Lean management and agtech
The very timely discussion about the use of technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Brazilian agriculture and livestock has been bearing fruit. There is a lot of talk, for example, about the ability of new technologies to exponentially increase productivity on farms.
However, those who work in this sector with a more pragmatic eye have already noticed that an essential “fertilizer” has been missing from this crop: to truly bear fruit, technology needs to be grounded in better management. Generally speaking, however, we have seen that the ground is not always prepared to receive certain innovations and extract their full potential.
Disadvantages of technology without lean
A source of pride around the world, our agribusiness is one of the pillars of the national economy. It accounts for almost 25% of GDP, more than 20% of jobs and about 47% of exports. Therefore, a warning is necessary. There are a number of problems that can be amplified by adopting technology in the field without first improving management.
When the decision is made to apply a new technology without in-depth analysis, there is a strong risk of improving a process that has basic operational gaps or that should not even exist. This aggravates existing problems and can create new difficulties.
Lean thinking directs us, before thinking about the technological solution, to carefully analyze and improve processes and the organization of work, and only then consider adopting it, if necessary, in the right dose. This is a basic premise of lean management in any area, including agribusiness.
We can, for example, use advanced technology to reapply a crop protection product with extreme precision. Since it is a reapplication, however, this means that the process carried out the first time did not achieve the proper quality. This is a sign that the first application needs to improve in order to avoid rework. This is just one of the possible examples in which technology is optimizing a process step that, by its very nature, should not even exist.
Another important aspect is the cost-benefit relationship of new technologies. They can represent a high investment for certain producers, compromising and locking up budgets while generating isolated and dubious results. Management must therefore be able to rigorously evaluate the impacts of technology investment decisions and their implications for day-to-day operations in the field.
Another risk is adopting tools that are too advanced, often inaccessible to workers, who come to depend on skills they have never had in order to carry out their activities or access certain information. In addition to creating extra difficulties in getting the work done, the technology ends up essentially underused.
Take, for example, modern tractors and farm machinery, whose cockpits are equipped with digital touchscreen panels offering a range of features. It is not uncommon to find operators who do not fully master these features and end up, in practice, using only the most analog functions of the equipment, underutilizing the investment and generating even more waste.
Cutting-edge technologies need to be supplied with inputs, maintenance, parts and various other elements. When there is no good balance between operations, a fantastic piece of equipment may be left idle for lack of these basic elements. This is the case of planting fronts with state-of-the-art machinery that cannot advance for lack of prepared, harrowed land, or of planters packed with sensors that also cannot operate because they have to wait for the treated seeds to reach the field plot where the operation itself takes place.
Another challenge to overcome is the capacity to analyze data for decision-making. We have seen technologies that generate an endless volume of data collected in the field, but that is never turned into useful information for management. Many machines have on-board computers that take real-time measurements of efficiency, speed, etc. However, very little of this data undergoes rational (and timely) analysis by management.
What we see fairly often is data being used as a source of justifications for problems that have already happened. In these cases, it is usually too late, because the problems have already had consequences that are difficult to correct. Having the data, therefore, is not enough to be efficient. Teams and managers need to be prepared to analyze it correctly and take the appropriate actions and decisions.
Advantages of technology with lean management
On the other hand, if the transformation and improvement of management serve as a solid foundation for implementing new technologies, the advantages can be immense and lasting.
At the strategy level, lean management can give the business greater clarity of purpose, so that efforts are focused and prioritized following the “true north.” From there, the focus should be on translating and deploying this purpose to different levels, connecting teams and directing them toward the success of the whole. In this way, the technology implemented will naturally be conceived within these foundations, facilitating the integration needed to execute the strategies. One thing will be connected to the other in a much more organic way.
Moreover, the essence of lean is the daily, continuous pursuit of improvement in all processes, every day, by everyone. As a result, it becomes almost inevitable that new technologies will be conceived and implemented to boost this journey, preferably in the pursuit of generating more value for the customer. Or to help workers, at different levels and in different functions, to reveal problems, identify causes and implement solutions.
For example, apps that compile data and perform calculations, sparing workers from having to do them, such as calculating the coefficient of variation of seeds. Without the app, the operator has to write down all the data and then do the math. In addition to avoiding possible errors, the activity takes less time and allows the data to be saved automatically. There are also mobile resources to capture and structure improvement suggestions, guide audits, distribute tasks and activities, record purchase requests, among others.
We must not forget that there is a critical interface between technology and people, since it ultimately depends on a command from an individual. If this “start” is wrong or inaccurate, the rest will tend to be problematic. If the operator lacks knowledge and good information, their decisions can generate mistaken commands for the entire operation, making the activity performed incorrect, inaccurate or unnecessary.
In this context, it is essential to understand that, for lean management, there is no “formula” for using technology. The basic recommendation is to discover, define and pursue relevant purposes. In practice, producers need to know precisely and deeply the problems they must solve first, before thinking about technology. That is because agribusiness is an area with unique realities, challenges, potential and limitations, especially due to climate and biological variables.
It is clear that technology has arrived in full force and is here to stay, especially in the field. However, although it is already showing interesting results, from a lean perspective much more can still be done, and done better. Throughout the history of organizations, in virtually every sector, technological leaps bring good things, but also a lot of noise and new problems when there is no clear understanding of how to absorb them in specific contexts. The field has been no different.
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