"It has replaced a series of Excel sheets which were used until recently to monitor the tissue culture processes", says Nico Smit, IT manager of PanAmerican Seed, when talking about software provider ABS Seed.''The system is designed to do seed administration and you can see that the programmers understand our business"
ABS at PanAmerican Seed
In 2001, before Kieft Seeds was taken over by PanAmerican Seed, Kieft implemented ABS Seed, then named Agro Business System. Nico was already then involved in the implementation of ABS at Kieft.
In 2009 Kieft was incorporated in PanAmerican Seed group. The location in Venhuizen (NL) was maintained along with its activities: breeding, seed technology and production. Kiefts products started to be marketed worldwide through all the PanAmerican Seed distribution companies. With the integration of Kieft in PanAmerican Seed, ABS Seed is still maintained next to the main software SAP.
ABS Seed
ABS Seed still is the main system to support operations for seed production, inventory management, processing, quality testing and seed tuning in PanAmerican Seed. ABS is mainly used in PanAmerican Seed Holland and for two years now ABS is also used at sites in Guadalupe and Costa Rica.
''The system is designed to do seed administration and you can see that the programmers understand our business", says Nico, "It is easy to use and has lots of possibilities. Now we are hoping for the next step: a Web based ABS." We also asked Nico about his experience with the support of ABS. Nico states: "ABS has a very good functioning help desk with a good service level. Problems are mostly solved quickly, sometimes updates could come faster."
Tissue culture
"We are now working together with ABS on new functionalities to support our Tissue Culture lab. Materials in the chambers are administrated in ABS. The workflow for maintenance and production is done in ABS. ABS has replaced a series of Excel sheets which were used until recently to monitor the tissue culture processes. Today implementation is ongoing in Venhuizen. After the 'go-ahead' decision ABS will be supporting other tissue culture labs in PanAmerican Seeds group."
For more information:
Agro Business Solutions
www.agrosolutions.nl