The latest digital supply chain strategy centered on reinforcing the agricultural business in the rural areas of Japan leverages a new supply chain platform that harnesses the power of SAP BTP and PSI’s DMC solution.
Tokyo-headquartered PSI Co., Ltd., a provider of sales and technical support for cutting-edge information security-related products, and SAP Japan have embarked on a collaborative partnership to help revitalize the country’s local agricultural farming. (InsideSAP Asia often references articles from websites in other languages to bring you as much information as possible.) The two companies have developed a supply chain platform that harnesses the power of SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP), dubbed as the technological foundation for all SAP applications and the Intelligent Enterprise, and PSI’s Digital Material Controller (DMC) solution, a certified IoT Edge Device for SAP BTP.
The strategic partnership between SAP Japan and PSI is focused on advancing the digital transformation of Japan’s agriculture industry with an emphasis on supporting small-scale dispersed farms and orchards in the rural region. The solution that integrates SAP BTP and DMC intends to streamline the supply chain management of Japanese enterprises such as miso and sake breweries in provincial areas.
Advancing Agri Industry’s Digital Supply Chain Strategy
SAP has been at the forefront of agribusiness innovation creating intelligent solutions to support sustainable food supply chains and increase farming efficiencies. In last year’s virtual event “A Growing ASEAN, A Hungry Population: Building Resilient and Sustainable Food Supply Chains” organized by the German software enterprise SAP, Verena Siow, President and Managing Director of SAP Southeast Asia highlighted how technology can be the aching agent to tackle food security and sustainability as a resource management challenge.
In Japan, the agricultural industry’s development in the rural region is currently facing significant challenges such as the steady decline of population and economy along with no new industries to support or replace agribusiness, which is a key driver of the regional economy. Together, SAP Japan and PSI aim to revive the agricultural industry in the rural region by leveraging smart technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Machine Learning (ML), Artificial Intelligence (AI), data analytics in the cloud, and 4G communication SIM.
The latest digital supply chain strategy for the agricultural industry was kickstarted in partnership with Minano Mirai Souzousha, an abandoned farmland and aging population in Minano-cho, Chichibu-gun, Saitama Prefecture. Spearheaded by SAP Co-Innovation Lab (COIL), SAP Japan’s collaborative research and development center, in collaboration with PSI, the Minano Digital Eco-Farm project was unveiled to utilize the newly developed digital supply chain platform that can visualize farm information and farm work in the increasingly dispersed small-scale agricultural industry. Some of the key objectives of the local project include streamlining the supply chain of distribution companies and connecting remote farms to urban residents and restaurants.
Merging SAP BTP and PSI’s DMC
The new supply chain platform merges PSI’s DMC IoT Start KIT for SAP BTP, an all-in-one compact Edge server that can easily build an IoT environment with extensive security functions, and SAP BTP, a collection of on-premise and cloud products that can be categorized into four pillars: database and data management, application development and integration, analytics, and intelligent technology. The new platform allows DMC to work with SAP BTP in real-time while ensuring data protection from various sensors. On the other hand, SAP BTP leverages AI and location information in analyzing and reporting the data received from DMC.
Part of Minano Digital Eco-Farm project is conducting a demonstration experiment to look into the aging process of the miso storehouse utilizing the SAP and PSI technologies. Critical to the maturation process of the handmade miso, the temperature and humidity of the miso storehouse are measured by a sensor wirelessly connected to the DMC. Then, the measurement results are transmitted from the DMC’s 4G communication SIM to the SAP BTP, which analyzes the data gathered utilizing machine learning.
This technology integration provides real-time analysis, which empowers key individuals to take action as needed such as the proper management of temperature and humidity in the miso storehouse as well as timely miso container placement and movement. Moreover, regardless of miso-making skills, staff can produce high-quality miso guided by the detailed work instructions for the miso aging process derived from the new supply chain solution.
With the paramount goal of contributing to the sustainability and self-sufficiency of agricultural products in the country, PSI and SAP Japan intend to expand their project across other regions in Japan.
