MONSANTO WINS IBM BUSINESS REALITY CHALLENGE
Awarded 1 Million Baht Solution to enhance work performance and increase yields for allied farmers throughout the country
Bangkok 4 May 2010 – IBM Thailand Ltd. announced Monsanto Thailand Co., Ltd., an agricultural chemicals and seeds enterprise, the winner of the IBM Business Reality Challenge and awarded the company 1 Million Baht (equivalent to USD 30,000) worth of IBM products and solutions including hardware, software and consulting services to enhance work performance and increase yields for allied farmers all over the country.
Mr. Kittipong Asawapichayon, Country Manager, General Business, IBM Thailand Co., Ltd. said that the IBM Business Reality Challenge makeover contest last year aimed to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to explore ways to work smarter and build smarter businesses, in order to stay competitive and cost-efficient in these challenging times. Over 22 small and medium enterprises submitted proposals bearing implementation plans to improve business operations through IT.
Mr. Yuthapong Chaiyatham, IT Operation Manager, ASIA, Monsanto Thailand Co., Ltd. said “We are a producer of seed corn and agricultural products such as chemicals and fertilizers with 16 distribution sites around the country and the main manufacturing plant in Phitsanulok. Previously, our field operation used manual data collection to deliver seeds, fertilizers or chemicals to farmers. It used to take 7-10 days to return to centers and we had challenges in keeping information intact due to unreadable hand writing, lost data, depleted inventory, out of date stock information, leading to insufficient or excess seed stock and incorrect record of chemicals.
To overcome these challenges, we need a new system for our staff to be able to use computer, mobile equipment, and inventory management application to improve efficiency of the existing system that will benefit both our staff and farmers. Since we have limited IT budget, we decided to write a proposal to the ‘IBM Business Reality Challenge’ IT makeover program. The result is beyond expectation because now we can deliver the products with new channels and reduce a lot of documentation time.”
As the winning organization, Monsanto received from IBM, DB2 database software and tailor-made inventory tracking application “Smart Track” based on Java developed by IBM’s business partner, Thai Informatic Systems Co., Ltd. (TIS), with total value of 1 Million Baht. IBM has been reorganizing the IT system of Monsanto since the end of last year in collaboration with TIS to install solutions which took 4 months to complete.
“At the moment, most seed corn producers in Thailand are still using manual recording of seed distribution. We are the first in Thailand to use IT system from the beginning of the process, from the seed distribution to purchasing from farmers. With IBM solutions, our staff can use online system connecting 16 sites together. At the end of the day, we know instantly how much seeds and chemicals were dispensed, resulting to better efficiency of stock control, reducing cost of stocking and transport and less labor required to key-in data, less working procedure. All of these result in better yields for farmers in our network because they receive seeds and chemicals on schedule, leading to a good yield and more income which conform to our visions to improve farmer’s quality of life using less resources” Mr. Yuthapong said.
The panel of judges for the IBM Business Reality Challenge 2009 was composed of select committees from IBM Thailand and the Federation of Thai Industries. According to Mr. Kittipong, “The judges considered Monsanto as the winner because their proposal contained a clear articulation of their business challenges and a strategic roadmap to address these through the use of technology in a way that will add value to the organization, increase business efficiency and help farmers to gain good yield in long term”.
“The contest accords with IBM’s vision to assist small and medium enterprises to grow, as SMEs in Thailand constitute the biggest and fastest growing market for IBM. This program helps us to understand important business and technology problems of SMEs and integrate solutions that can help these organizations work in a smarter way and achieve business success. We will continue to focus our expertise and resources in supporting the growth of SMEs through programs tailor-fit to their business priorities”.
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About IBM Business Reality Challenge
The IBM Business Reality Challenge is IBM’s IT makeover contest held in 6 countries in the ASEAN region, awarding IT products and solutions worth 30,000 USD (1 Million Baht) to one winning organization per country.. For the contest in Thailand, the judge panel included the committee from IBM Thailand Ltd. and the Federation of Thai Industries. The objective of the program is to help the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) improve their work performance and solve relevant business operations problems to succeed in these challenging times. The eligible organization for the contest must have a number of employees between 100-999, a determination to use technology to increase work performance including protecting important information and business implementation, saving cost of operation and create a higher Return of Investment (ROI) in a short period.
For more information about IBM Business Reality Challenge, please visit
www.ibm.com/th/smarterbusiness/challenge.
For more information about IBM Thailand, please visit
www.facebook.com/IBMThailand.
About Monsanto Thailand
Monsanto is an agricultural producer that applies innovation and technology for farmer’s success around the world, by producing food with more nutrient values, quality animal foods with high fiber while reducing environmental impact for more than a century. Monsanto is the pioneer of environmental friendly agricultural products using high technology and accomplish worldwide renown as a leader of agricultural products and a complete solution provider for farmers.
Monsanto has established in Thailand since 1968 to operate agricultural chemicals and seed business in Thailand. The new age agricultural products widely accepted by farmers include agricultural chemicals for weed control and hybrid seed corn. The company has also developed and produced seed corn for animal feed and distributed in Thailand and many countries in Asia. The research center and seed production factory at Amphur Wangthong, Pitsanulok is the most advance factory in South-East Asia with the value of investment of 12.5 billion baht.
Currently Monsanto has 300 full time employees. Most are the experts in plant genetic and agricultural technology who are determined to collaborate with farmers to deliver new technology and solve problems for Thai farmers and emphasizing on new product development and agricultural techniques suitable to the local climate and Thai farmer’s need. The company has a commitment to further develop a sustainable business operation with Thai farmers.