Companies are under constant pressure to operate more efficiently and safely while modernizing their production and delivering improved products to their customers. Feed companies must adapt to real-time varying conditions to cope with these tremendous changes. Only a comprehensive set of specialized software tools integrated into a robust solution can handle these challenges: from traditional, least cost-driven processes to a fully digital and adaptive way of managing real-time feed production.
AFOS CEO
Professor, Applied Software Engineering, University of Novi Sad
Great efforts are being invested all over the world towards environmental protection; hence, the digital transformation of the food and feed sectors is putting our society to the test. Nowadays, the feed sector faces various challenges – new types of protein sources, price volatility, biodiversity sensitivity, and change in policies. Moreover, there are new sustainability requirements, increasing end users’ expectations, and the evolving revenue models.
Companies are under constant pressure to operate more efficiently and safely while modernizing their production and delivering improved products to their customers. Feed companies must adapt to real-time varying conditions to cope with these tremendous changes. Only a comprehensive set of specialized software tools integrated into a robust solution can handle these challenges: from traditional, least cost-driven processes to a fully digital and adaptive way of managing real-time feed production. Feed/food companies of the future require a complete understanding of the actual and future state that would enable them to respond to known and unexpected events safely and efficiently. These capabilities are now offered through next-gen Feed Formulation Software.
We can define three benefits provided by this technology: initial benefits provided by the legacy software, advanced benefits provided by the current next-gen formulation software, and the future benefits that the integration of high-end technologies will provide into the Feed Formulation Software.
FEED FORMULATION SOFTWARE’S INITIAL BENEFITS
Legacy Feed Formulation Software provides essential benefits for feed companies. Those are mathematically optimal least-cost calculation, raw material management, nutrient management, quick and convenient formulation, straightforward analysis of price change, and others. On the other hand, those legacy software solutions have cons. Systems were usually hard to use and complex to maintain, requiring highly skilled IT staff. The high complexity usually requires high initial and annual costs due to maintenance.
To understand the high price of the legacy software, we must define the term “total cost of ownership.” The Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for enterprise software is the sum of all direct and indirect costs incurred by that software, making it a critical part of the ROI calculation. However, it is often ignored or woefully underestimated. The following costs define TCO:
• License
• Server hardware cost to run the application and users’ hardware cost to run client applications
• Software maintenance
• 3rd party software (Windows Server, Windows Domain, SQL database, security, and more)
• Workforce cost to run the environment
• Upgrade cost
This is the old licensing model. Users require a clean and straightforward TCO model with no hidden costs.
AFOS provides such a model with a simple licensing structure – customers can pay a monthly, annual, or 5-year license; support, maintenance, training, consultation, updates, and upgrades are all included in the price.
NEXT-GEN FEED FORMULATION SOFTWARE’S BENEFITS
No software/no hardware – no worries, is the motto of new-age cloud-based software. Therefore, it is usually provided as software-as-a-service with a monthly or yearly subscription. The software provider is responsible for hardware & software delivery and maintenance. Everything is run on the cloud, and all data is stored in the cloud. A user only has client software running in the web browser without any need for installation or maintenance.
An example of new-age formulation software is AFOS. We have collected our 10-year experience from legacy AFOS standalone application, both in the software and domain worlds, and created this new formulation software using all the latest technologies and best practices.
The benefits provided by this type of software are as follows:
• Fully integrated web-based feed formulation available on any device and location.
With AFOS, one can formulate from a desktop computer, laptop, tablet, or mobile phone, using Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Linux, and Unix operating systems, from any device connected to the Internet.
• Collaborative platform with a multi-user environment and advanced roles & responsibilities capabilities (“who-can-do-and-see-what”).
The Advanced Admin application allows formulation companies to define which user can connect to the system, what execution can be run, and which data can be seen.
• Highly secure end-to-end solution aligned with software in the cloud standards.
Cybersecurity is the absolute focus today. We respect this profoundly by integrating all the necessary security mechanisms and modules to create bullet-proof software. By default, data is stored in the Microsoft Datacenter, probably one of the most secure places on Earth, providing resiliency on data theft, disasters, and delete-by-mistake problems. For companies that require additional layers of security, we provide possibilities to install AFOS on their private clouds, private data centers, or we can create a completely isolated Azure environment.
• Comprehensive, efficient, and proven optimization engine.
Math is the core of formulation software, and we include all our technical knowledge to develop a state-of-the-art optimization engine. Currently, we are working on very advanced optimization technologies like Genetic Algorithms and Particle Swarm Optimization to respect non-linearities in the optimization problem.
• Single, consistent, and intuitive user interface.
AFOS requires less training due to our User Experience-built user interface. The data and the buttons are exactly where you expect them to be. Besides that, document User Guides are obsolete, and we create how-to-video for training.
• Configurable and intelligent reporting.
With AFOS, one can create very advanced reports tailored to their business requirements.
• Full historian and audit support.
A user cannot lose data. Everything is stored in a secure database and regularly backed up, making data loss practically impossible. Moreover, AFOS saves all events in the “who did what” database so one can easily track who made the change and when it was made.
• Modular architecture with custom integrations.
We allow “off the shelf” integration with your custom company software.
• Continuous updates and efficient support.
We are proud of our maintenance team. We respond to issues and questions within 24 hours, and our support team works 365 days a year to fix any potential problems.
FUTURE FEED FORMULATION SOFTWARE BENEFITS
Companies of the future will take the technology-first approach. With the rise of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Big Data, these technologies are rapidly changing the face of the industry, business, science, and everyday life. The world is changing fast, and the significant driver of that change is artificial intelligence and machine learning.
The future of feed formulation is – “Tesla autopilot.” Imagine such intelligence that learns your company policies, formulation practices, legislation, tracks raw materials, nutrients, animal models, etc. Then, after a few weeks of automated training, you can say, “Hey, AFOS, create a pet formula that is high on protein, medium on fat, and without grains. Please use a lot of that duck meat; we have a good price and a deadline to use it. After creating it, pick up new prices from the stock, optimize, and compare it with other formulas. If the price is below our limit, email me the recipe; I will be drinking coffee on the seaside.” Or “Hey, AFOS, do the raw material price forecast due to supply chain crunch and analyze the impact. Send me the report; I will be drinking tea on the riverbank.” New technologies will bring everyday benefits to our business practice, allowing us to spend more time on crucial tasks rather than manual, repetitive ones.
But the real benefits of AI and ML will come from pattern recognition, forecasting, and correlation analysis. Feed formulation software of the future will be able to correlate feed recipes with animal health and progress in a way that no human being could.
