In a corner that felt more like a Priva square than a booth, during GreenTech Amsterdam brand-new CEO Hans Peters showcases a series of horticultural innovations which he had known little about until roughly a year ago.
Hans previously worked for Unilever, NS (Dutch principal passenger railway operator), and Eneco, but now works 65-year-old Priva since a year. He is visibly enjoying his new field of work, having already been seen harvesting cucumbers in the greenhouse. He spoke at the fair about his expectation to raise a glass to Priva's 75th anniversary in 10 years' time. And, in the meantime, he brings in knowledge from outside the sector, which is particularly evident in the new Priva One product.
"During my first conversation with Meiny Prins, we discussed this," he shared with a select group of trade press on Wednesday at GreenTech Amsterdam. "As a company, we are now moving from a relatively closed to a more open structure with Priva One, focusing on integrating systems for growers. At Priva, we want to be the brain, heart, and soul of the greenhouse."
Hans Peters at GreenTech Amsterdam 2024
Helping grower's brain
Priva One is the "ultimate integrated solution for predictive and scalable growing" for horticulture climate control and process management specialists. During the exhibition launch, the first hundred Priva customers are already working with the integration platform.
"More and more factors are fluctuating in and around greenhouses. Consider energy, climate, and sustainability. These changes increasingly transcend the mind of growers. Moreover, more parties are bringing additional intelligence to cultivation with their technologies. With Priva One, we integrate solutions from partners such as Blue Radix, IUNU, and Source.ag."
Martijn van Mechelen, Product Manager of Priva One, adds that a fourth option growers can currently choose is Priva's own Plantonomy cultivation strategy.
Martijn van Mechelen explains Priva One
Combined with instant insights into crop performance, 24/7 greenhouse climate control, and personnel management, Priva One aims to bring together everything growers need for their greenhouse, allowing them to manage, plan, and execute from a single solution. "This makes it the Experts' Choice for predictive and scalable growing," the new CEO asserts. "We want to become the App Store of horticulture."
Ease of use
Despite having been with Priva for only a year, Hans knows the company has occasionally been criticized for its software being "sometimes a bit complicated." This prompted the company to focus on a user-friendly interface for Priva One, where Hans' knowledge from outside the sector proved invaluable.
To accelerate the creation of an optimal user environment, Priva conducted a thorough search for support in terms of ease of use, dashboarding, and design. They partnered with an external agency, DEPT, which Hans describes as a "leading agency in the field of integrated digital experiences." The agency previously developed the NS App (an app for the Dutch national railway service). "I was a key driver behind the development of that app. With Priva One, we don't want to match the current user experience in horticulture; we want to surpass it."
Dashboard Priva One. Enlarge via click-through.
Big step
At the fair, product manager Martijn showcased the developments in detail. With a single dashboard, growers can seamlessly transition from performance to operation. Both the location manager, the main grower, and the labor manager will work with Priva One, each in different ways, with the ultimate goal of being able to control operations remotely.
Martijn demonstrated how the system indicates at a glance which crop needs attention. It is also possible to control multiple cultivation departments simultaneously when necessary. "We can put a digital fence around four departments, for example, allowing the grower to control climate and irrigation for all of them at once. That's a significant step forward."
The 'operation' component is a regular feature for those working with Priva One, while the 'performance' component is not. "The performance component is an add-on, but I am convinced of its added value for the grower," Martijn explained. A prerequisite for using Priva One is that a Priva climate computer is active at the grower's premises.
Cultivation settings in Priva One. Enlargement via click-through.
Flexibility
Priva's brand-new CEO emphasizes that, despite their confidence in the new product, the Westland-based family business does not claim to "hold the ultimate truth." "In our open platform, growers can choose which external integrations to add," he says. More than a hundred users now have one of these integrations running via Priva One.
The new R&D greenhouse of HortiTech, Harmoniz, and Metazet in the Westland area, in Honselersdijk (the Netherlands), where Priva is also a partner, uses the complete package and several Priva innovations presented at GreenTech. These include integrations via Priva One (including Plantonomy), Priva PIM, aimed at irrigation optimization, and FS Performance, aimed at labor registration and optimization.
Towards OPEX
When asked about future developments, Martijn shares his vision. "The next step with Priva One is adding OPEX, so users can directly see the costs, such as extra labor hours resulting from a decision made." Visualizing and forecasting up to 72 hours ahead is already possible with Priva One.
Hans is aware that discussions about systems like Priva One almost inevitably involve AI and autonomous growing. He envisions Priva's new introductions as systems that will work with the grower as a 'co-pilot.' While Priva PIM and ECO are patented innovations, Priva One is not. "You can't patent a dashboard," he believes. "Being copied is rather a compliment."
Work settings in Priva One. Enlarge via click-through.
For more information:
Priva
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www.priva.com