Robot manufacturer Harvest Automation Inc. and SBI Software, a provider of ERP systems to the nursery and greenhouse industry, have formed a partnership to connect Harvest Knowledge robot data systems with the SBI Grower ERP package.
In 2013, Harvest Automation introduced the HV-100 plant-moving robots. The robots are designed to perform a wide variety of the most demanding and critical plant handling tasks such as spacing, consolidation, and collection. The robots require minimal training to operate, while reducing production costs and improving productivity. They are flexible to deploy in a wide range of bed and plant configurations on all common ground surfaces. The robots provide consistent spacing accuracy no matter how long the day is, without breaks, allowing growers to get quality work done whenever they need it.
In 2014 Harvest Automation will launch Harvest Knowledge, a cloud-based data collection system which will allow robots to link the work that is being performed to the fields and plants that they are working with and to report this information back to growers and production planners to provide a comprehensive view of the work robots have completed.
SBI Software's comprehensive ERP system is designed specifically for the horticulture Industry extending critical point of task functionalities from their robust back office program to your desktops, phones and tablets with their "Any Device Application Suite." This year, SBI will work with Harvest Automation to help automatically drive reported inventory and production tasks from the robots to SBI. This process will allow growers and production planners to reduce human errors and time spent manually adjusting inventory in the field and their inventory management software.
This collaboration will create a connection between Harvest Knowledge and SBI Grower. By linking these two systems nursery and greenhouse growers and production managers will have an unprecedented ability to plan work on their operation, getting the right work done, on-time, reducing re-work, eliminating waste, and increasing profit margins.