limeira, SP, when a man named Antônio Simonetti, a trainer and trader of orange seedlings, also started to plant them, as did his brothers. Over the years, the planted areas began to expand and pass on to future generations. Divided between the cities of Limeira/SP and Minduri/MG, today they total 2,000 hectares of planted areas. Currently, the family's heir, Carlos Simonetti, is responsible for prospecting new areas for planting and investments in infrastructure and his three children: Daniele and Fabiana, both agronomists, and Antônio Carlos Simonetti – president of the Brazilian Association of Table Citrus (ABCM) and also the company's commercial manager – they take care of administration and investments in increasing productivity.

Challenge:

The Simonetti Citrus company stands out in the citrus market for the excellence and quality of the fruits planted in its orchards and for complying with the high quality standards required by customers and the fulfillment of orders within the established deadlines. Due to the intense monitoring of pests and the need for constant application of agricultural inputs to ensure fruit standards, they demand an organized, planned and standardized spraying structure. This activity is carried out by tractors coupled to a tank and a sprayer. Depending on the age and size of the orchard on a given farm, 2,000 liter or 4,000 liter tanks are used.

In a scenario where agricultural input prices are on the rise due to logistical, economic and energy problems in countries with which Brazil has a strong import dependency, such as China, India and Russia, having control over their losses is essential importance.

In this sense, the opportunity to reduce losses and reduce waste observed by Avilla Consulting could be presented as a need to standardize the dosage of inputs to ensure greater control and management of stocks.

Spraying begins with the definition of the spraying recipe, established by the responsible agronomist, and is then passed on to tractor drivers. After several observations, it was possible to verify that the accuracy of the dosage of the inputs varied significantly between one tractor operator and another, which can lead to significant losses due to the high cost of these inputs, or that they are dosed less than stipulated and compromise pest control and the pattern of fruits of the company.

In order to quantify the losses and the feasibility of a new contract, the following steps were taken:

Calculation of the average cost of agricultural inputs per liter;
Calculation of the average volume of inputs applied per tank;
Calculation of the average number of pumps sprayed per day;
Calculation of the average cost of sprayed pump;
Survey of roles, assignments and responsibilities of the new employee to be hired

Solution:

The analysis model implemented by Avilla Consulting, with the objective of reducing losses due to inaccurate dosage of inputs in the spray tanks when carried out by the tractor driver, was based on the demonstration of lost values when exceeding 50ml of inputs, only 1.25% of the total metered in one pump, for each tractor driver.

To start this data survey, it was possible to obtain spreadsheets generated by the ERP system adopted by the company, bringing information such as: entries of products in stock, value of inputs, weight or volume per package, in addition to reports on the number of sprayed tanks. With this, it was possible to obtain the average cost of each pump sprayed, averaging all prices paid for each input used.

On average, each spray pump is dosed with 6 different products, considering only those that are liquid. Furthermore, through the average number of pumps sprayed throughout the year, there is an average volume of 4 liters for a 4,000 L tank, that is, 0.1% of the water volume.

Finally, it was possible to calculate the average cost per liter of each input and obtain the average cost of each spray pump.

As shown in the image above, just on the main farm there are 14 spray tanks available every day. Projecting a volume of 50 ml dosed in excess, which corresponds to only 1.25% more than the stipulated value, it is possible to note that in a single day there may be a loss of 3 liters and 150 ml of inputs.

Projecting this loss every six months and annually, we have:

For each pump sprayed, an average of 4.0 L of inputs is spent (considering only liquid inputs). Thus, the annual loss is 1,134 liters of inputs, which corresponds to the volume needed to supply 284 pumps, or 1 tractor driver spraying 4.5 tanks/day for 21 days.

Considering a tractor driver who works 8 hours a day, Monday to Friday and part time on Saturdays, the savings obtained after hiring the metering worker is equivalent to the costs of keeping a tractor driver working for 1,593 hours, or 9 months.

It was possible to notice an annual savings of 44% in costs when compared to losses due to overdosing, even with a new hire. Considering the growth and expansion plans, mainly due to the growth of orchards that are not yet productive, the company deals with a vision of investment and structuring for the future. The figures presented are noteworthy due to this medium and long-term vision. Currently, there are no sprays every day of the year, but with the plans to grow the business, they saw it as an opportunity to reduce deviations and standardize this very critical activity in the citrus production process.

Thus, the need to assign to only one person the responsibility for weighing and dosing all inputs became visible and make it available to tractor drivers, who will just fill the tank with water and dump the inputs already dosed and separated. Thus, they would reduce dosage variations by tractor drivers, whether due to carelessness, haste, glare due to the sun, etc.

To analyze the feasibility of hiring, it was first necessary to identify what the position would be and raise its costs with remuneration, taxes, vacations and 13th salary to then compare with the losses shown.

In addition, in contact with the Human Resources team, the position of Agrochemical Products Application Service Assistant was identified, listed in the Brazilian Classification of Occupations (CBO).

Taking into account the remuneration, charges, 13th salary and vacation due, it was possible to see that even with the hiring of this new employee, it would still be economically viable considering the high impact that the lack of standardization of dosages entails. In addition, there are several attributions to which the employee could be subject, attributing to him diverse activities on the farm on days when spraying is not taking place.

After 1 year, it would be possible to notice a cost reduction of approximately 44%, even with expenses with an extra employee. This person would be responsible for carrying out all the dosages, transporting them to the spouts, in addition to being able to spray, paint fences, fertilize plants, carry out pruning, among several other functions.

Results:

Simonetti Citrus is carrying out surveys and interviews to hire the employee responsible for the dosages. After proving the losses in imprecise dosages, the need to control the quality of sprayings through compliance with agronomic recipes became clear.

With the company's accelerated growth and the development of new orchards, it became clear that the lack of control with one of the items with the highest cost added to the product tends to increase losses and lack of control in the quality of the final product. With an annual loss of 1.6x the total costs of a metering employee, the hiring proves to be beneficial due to the number of assignments to the employee, the standardization of spraying and inventory control, since this professional will be solely responsible for handling (give inputs or outputs) of the inputs in stock, facilitating the counting and control by the company's administration.

Avilla Consulting | EN