Agro-industrial intelligence
Pentágono
In 2016/2017, our intelligence system called Pentágono presented significant results through monitoring agricultural variables in real-time. In the 2017/2018 harvest, we will include monitoring of the industrial variables.
This way, the system will assume two fronts: one in the field and one in the industry. The idea is to ensure operational excellence throughout the entire sugarcane production chain: from preparing the soil for planting to the end product in the production units.
Through constant, real-time monitoring of the agricultural-industrial operations, a better performance was observed in production processes, quality, and safety. The idea is to allow for a continuous and efficient cycle without interferences.
It is important to be agile with the control and monitoring of essential variables in the field and in the industry, but it is the transformation of this data into strategic assessments that assertive decision-making becomes possible.
The results of all this control are noticeable. Planning, optimization, and integration in the field and in the industry have increased productivity of harvesting equipment and of the fleet involved in logistics, as well as the use of the installed capacity at production units given the better flow of sugarcane.
Truck waiting time in front of the production units was reduced from four hours to only one hour. Agricultural equipment also became more productive. Harvesters increased their productivity by 15%, reaching 776 tons per day. The average yield of planters went from 7.5 ha to 9.8 ha per machine per day, an increase of 31%. This allowed for an increase of 12% in the aggregate planted area in April/May 2017, compared with the same period in 2016 - approximately an additional 2,300 hectares.
These are some examples that demonstrate that the road to achieve operational excellence is based on a strategic and global vision of all variables involving the business, including the technical analyses capable of driving industrial capacity and ensuring agility of immediate actions.
Adjustment to the market
In the 2016/2017 harvest, we operated in a favorable scenario for the importing of fuels. We expanded our foreign trade operation from 1 to 10 ports throughout Brazil in comparison with the previous harvest. In order to supply dealers and clients, we needed a process to constantly adapt as a result of the new Petrobras price policy and positioning.
Control Tower
As a result of the increase in import operations, our fleet grew by 20%, which represented 500 additional trucks. To ensure optimization of inbound logistics operations and further advance our work towards greater efficiency, resulting from the Bolt Project, we invested in the improvement in receiving points, technology and professional training.
Control Tower, a center that monitors our fleet was also instrumental in identifying alternatives to the highway mode, such as pipelines, where we made progress in line with logistics diversification and reduction in costs and emissions.
Diversification strategy
We maintained our investments in the integration and diversification of logistics modes. In 2017, we completed the construction of the pipeline connecting the terminal in Paulínia to the pipeline structure of Logum - the company responsible for the development of the pipeline systems for ethanol.
This operation will expand our distribution capacity to more locations. It will also increase safety and reduce emissions of Greenhouse Gases (GHG), since 50 less trucks will be required per month for long hauls.
Our intent is to prioritize and develop alternatives to highway transportation, aiming at greater safety and reduction of costs and GHG emissions.
First in Brazil
We developed the first biofuel loading bay using the Bottom Loading system, which reduces the loading time by half, since it allows for four compartments to receive product at the same time - loading 2,500 liters per minute. Another advantage is the significant gain in safety by eliminating working at heights, as required by the traditional methodology.7
The technology was inaugurated at the ethanol terminal in Barra Bonita (SP), and has already been installed at the terminals of Araucária (PR), Ribeirão Preto (SP) and Paulínia (SP).
Tank cars
Starting as a pilot project at the Paulínia Terminal in SP in the previous harvest, the project advanced in 2016/2017 with the installation of metal arms for unloading tank-cars.
Among the benefits, the initiative reduces the unloading operation time of tank cars by 10.5%.
Efficiency and safety
In May 2016, we inaugurated the tank truck sorting center in Cubatão (SP). Capable of handling 120 vehicles per day, the center aims to contribute with the distribution and marketing of ethanol from our 24 production units, receive imported products and ensure the safety of drivers and contracted vehicles that travel on the Anchieta and Imigrantes highways.
The sorting center also has a logistics cell to monitor port terminals, which ensures the excellence of our operations and enabled the growth in the volume handled at the Port of Santos.
Having cafeterias, dressing room and lodging facilities for overnight stay of drivers operating the port terminals, the initiative avoids parking vehicles on the streets surrounding the facilities and reduces eventual traffic problems in the region.
Technology in the fields
Throughout the harvest, we intensified the use of technologies that aim to preserve cultivated areas and increase productivity in the sugar fields. One example is the Autopilot on board tractors and combine harvesters, which provide precision to these machines in the fields, consequently minimizing overrunning plants.
Images of the areas to be planted are made using unmanned aerial vehicles (drones). The information is used to simulate different scenarios, which allows for the identification of better alternatives in order to obtain optimal operational yield, use of area and conservation of soil.
After the planting phase, drones are also used as a tool to assess areas with failure in sprouting, where replanting can be done. This gives managers a satisfactory production potential for crops.