Morral Companies Increases Customer Response Times with ICS Automated Dry Fertilizer Facility

THE PROBLEM

In keeping with their commitment to area growers, Morral Companies decided it was time to upgrade their dry fertilizer plant. Morral Companies is a full-service ag retailer located in Morral, OH.

“We decided to upgrade our old facility due to age, some safety concerns, and also customer efficiency,” explained Brian Braumiller, Morral Companies’ Retail Manager. “We wanted to increase the speed of the billing and reduce the amount of time they spent on the property.”

THE SOLUTION

Morral Companies contacted Integrated Control Systems (ICS), a leading fertilizer controls and automation provider, to automate their facility. ICS ControlPro was used to bridge the gap between the agronomy software and the facility – managing tickets, inventory, billing, and batches.  ICS batching controls were deployed on tablets to allow the operator to operate the equipment remotely.

Braumiller stated, “We chose ICS because we’ve worked with them in other departments and we’ve had such success with them and the service has been so great, we wanted to replicate that success in this department.”

The facility includes a horizontal blender. Custody transfer weighing occurs at the hopper, reducing the number of steps customers and drivers must complete. The entire system is controlled remotely via a tablet loaded with the ICS batching controls app.

THE RESULT

With ICS, Morral Companies has been able to dramatically increase the speed of production while improving employee safety.

“The accuracy and speed of the ICS system is fantastic!” observed Braumiller. “We have reduced our wait time significantly from almost an hour to about 15 to 20 minutes at the field.”

Morral was also able to increase the safety of their employees by reducing their need to get out of the loader and go through the facility and operate push buttons.

Overall, Morral Companies was pleased with the entire process with ICS from initial consultation, deployment, ongoing support, to the final result.

“If someone were to ask me which software provider to go with, I would suggest ICS,” Braumiller shared. “It has increased our efficiency, our speed of billing, and our customer satisfaction. Our speed to the field has never been greater and our customer base has grown.”

FACILITY PHOTO GALLARY