Case Study: Americot Inc. Selects Generation Seed Management

Major US cottonseed supplier utilises seed-specific software from Cultura

About Americot Inc.:

Americot Inc., are a locally owned business based in Texas who supply to 27% of the US Cottonseed market, and were the top choice for cottonseed in the Southwest in 2017.

Dedicated to delivering quality varieties with high yield potential and first-rate fibre quality, the business focuses on two key cottonseed products, Americot® and NexGen®. They believe in supplying excellent products and exceptional customer service.

The business has seen continual growth over the years, and ways to make improvements to support this growth are constantly being reviewed.

In 2016, the Americot team worked with their sister company West Gaines Seed to review one of their core systems, utilised across both businesses.

The management teams both agreed that the ever-increasing amount of data could be better harnessed, to further support their customers and vital business decisions.

Seed business requirements:

Bethany Friesen, Operations Manager, was one of the leaders involved with this project and she described:

“In addition to having more visibility of the vast quantities of data that we accumulate and use, the growth of the business meant that we needed to find software that would support evolving requirements.

One key consideration was the fact that we work with location-based price zones so required multiple prices per inventory item. We were working to manually change the price and although whilst staff are extremely diligent, this did leave us at risk of human error.

We also wanted to be able to pull out laboratory information like Germination, Purity and other quality results. Because this was in a separate inventory database, when choosing what to ship to meet a specific customer request, we would have to go back and forth from one system to another. This was inefficient and time-consuming.

Another key business requirement was the ability to lock down seed lots so that they are not available to ship until you release them when all the quality results are available. This helps to ensure that the correct seed lots are available for shipping. The visibility of available seed inventory also means that staff know exactly what’s available and can ensure that seed lots haven’t already been reserved to be shipped by another staff member, again saving valuable time.”

Business growth requirements:

“With the growth to not just the business, but also the team, we decided that a system that would centralise our data and streamline some of our processes was vital.

We got together with our sister company West Gains Seed and approached Cultura about what we could do to develop our existing system, and possible alternative systems.

The Cultura team recommended Generation, and together we discussed how the solution could support not only our current requirements but also those we had foreseen for the future.”

Generation Seed Management has been specifically designed for seed producers and processors, to enable them to centrally manage their data, and to enhance informed decision making for their business and for their customers. The sophisticated yet user-friendly software solution helps support seed businesses with their growing and evolving requirements. 

Choosing Generation:

Bethany went onto describe: “We selected Generation from Cultura for a number of reasons but ultimately, we knew that it would support our key drivers for seeking new software in terms of our growth and the increased inventory and shipping requirements we knew we would have.

Change is difficult and needs careful preparation but we were all keen to get it right and ensure the configuration and customizations that would support our business moving forward.

With Generation in place for just over a year now, we can already see the benefits of processes being far less time consuming and no more flitting from one system to another.

The risk for human error has been removed as our multiple price zones are available in the system.

Generation also enables us to verify various other information while reviewing a seed lot, as all of our data is in one place.

In addition, having all the information we need easily accessible has reduced shipping errors, we can clearly see what is available for shipping, what has been booked to be shipped, and what has already been shipped.

I am confident that Generation will save us time moving forward as we increase the team to support our growth plans.”

Ongoing Training and Support:

“The training we received has been great and it has enabled me to train other staff members. Onboarding new staff will be easy.

I highly rate the support we have received, the Cultura team have been with us every step of the way, and if we do need help they are fantastic.

They are quick off the mark and totally on the ball. We’ve developed a good relationship, the team understand our business and our requirements, and they really work in partnership with us.”

Generation Seed Management is utilised by businesses like Americot and many others throughout the United States.

The software supports teams like Bethany’s, with various seed-specific requirements.

The solution pulls together all data in one, centralised solution which is easy to use, and comprehensively works to drive improvements in the business processes benefitting the business and its customers.

To find out how Generation could support and drive forward your seed business, contact the team today.