BRF’s Digital Journey Takes Full Automation from The Field to The Factories

BRF has taken another important step in its journey in Industry 4.0. The unit in Lucas do Rio Verde (MT) now has a 100% digitally connected environment with all operations monitored in real time via smartphone, from the field to the production lines. Digitization ranges from technical interactions between BRF and its members, to the monitoring of the process on the production lines, ending with the shipment of products in the company’s fleet. This initiative aims to reduce losses and various wastes in the production chain. 

“Avançamos em direção à Indústria 4.0, com a implementação de tecnologias na fábrica, logística e digitalização das granjas para contato com os integrados no manejo das aves e suínos. Aprendemos, na prática, que incrementar eficiência nas fábricas depende de uma visão em tempo real de todo o processo produtivo para correção imediata de qualquer necessidade. Os benefícios decorrentes dessa iniciativa são o aumento da eficiência fabril e a redução dos custos operacionais. Como parte da estratégia de transformação digital, a BRF disponibilizou essa inovação para todos os produtores integrados e teve aderência de 81%”, reforça o VP de Operações e Suprimentos, Vinícius Barbosa.

Digitization at the Lucas do Rio Verde unit, in Mato Grosso, was foreseen in the strategic plan that began two years ago, placing the Company in the leading position through the use of intelligent machines, advanced computational analysis and collaborative work to unite operational efficiency and quality. of the products. From then on, the digital transformation already in the context of the company, gained an additional ingredient to advance in the universe of Industry 4.0.

In the previous year, the Company was a pilot project in remote digital audit with regulatory bodies in China, when the Lucas do Rio Verde plant was submitted to housing for export. BRF’s slaughterhouse obtained the plant’s license from the eastern market, in a process that lasted two days, through the use of monitoring cameras and real-time information transmission system. As a result, BRF’s digital transformation also seeks solutions to optimize various areas, such as logistics, commercial, agricultural, human resources, among others.

Transformation at the right temperature

The progress in this transformation came in other units, which already use software and iCloud technologies to control, for example, the process of cooling the chickens in the units. BRF also promotes digital transformation, through applications that help, for example, measure the cooking time of products. 

In addition to Lucas do Rio Verde, one of the largest units in Latin America, the company has other pilot projects for industry 4.0 at the Marau (RS) and Buriti Alegre (GO) units. The company also works with projects under development, such as the use of Advanced Analytics for the management of statistical analysis, through the data generated from the development of the Logistics 4.0 Project with tools: chatbot, machine learning and artificial intelligence.

“All of these technologies with a direct impact on BRF’s results, allowing production and supply to operate in an increasingly effective and intelligent way, bring cost competitiveness to the production chain”, points out Antonio Cesco, Information Technology Director at BRF .

Digital traceability in the field

Called as a logbook and fulfilled in full, BRF units have their routines in the palm of your hand. Through the Agro BRF app (available for Android and iOS systems), each rural producer can monitor the day-to-day work, such as the monitoring of accommodation and animals (chickens and pigs), stock of feed, payments and conversations ( chat format) with partners, among other functions. 

The Company’s Commodities team is also implementing several state-of-the-art technologies, highlighting the commercial app for grains, which integrates the field and corporate commercial teams, assisting in monitoring the harvests and offers of these commodities and making the best acquisition decisions.

Safe and monitored fleet 

The intelligent use of data is one of the most important characteristics of Industry 4.0. One of these cases is reflected in the use of embedded technology, through telemetry and a fatigue sensor, to improve the safety of drivers, part of the Health and Safety Program. In 2019, as a result of these and other actions, BRF evolved in the Health and Safety indicators in transportation, with a 9% reduction in accidents, in addition to a 44% drop in loss losses (2019 x 2018). 

Smart tags

As another aspect of Industry 4.0, BRF adopted the international standardization of GS1 labels, to ensure more rigorous controls and technological advances in its processes. In implementation and scheduled to end in August 2021, this model allows the company to identify the product inside the box and ensure speed in traceability. It is about the search for productive efficiency, logistics and quality in the long and complex chain of the Company. The adoption of this standardization, even, resulted in the Automation Award 2019, from GS1 Brasil, in the Market Application category, with the case of food traceability.

About BRF

One of the largest food companies in the world, BRF is present in more than 130 countries and owns iconic brands such as Sadia, Perdigão and Qualy. Its purpose is to offer quality food that is increasingly tasty and practical, to people all over the world, through the sustainable management of a living, long and complex chain, which provides a better life for everyone, from the farm to the table. Guided by the fundamental commitments of safety, quality and integrity, the Company bases its strategy on a long-term vision and aims to generate value for its more than 95 thousand employees in the world, more than 300 thousand customers and approximately 10 thousand integrated in Brazil, all its shareholders and society.