Do You Need Automated Grain Handling Equipment?

Many industries have been changed by automation. From driving a car to shopping at the grocery store, automated equipment is now a part of everyday life.

Does automation have a place in the farming industry? Automated grain handling equipment can make a big difference in the way a farm operates.

Even if you have a small or medium sized farm, don’t discount the benefits of automated grain handling equipment. A little bit of technology can go a long way toward keeping your operation running smoothly.

Let’s take a look at the benefits of automation in grain handling operations.

Why Use Automated Grain Handling Equipment?

1. Keep more accurate records

Accurate data is crucial in business – any business. You might still be manually entering data and information for your farming business.

However, small user errors can add up to a loss of accuracy over time. Maybe a number gets typed wrong, a detail gets missed, or an extra zero is added where it shouldn’t be. These small errors can seriously throw off your business.

If you use automated grain handling equipment, you can save some of this manual entry work.

Maybe you get a repeat grain delivery. Now, you can set your equipment to automatically enter the same data every time a delivery happens.

This also means you aren’t calculating the numbers manually, which is another time when user error can creep in. Handwriting can be hard to decipher, and weight calculations can be inaccurate.

To keep things more efficient, avoid mistakes and penalties, and automatically enter data when it’s needed, let automation do its job.

Automated data entry can help you track grain coming into and leaving your facility.

This also means you can keep track of grain characteristics that the customer needs for identity preservation purposes. Blend grain with more accuracy. This way, each bushel has the maximum margin opportunity.

2. Make your customers happy

Automation means your customers will get their needs met more quickly and efficiently.

Settlement checks and payments can be made as soon as a delivery is using automation. Make business more convenient for your customers by avoiding long waiting lines at the scale for haulers.

Human error is natural. Still, it can lead to annoyed customers who may not want to return. Automation in recording information minimizes error, so scale tickets will always be accurate.

With RFID technology, you can print the scale tickets inside and outside at the same instant that haulers are identified. This means more convenience for your customers. Haulers won’t even have to leave their trucks.

Placing account information online also means your customers can review it whenever and wherever is convenient for them.

Happy customers means repeat customers who will keep doing business with you. Why not give them the convenience they want with automated grain handling equipment?

3. Improve communication across your business

Not just your customers, but also your employees and coworkers, will be happy with the streamlined accuracy that automation provides.

Over the radio, static and noise can make communication difficult, resulting in more misunderstandings.

Handwriting can be read incorrectly. Not only do these communication problems add to frustrations across the business, but they can also lead to errors that could have been prevented.

Use automation to easily clear things up by sending information is a way that is easy to interpret. Anytime data is needed – whether it’s at the pit, the scale, or somewhere else – you’ll ensure that the information is correct and not misunderstood.

This keeps operations running seamlessly and makes the job easier for everybody.

4. Make difficult tasks easier

Jobs that were once labor-intensive no longer need to be thanks to automation.

It doesn’t save money to keep your employees tied up in labor-heavy tasks. Not only will it decrease worker satisfaction. It will also ultimately hurt your bottom line.

When personnel are not needed for basic labor that can easily be automated, they can turn their attention to the work that increases revenue for your business.

Automation can also function when no personnel areavailable. When operations are unattended, set up automated functions that can keep some processes moving forward.

Things that take up employee time, like repetitive data entry and answering simple customer inquiries, should be automated. The automation will pay for itself over time. This way, personnel can focus on the tasks where they’re needed.

Try setting up an automated phone recording to answer common questions from customers about their accounts. Make basic data entry an automatic function instead of keeping employees typing all day.

This will save money in the long term. It will also ensure your workers are happy and want to stay.

5. Process faster and more efficiently 

Many things can slow processing down when you don’t use automated grain handling equipment. When scale traffic stops moving, your bottom line suffers.

It’s all about processing trucks more quickly in the scale line. Maybe heavy traffic means the planned route needs to be changed.

Customers will be upset, operations slow down, and you lose money in the process.

Automation allows the vehicles to be processed faster and more effectively. Use automation to keep things moving.

6. Make more accurate decisions

With automated data collection, managers can get a more accurate picture of how things are operating and make decisions accordingly.

Automation makes it easy to calculate things like the average time for unloading a truck and other factors in your grain facility’s operations.

With this knowledge, it’s easy to know how to streamline operations, where changes need to be made, and what’s working well. From maintenance to customer satisfaction, this allows all areas of your business to be improved.

Conclusion

Automation has positively affected many industries, and the grain industry is no exception.

If you haven’t started using automation in your business, the time to start is now. You’ll save money, keep customers and personnel happier, and make the job easier for everyone involved.

Automation allows you to run your business at its best. Don’t miss out on the benefits of automated grain handling equipment for your operation.