ABS NEWS SEPTEMBER 2021
Where to meet ABS this fall?
- September 28-30 Seed Meets Technology, Zwaagdijk, NL
- October 18-20 Euro Seeds Congress, Prague, Czech Republic
ABS Breeding: the start and development of a new software at de Ruiter Innovations
De Ruiter Innovations is breeding cut and pot roses. Nowadays spray roses, patio and landscape roses, cut and pot hypericum, hip roses, anigozathos and hydrangeas are in their portfolio. They have own branches in the Netherlands, Kenya, Ecuador, China and Colombia.
Hans de Ruiter is breeder and application manager of ABS Breeding at de Ruiter Innovations. He processes data from breeding programs, test fields and measurements (worldwide). Together with Ad van Rooijen, head of R&D, Hans manages the use of ABS at de Ruiter. Hans is more active on the input side and Ad more on the output side (reports). Another colleague, Silvia, takes care of the input of Plant Breeding Rights, Trademarks and Sales in ABS Breeding. We asked Hans about the first development of ABS Breeding:
“When I started working at de Ruiter in 1986, I started digitizing the breeding programs in the Lotus Symphony program. (MS DOS). All data was still on paper. I started with the programs from 1980. I made a database (spreadsheet) of the parents and put the programs with results in a spreadsheet.
Then Windows 95 came with the office package including Access and we switched to Microsoft office. After Ad van Rooijen joined us at de Ruiter, we started to put the data in Access and we were able to create more databases, images and forms. Excel was used for processing. More and more time was spent renewing and updating the database until at a certain point we spent too much time on programming instead of breeding. Another colleague who worked with us in IT came up with the idea to program our database in a web-based environment. He found a programmer. This was Roy Rosken. Together they called the new program Seedbase.”
Let us introduce you to the founder of ABS Breeding Roy Rosken. Here is Roy’s story: 
“In 2008 a former colleague who was working on IT contacted me about his customer de Ruiter. They were sending Excel files back and forth to Africa on CDs to have the data available for the whole company. They needed a smarter way of working in 1 database. And then the idea of a web-based plant breeding database was born.” Roy says.
“The first version of ABS Breeding (or Seedbase as it was called back then) was developed in a small office in the middle of the breeding greenhouses of de Ruiter in Hazerswoude-Dorp.
I sat right across Hans de Ruiter with my Laptop, so I could program ABS Breeding and directly show him the progress, and he could help me with questions about breeding, and tell me how he would like to work with the program.”
From the start it was the intention to sell the program to other companies as well.
The main challenges were:
- To have it working correctly for different customers.
- Switching to the Finder/Viewer.
- Working with user specific pre-sets so that each user can have their own view of the data, but still working in the same database.
The main development goal of ABS Breeding is flexibility, so that the customer can access his data everywhere, and exactly how he wants to see it. In 2013 the Seedbase software was sold to ABS and later it was renamed to ABS Breeding.
In ABS Breeding a lot of important changes were made in due time, like flexible properties, the mobile barcode scanning functionality, the offline app and user permissions plus.
When asking Roy about the future he sees for himself and the software, he answered: “Very positive, we have a lot of interesting ideas and functionalities coming. And some interesting new customers to provide us with new challenges and ideas.”
We asked Hans what problems he experiences in the use of ABS Breeding: “You always want to do everything exactly as you think you would do for your product; this entails customization. In principle, a lot is possible with ABS. Problems are solved by the ABS Service desk and custom-made SQL programs in ABS Breeding.”
For the future Hans sees an expansion of additional modules, such as barcode scanning and the royalty module.
ABS Seed: On-line Training Changes After Upgrade
ABS Seed is constantly being developed; every 9 weeks a new Version is being introduced. Wouldn’t it be interesting to have an overview of what’s new? Or, you are working for years now with ABS Seed and you are wondering if you use all the options the software brings to you? Do you want to grow in your efficient use of ABS? Maybe you need a general overview of all processes that can be supported by ABS Seed?
Please check our Training information on our website: ABS training
The following dates have been set:
- Changes After Upgrade in ABS Seed: Thursday October 7, 2021 at 7.a.m.
If you want to upgrade or have upgraded your ABS version to a newer version you can book this training. In this training, you will be informed about new features of all the latest versions.
- Overview training: To be planned
The training for next week is still open for attendees!
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 Production: Web based software for seed production companies
Based on our decades of knowledge about the seed industry, we developed a new software solution for small and mid-sized seed production companies.
With this solution seed production companies can plan and keep track of their seed productions. Monitoring of contracts, fields and seed lots, including trial fields, are goals of the software. And of course, informing the customer on the progress of the contracted seed productions is included. Every variety, op’s as well as hybrids, field crops or greenhouse productions can be managed. Once harvested, the quality and quantity of the produced seeds is clearly registered per seed lot.
The software is web based and you do not need any server in your company, simply login through a browser like: yourowncompany.absproduction.com.
The ABS Production software has been developed based on our flexible ABS Breeding program and we added the functionality you need as a seed production company. Further we removed the breeding specific features. The software can be made very simple for the user, by limiting what each user can see and do. He/she only sees what he needs to perform his/her tasks.
The software comes with flexible reporting possibilities and with an off-line App to enter your field inspections using a tablet or phone.
If you want to know more, please visit us at Seed Meets Technology and subscribe for our lecture each morning at 9am.
More info on: Seeds meets technology
ABS Seed: new functionalities
Surface grower settlements
The way to create grower settlements in ABS Seed has been improved. This functionality is available from ABS version 12.10. Look into the release notes of this version for more information.
Average process loss
From version 12.20 it is possible to calculate the process loss of every process in a routing. You can calculate the needed input in the first process in order to get the right output at the end.
Samples to grower
From version 12.30 the process to ship samples to a grower, for example for grow-out tests, can be automated in ABS.
Handling units
From version 12.20 and further we will add a third level in inventory, which 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
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