One of Ukraine’s largest grain market operators, NIBULON LLC, recouped approximately $1 million in investments in a digital twin of its elevators, developed on the IT-Enterprise ERP system, in less than a year by reducing staff numbers and grain losses.
“In a context of labor shortages, the system reduces dependence on manual labor… Previously, one elevator employed 80–100 people; today — about 20–30,” the companies stated in a joint press release on Monday, reports Interfax.
The implementation of IT-Enterprise’s new system improved accounting accuracy and reduced grain losses by 1%.
“We improved quantitative and qualitative accounting and automated every step of the process: the movement of grain from arrival at the elevator to shipment to the end consumer, including control of quality indicators and resources spent on processing,” said Mykola Ryaska, IT Director of NIBULON, in the release.
Additionally, the system provides transparent access to grain quality parameters determined through laboratory tests. These data are now available in a mobile application alongside other operational information.
The agroholding integrated the digital twin for 23 elevators in 2024.
“A digital twin is a real-time digital copy of production based on sensor data and other sources. It allows for effective modeling of elevator operations and management of all processes from anywhere in the world,” commented Oleh Shcherbatenko, CEO and founder of IT-Enterprise.
According to Andriy Vadaturskyi, owner and CEO of NIBULON, the company invested $2 million in 2024 in digitalizing production processes, including creating the elevator’s digital twin and the mobile app. The software has been installed on all of Nibulon’s elevators and integrated into a single network.
Before the war, NIBULON cultivated 82,000 hectares of land across 12 regions of Ukraine and exported agricultural products to over 70 countries. In 2021, the trader exported a record 5.64 million tons of agricultural products. After the war began, the company relocated its headquarters from Mykolaiv to Kyiv.
This year, NIBULON plans to increase grain exports to 4 million tons, up from 2.5 million tons last year. Its land bank has shrunk, and the workforce has decreased from 6,000 to less than 2,000 employees.
