*The modern system not only manages data, but also analyzes it and generates productive alerts. Along with this, it has made it possible to standardize reports, unify criteria and ensure data accuracy.

*Today, the Production, Feeding, Costs, Planning and Health areas are part of the platform, and work is already underway to incorporate the Freshwater module.

Blumar Salmon farming centers are experiencing a new stage marked by innovation and technological development, which has led them to streamline their processes through automation in data generation and analysis. All of this thanks to software designed by the company’s own team.

This is BluFarming, a modern farming management platform, pioneering in the industry, created by Blumar Salmon professionals in conjunction with a software development company. “They helped us transform productive algorithms into an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), but the work experience, knowledge and tools necessary to build the software were ours,” emphasizes Gerardo Ayarte, Head of Feeding Area at Blumar Salmon.

The project began development in March 2018, being implemented as a pilot in a couple of farming centers in early 2019, which by mid-year were already in full operation. “Learning to use it presented no difficulty, as it is a user-friendly tool, an intuitive and easy-to-use system that was created as a ‘custom-made suit,’ adapted to our way of looking at each process and production,” states Carlos Rodríguez, Head of Information Technology (IT) Area at Blumar Salmon.

BluFarming Advantages

Claudia Jofré, IT Sub-manager at Blumar, relates that before BluFarming, each center manager had to gather information, fill out spreadsheets and prepare a report that was sent to the Manager of Production and Operations, who in turn had to collect data from 16 centers, consolidate it and generate new reports to send to Management. “It was an enormous, cumbersome and far too slow effort. Additionally, the information was always outdated due to the time it took to gather and analyze the data,” she explains.

Now, in contrast, the man-hours spent on preparing multifactorial spreadsheets were minimized, while reports with production data that different areas must generate, as well as analysis of that information, are obtained with just one “click.”

The use of BluFarming also achieved standardization of reports, and unified formulas and criteria, as well as ensuring data accuracy and preventing its duplication. “In 2019 we already saw the fruits of having a centralized system that made it easy to obtain productive results, center yields, evaluations and even alerts of any altered parameter, information that could also be reviewed from anywhere,” reports Claudia Jofré, adding that another point to highlight is data security, which is no longer on a server or equipment, but is hosted on the SAP cloud with all security measures to provide confidentiality, availability and integrity of information to processes.

A Living Platform

Upon verifying the multiple advantages offered by BluFarming, the decision was made to integrate other areas. Thus, today, in addition to the Production area of farming centers, the Feeding, Costs, Planning and Health areas are part of this platform, and work is already underway to incorporate the Freshwater area.

The system also interacts with entities such as Sernapesca or the Environmental Superintendent Authority, and has integrations at different levels. “We integrate with the SAP platform, providing BluFarming with the entire matrix to analyze costs, and with environmental variable measurement equipment, we read them directly from the sensors, integrating this data into the production models (implemented in the system) and through algorithms determine how much the fish are growing and their projection, for example,” explain the executives.

Thus, after two years of successful operation, this farming platform is expected to continue expanding its functionalities, one that not only manages data but also analyzes it and generates productive alerts. “The areas that are not within BluFarming are also requesting to incorporate their data, which shows that it is already being seen as a single information platform,” states Carlos Rodríguez.

Claudia Jofré adds that BluFarming is the best example of digital transformation, “because it transformed our way of working, enabled synergies and the integration of information led to changes in decision-making processes, which are now more accurate, faster and very traceable.”

Gerardo Ayarte concludes: “As we visualize the information in different structures, new developments and improvements occur to us. It is a virtuous circle that doesn’t stop. That’s why we say BluFarming is software that is alive.”