The Agrarian Forum of Russia is an annual event organized by the business publication Vedomosti, which brings together representatives of the authorities and leaders of the agricultural industry: producers, suppliers, heads of departments, top managers of the largest agricultural holdings.
One of the key topics for discussion at the forum was the accelerated development of innovation and the digital outline of the agricultural industry. Vasily Chernyshov, Chief Operating Officer of JSC PROGRESS, shared the company's experience and effective practices regarding the digitalization of production. The plant of the company PROGRESS in Lipetsk is currently one of the largest baby food production facilities in Europe and produces more than 250 products under the FrutoNanny brand. The plant uses advanced technology and also implements automated solutions for production process control and resource planning.
Today, the company is progressively moving towards full digitalization. Vasily described how automatic process control systems (APCS) and the transition to a centralized ERP system (enterprise resource planning system) enabled the integration and control of several business processes and the implementation of end-to-end planning. In addition, the automated monitoring systems that JSC PROGRESS has already implemented enable the company to analyze the efficiency of its production lines, evaluate the logistics load and handling of goods and assortments, and even keep a record of energy consumption.
"We are at the threshold of the next industrial revolution, where information is one of the key resources. This is why it is particularly important for companies today to build their own digital infrastructure, accumulate new expertise and have the ability to process data quickly. Modern technology allows us to save resources, synchronize efforts and forecast expected costs in advance. Thanks to the automation of production and internal work processes, and the use of «smart» digital algorithms, we process more than 30,000 orders every day," says Vasily Chernyshov, COO at JSC PROGRESS.