ABS NEWS MARCH 2022
Where to meet ABS this coming period?
- South Africa – week 16 and 17 *
- May 16-18 – ISF, Barcelona, SP
* For an on-site meeting, please contact: ile@agrosolutions.nl
ABS: Uhuru Flowers Kenya
It has been 14 years since Ivan Freeman started his rose Farm Uhuru Flowers. The word “Uhuru” is Swahili for freedom! The Uhuru Flowers farm is located in the direction of Mount Kenya which is ideal for roses: cold nights, an altitude of 2600 meters and both nights and days are 12 hours long. The farm is 175 acres with 20 hectares of greenhouses and Ivan has over 300 staff. Besides the production of roses, they also produce wheat and Uhuru Flowers has started a very interesting project of making rose oil from the flowers of rosa damascena for perfumes and rose water for cosmetics.
Uhuru Flowers is producing for the wholesale market. The products are sold in the Netherlands, Eastern Europe, Asia, Australia and the Middle East. Servicing the wholesale market means you can produce a lot of different high-quality varieties. Today Uhuru Flowers produces around 85 varieties. In one of the greenhouses, they test a lot of varieties from the different rose breeders around the world to investigate if this new variety is growing like they want, produces enough flowers etc. Also, one of ABS other clients, Meilland International, is hiring a plot to test their varieties as well.
In the last 12 years Uhuru Flowers is using the ABS Software to manage all its production, packaging and warehouse processes. The software is also essential to register all their direct sales and make a shipment planning. In the way the production and inventory is managed Uhuru Flowers receives accurate information on the expected stock per variety during the next weeks.
According to Ivan: “With ABS Software all processes are easily registered and managed. You can prioritize your orders and have a good insight in your stock. Before ABS we worked with Excel and that only causes troubles and errors…”
Uhuru Flowers is a highly sustainable farm. They use only very little chemicals, they collect water for irrigation, they are not using any plastic foils anymore and they compost their rose waste.
Ivan’s strategy for the future is to become even more sustainable as Uhuru Flowers is today maintaining a clear focus on innovations and continuous strive for the highest quality standards.
ABS Seed: Link your “help documents” in ABS
With the new versions of ABS Seed, a new, quick and easy way for your daily support on ABS can be started. When in ABS session and the user presses F1, the user will get a pop-up window in which a direct link is shown that will take you directly to the ABS Service Desk for support.
In addition to the above ABS Service Desk link, you can also select a link to the designated folder on your local network, where you can store your own information on ABS functionality. You can use this functionality to link your own workflows, documents, internal training tools or ABS manuals per menu item. This will be a great support for your own ABS users.
In the example below you see documents connected to the sales menu
On- and off-line Apps development: ABS Seed
On- and off-line technology is constantly improving and therefore also ABS is looking for options to improve its ABS apps. Also workflows of our customers are changing and these need to be supported as well. What have we done during the last months to improve our ABS Apps?
1. Production app (off-line)
We have recently finished the Production App version 1.20. This version includes a new function which makes it more convenient for the user to restore the session of the user from one device to another or during the upgrades of App. It now also keeps the link to the pictures intact, while we now store the pictures outside the App folder.
2. Quality app (off-line)
Recently the Quality App version 1.15 has been released. This version allows the users to browse/download the determination assignments based on a selection header. It also provides the functionality to print the labels directly from the App via ABS Print Connect.
3. Inventory, Processing and Expedition apps (on-line)
These Apps support workflows in your warehouse. Using mobile devices various information can be viewed and renewed in ABS. Currently we have 4 Apps: Receiving, Movement, Processing and Expedition. The following developments are included in the newest version, 1.5.0.
In the apps we can now handle so called “handling units”. This makes it possible to register a bag in a box on a pallet. All these “packings” have their unique numbers. When moving the pallet, all items on the pallet will also move. When scanning the handling unit with the expedition app, all items on the handling unit will be picked and packed. In the expedition app it is now also possible to see and print the delivery info. With the processing app, it is possible to scan the output directly on a handling unit. Also completing pallet by pallet is possible. Especially in the expedition and movement app adjustments have been made.
The apps now support Android 12.0
If you want to know more, please check the information on the website via this link: Brochure on APPS
ABS Seed: Handling units
From version 12.50 and further we have further developed a third level in inventory. This means that you can ship pallets, boxes on pallets and small bags in boxes as well. This way of working will also be supported by our Inventory and Processing Apps. In 12.60 more functionality around the handling units will be released.
On-line ABS training 2022
For 2022 we have already set the first dates:
– ABS Seed Overview Training • to be planned
– Tips & Tricks ABS Seed • June 14, 2022 at 7 p.m.
– Upgrade training ABS Seed • April 5, 2022 at 7 a.m.
Please check our Training information on our website: agrosolutions.nl/training/
If you would like to join a training session or you would like to have more information, please email Dorien van Engelenburg at: dve@agrosolutions.nl
We are looking forward to meeting you at an online ABS training.
ABS Breeding: New development
For years we strive to make ABS Breeding more flexible. More flexibility means that the respective users can create their own views and widgets and make it possible to fill these with their own unique data elements. Usually we explain these options to you with the term “flexible properties”.
In the past it was difficult to make these flexible elements visible in the Finder. Only the elements that were fixed and set by ABS could be displayed in the Finder.
Today we have made the view of the Finder receptable also for the flexible property for the types: date, integer, numeric and text. Therefor you can now directly show these values in the Finder. In case you need further information on this feature, please contact our Service Desk.
ABS Breeding/Trial/Production
ABS Breeding
Are you looking for a software to register and manage all your crossings and varieties? Please click here
ABS Trial
If you need to trial a lot of new and interesting varieties? Please click here
ABS Production
Are you lost in managing all your (seed) production contracts? Please click here
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