Lam Son Sugar Joint Stock Company applies Technology 4.0

Lam Son Sugarcane Joint Stock Company has flexibly applied the Enterprise Resource Planning System and Internet of things to increase sugarcane yield from 45 tons/ha to 70 tons/ha.

3 problems

Lasuco owns a material area of over 15,000 hectares with an annual sugarcane output of 1.3 million tons, high-quality refined sugar production ranging from 110,000 to 125,000 tons. Revenue in 2016 was over VND 2,500 billion.

However, this business is still facing three difficult problems. According Lasuco, the planting and harvesting season of sugar cane is from November to April next year. By the time of harvest, the plant will operate aggressively to produce more than 10,000 tons of sugar per day. According to calculations, each time to start the entire system of machines, the factory consumes an amount of about 4 billion dong.

With large amounts for such inputs, the output of sugarcane requires mandatory correspondence. However, some possible situations may happen and lead to lack of input, effecting the output capacity such as: lack of transporting vehicles; The vehicles are available but the quality of sugarcane is not as required; The quality of sugarcane is fine but the area for growing raw materials has not been fully exploited, etc.

In short, businesses are facing three problems, which are management of arable land area, management of farming processes and product transportation.

According to Mr. Le Van Tam, as long as these three problems are not solved, enterprises will face loss, which is estimated about several tens to several hundred billion VND.

Measurement

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is not too strange for Vietnamese businesses. However, when applying this system to an agribusiness, another factor must be counted. With Lausco, it is ERP solution on the GIS Map (Geographical Information System).

This allows businesses to know exactly where the land plots are located, their area and nature. Combining algorithms, employees just need to hold the phone and go through the land, the system will automatically record data.

Besides, Lasuco has applied Internet of Things (IoT) technology in integrating sensor systems in key material areas about 500 ha.

The AI system helps to analyze the optimal farming process, responds to the weather change of each farming area which is monitored and alerted to the technical department by IoT. All this information is coordinated on the screen in real time, the manager sits in one place and coordinates the whole from actual information and forecasting.

Next, the stage of harvesting and transportation also uses high technology to coordinate vehicles on the map in real time. Seeing each vehicle moving help avoid congestion, wrong route or slow time. Each vehicle, in essence, has been installed with electronic chips to track the route, update the license plate, the number of contracts, etc. All of the above technological solutions has helped Lasuco do well in the crop, predict the output next year, planning, and most importantly, reducing production costs.

According to Mr. Le Van Tam, the application of high technology in sugarcane cultivation helps increase productivity from 45 tons/ha to 70 tons/ha, especially some models reach 120-130 tons/ha.

Returning to Lasuco’s way of doing business, the representative of this business concluded that in order to apply new technology to enterprises, the bosses need to know which problem they are trying to solve, if it is urgent for the business or not. When you know the problem you need to solve, you must understand what the core solution is. For example, ERP system is very good but it will not be effective if not combined with GIS system.

Productivity and Quality Office