With robots, productivity in the agricultural machinery industry experiences a new leap

Automation is a word we always hear when we talk about industrial activities. A trend in several sectors, in the machinery industry the implementation of resources such as robots is identified as one of the factors responsible for the increase in productivity in the segment. The production of agricultural machinery, for example, has experienced a new leap with the use of techniques involving automation.

This is the case of Casale Equipamentos, a traditional company that produces livestock machinery, which recently acquired a large robot that helps in the production of feed mixers for confined and semi-confined cattle. The equipment, produced by the Japanese manufacturer Famuc, is called a 'robotic welding cell' and contributes to the welding of large metallic inputs, an important part of the mixers, the house's main product.

“The advancement in the automation process represents an important milestone in our company and in the sector as a whole”, explains Mario Casale, CEO of the company. According to him, the machine, which began operating in February 2022, increases the productivity of the welding process of the parts it produces by 65%, speeding up the entire process. “We are living in a good period, in which we have managed to maintain and even increase productivity, in a difficult macroeconomic context. Tools such as robots are allies in this process”, he adds.

In implementing the equipment, it required the commitment of 11 people directly and 585 hours of training so that everyone involved learned how to deal with the new machinery. Of large proportions, the robot is the company's first initiative towards the automation of production processes. “It’s a trend that benefits the producer and encourages the training of the entire team”, says Mario.

According to the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa), automation in agribusiness can be understood as a system in which operational production processes are monitored, controlled and executed through machines and/or mechanical, electronic or computational devices, expanding the capacity of human work. Other resources involving automation, in addition to production robotization, are software, autonomous tractors, drones, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and the Internet of Things, making up what we call Industry 4.0.

In research carried out through a partnership between Embrapa, the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae) and the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe), in 2020, it was concluded that 84% of Brazilian producers use at least one digital technology as a support tool in agricultural production. In 2020, there was a 3% increase in the automation process in Brazilian industry compared to the previous year, according to the Brazilian Automation Index, an initiative of the Brazilian Automation Association. Since the index began to be recorded in 2016, there has been a percentage growth of 7%.

“Despite the prolonged crisis, Brazilian agribusiness and industry have been resilient and sought innovative solutions to establish themselves as important anchors of our economic activities”, concludes Mario Casale. The future of the agricultural machinery industry, like other sectors, involves the modernization and automation of its practices as a resource for increasing productivity.