The sugarcane industry plays a crucial role in the agricultural and manufacturing sectors. However, its efficiency is highly dependent on the timely transportation of harvested sugarcane from farms to sugar mills. Sugarcane is a perishable crop, and its sugar content starts declining immediately after harvest. Any delay in transportation directly impacts sugar recovery rates, overall factory efficiency, and profitability.
Challenges
Our client, a leading sugar mill, faced significant logistical challenges in ensuring a steady supply of sugarcane to their factory. These challenges included:
- Factory Congestion: An excessive number of vehicles waiting at the factory to unload, leading to delays and sugar content degradation.
- Low Sugarcane Inflow: If supply falls below the factory’s processing capacity, operations become inefficient.
- Prolonged Harvest-to-Supply Time: Drivers often deviated from their routes, leading to delays and loss of sugar content in the harvested sugarcane.
Solution
To address these inefficiencies, SIMHA Smart Fleet devices were installed in the client’s entire fleet of tractors and trucks. This solution was tailored to enhance sugarcane logistics, ensuring timely transportation and improving overall factory performance.
- Sugarcane Harvest Detection: Using a patented area calculation algorithm, the system detects when harvesting is complete and records the time taken.
- Time-to-Factory Monitoring: The system calculates the time difference between harvesting and delivery. If the delay exceeds 24 hours, production managers receive alerts to mitigate potential sugar loss.
- Route Deviation Detection: If a vehicle strays from its designated route, the system notifies the factory manager for corrective action.
- Real-time Notifications: SMS and email alerts are sent to drivers with accurate location data, ensuring timely and coordinated deliveries.
Key Benefits
After implementing SIMHA Smart Fleet, our client observed significant improvements in operational efficiency and factory output:
- Optimal Sugarcane Inflow: Real-time tracking of harvest timing and vehicle location enabled better planning to maintain a steady supply of sugarcane to the factory.
- Improved Factory Throughput: Timely sugarcane deliveries minimized sugar degradation, leading to increased production efficiency.
- Reduced Idle Time for Vehicles: With optimized scheduling and notifications, vehicles spent less time waiting at the factory, enhancing overall logistics efficiency.
Conclusion
The implementation of SIMHA Smart Fleet transformed the client’s sugarcane transportation logistics, ensuring a steady supply chain, minimizing losses, and maximizing factory efficiency. This case study demonstrates how telematics-driven solutions can revolutionize the agricultural supply chain, delivering tangible benefits to both farmers and processing units.
