A major grain cooperative uses Connecting Food to automate and digitize processes
A key driver of the organization’s digital transformation strategy is changing expectations from the market. Consumers want to buy healthy products from businesses that are acting as good stewards of the environment.
Industrial customers were adding more and more technical requirements. They wanted more details about the quality, the production processes, and the farmers to ensure the expectations of end customers are respected.
Paper-based processes
The increasing volume and complexity of information meant the existing paper-based processes had created a major bottleneck. Processes needed to be digitized to save time, to be more agile, and to better communicate about the product.
The changing expectations from consumers and industrial customers are a key driver of our digital transformation. We have to provide more transparency. And we have to collect, track, and trace everything from the grain to the farmers to how we transform the product.”
REGIS LE THIEC | CIO, AXÉRÉAL
Buy vs. build
The path to a pilot
When I try something innovative with a partner, I feel more confident when I believe the person understands my business. Conversations between Connecting Food and our project stakeholders were precise and credible.”
REGIS LE THIEC | CIO, AXÉRÉAL
Transparency in action
The implementation of LiveAudit served to demonstrate the viability of the system, to test and learn what transparency can deliver, and to win the support of the executive committee. As a result, Le Thiec saw an increase in productivity, an increase in producing more spec-based products, and an ability to deliver more value. In 2018, their product was almost purely a commodity: less than 5% of their grain volume fulfilled specifications defined by customers. By 2023, 25-30% of their portfolio will fulfill product specifications, delivering more value and commanding a higher price.
Transparency has enabled the organization to demonstrate exactly how a product meets a client’s expectations. “We’re now able to offer evidence to customers of how we meet their expectations,” says Le Thiec. And transparency itself is becoming an expectation. It’s a new standard for business development. “Connecting Food is a key tool for communicating, tracking, and comparing specs to the practices performed by the farmers,” says Le Thiec. “We are able to keep track of their practices.”
Even though Axéréal’s suppliers don’t directly use the Connecting Food platform, the data can be captured, normalized, and tracked for end-to-end traceability using connections to existing IT systems. “Connecting Food is a tool for agribusinesses seeking to be more transparent,” says Le Thiec. “The Connecting Food platform goes beyond blockchain, beyond technology. The transparency gained helps the entire organization focus on its core business objectives.”
Plus, Axéréal gains credibility by sharing its data on an independent system that’s trusted to host and digitally verify the authenticity of digital twins from many different sources. “It’s our data, but it’s not stored only in our own system, so it’s accessible and credible to our customers,” says Le Thiec.
Axéréal will continue to generate more value for farmers adhering to the demands of the market, and set new standards for transparency, traceability, and compliance.
