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UISA, one of the largest producers of biofuels in Brazil, is investing in artificial intelligence technology, the Internet of Things (IoT), new management software, and private networks to improve production efficiency and reduce operational costs in agribusiness and other optimizations in its service portfolio. The company, formerly known as Usinas Itamarati, still carries a significant debt inherited from its previous owners.
In February, UISA completed a project with the U.S. storage solutions provider Pure Storage, which implemented the FlashStack converged infrastructure, developed in partnership with Cisco, and contracted Pure’s Evergreen Storage subscription model for its operations.
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By bringing the storage equipment “in-house,” the biofuel producer reduced costs related to hosting contracts. This transformation resulted in an annual savings of about R$ 1.5 million (US$ 296,000), according to Pure Storage.
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The contract values with the American company, however, were not disclosed.
The use of converged infrastructure is also expected to serve as a foundation for UISA’s projects in the sustainable segment, including irrigation and clean energy for municipal networks.
“Our goal is to change the way agribusiness is done in Brazil through technology, innovation, and people,” said CTO Rodrigo Gonçalves in a statement.
By using intelligent algorithms to process the large amounts of field data, UISA can also increase efficiency and optimize harvest productivity, which in the case of sugarcane grew by 30%, to 25,660 t/d.
Investments in ERP and Collaboration
On another front, UISA migrated its SAP management system to the S/4HANA platform. Previously, the group used the less powerful ECC version.
UISA also adopted Google’s G Suite to organize all internal and external communication, from emails to meetings. The implementation includes protection against data leakage.
Both projects were coordinated by the French IT consulting firm Atos.
“The partnership between Atos and UISA opens a range of opportunities for the development of solutions and projects. In the short term, the companies are not ruling out expanding their digital transformation initiatives,” Atos stated in a communication this month.
Private Network Technology
To ensure that the technology, especially sensors and applications in the field, works smoothly, UISA hired Telefônica Brasil to deploy a private 4G network in 88,000 hectares of Fazenda Guanabara.
The contract includes the activation of narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) and long-term evolution technologies for machines (LTE-M) to support IoT applications.
The telecommunications operator will also be responsible for the physical infrastructure associated with the IoT project, including the construction of towers, electronic equipment for mobile service provision, and 300 IoT devices.
Restructuring and Repositioning in the Biofuels Sector
These investments in technology occur within the context of restructuring the biofuel producer, which came under the control of the private equity fund CVCIB Holdings in 2019 and changed its name to UISA.
Recently, UISA reported a pro forma net profit for the first six months of the 2020/21 harvest of R$ 203 million, three times more than the previous harvest, while consolidated debt stood at R$ 3.4 billion.
Net revenue in the second quarter was R$ 246 million, an increase of 3.9%. However, net revenue for the first half fell 6.7% year-over-year, to R$ 420 million.
UISA operates on an area of 90,000 hectares, of which 34,200 hectares are planted with sugarcane. Its digital transformation began about a year and a half ago.
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