Hexagons Agriculture division launches app to monitor production in real-time through cell phone

Florianópolis, Brazil

Hexagon's Agriculture division launched an app that allows you to monitor all processes carried out in the field directly from your cell phone. The HxGN AgrOn Control Room | Mobile arose from a demand from managers and directors of agricultural companies, who needed more agility to monitor operations and solve any problems that might arise. The app has functions such as personalised notifications, which allow the manager to configure the receipt of notices when, for example, an incident occurs in the field.

According to Alexandre Alencar, Director of Research and Development at Hexagon's Agriculture division, the app is a module of the HxGN AgrOn Control Room, a software for real-time monitoring of everything that happens in the field. It is used by agricultural companies in a dedicated physical space and with workstations where data and information are received for remote control of field activities. “Operators work in shifts and, as they are alerted by the system, they can take action to solve problems such as delays, broken machines or low throughput. In addition, these professionals also report some more analytical issues to their superiors, such as the assessment of the pace of production and the status of compliance with daily targets”, he explains.

The demand for the mobile app arose precisely at this other end. Directors and managers often cannot keep up with operations constantly, as they are involved in other tasks throughout the day. However, they need to be on top of everything that is most important. “This professional profile doesn't have time to stop and open a notebook, log in... They need agility, mobile technology that they can take with them wherever they go, and that is easy to use”, points out Alexandre. “If someone calls him with a question, he can quickly trigger the app and make decisions with greater precision.” The idea is that managers will be able to act in the process, not just receiving information through messages or calls, or even having to physically go to the control room to solve a problem personally.

In the same line of delivering more agility to the day-to-day work, the app also provides summaries, graphs and summarised information so that the professional does not need to check machine by machine. “Production takes place 24 hours a day. The manager can be at home, for example, and eventually consult and monitor an area with a critical problem, even though he is away from his workplace. Mobility comes in the sense of facilitating access to the product, since the cell phone today is practically an extension of our body, as we take it everywhere and do everything with it”.

Expansion of active management in the field
Specific warnings and alarms can be configured in the central module of the control room to send notifications to certain users. The leader of a cutting front can be informed, for example, if one of his harvesters breaks down. “We can configure which notifications should be sent to the manager of each process. This way, he will only be notified when something happens related to his activities”, explains Alexandre. For example, if a harvester is stopped longer than the expected time to complete certain maintenance, the harvest manager on that front will be informed and, thus, can direct some specific action to resolve that situation. “He acts actively in the process, with the ability to anticipate and minimise problems”.

In the future, the company plans to expand the number of offers in the mobility area, a sector driven by increased connectivity and communication capacity in rural areas. The public will be able to check out the app, as well as other technologies from Hexagon's Agriculture division during Agrishow 2023, a fair that takes place in early May in Ribeirão Preto/SP.