[Englisch] Update – August 2020

Dear Sercom relation,

The past months have been characterised as a period that we, in this form, have never experienced before. This will no doubt be the case for many of you too. The whole situation surrounding COVID-19 has taken a heavy toll in many cases. Both in daily life and in business life. Many companies, in almost every sector within agriculture and horticulture, have (had) to deal with restrictive measures. These measures hindered the normal course of events.

In addition, many people and companies are confronted with (strongly) declining income. Despite the fact that the pressure appears to be diminishing, in many cases and in many countries the measures are still in place. So there will be a continuing appeal to your and our creativity and entrepreneurship. In this way we can get out of this period without too much damage.

We have not been spared in this regard either. Just like you, we persisted and did what we could to make the situation as favourable as possible.

Below I would like to briefly inform you about what has happened at SERCOM in recent months.

Sercom deliveries

We are proud to report that there have been hardly any problems with the delivery of our products. This is despite the fact that many of our employees could not always be physically present at the company. The few delays that did occur were mainly due to delays in deliveries from our suppliers.

By planning well and cleverly combining the limited presence of our employees, we have been able to help almost all customers well. In addition, there of course was a lot of consultation with our partners, whom I would like to thank for their understanding and commitment. Incidentally, I do not expect delivery time to be a major problem in the near future.

We have also been able to execute the service contracts with our end users without any problems.

New process computer for chicory

As you may know, we focus on several sectors within agriculture and horticulture. The company of chicory growers Stefan and Chantal Gheeraert-Lemahieu is located in the south-west of Belgium (municipality of Poperinge). They grow 60 to 70 hectares of chicory here. They do the forcing on hydroponics. For an important expansion of the production capacity, a Sercom climate computer was chosen via our partner Polytechniek. We are of course very proud of this. We will do our utmost to carry out this project to our and their full satisfaction.

SC400

The introduction of the new SC400 climate computer for managing climate or irrigation received a lot of international interest. This has already resulted in concrete orders, some of which have already been delivered.

In addition to the interest from greenhouse horticulture, there is also interest in the outdoor cultivation of soft fruit, for example. The SC400 also proves to be extremely suitable for tree growers and closed cells, for example. It seems that with this climate computer we have been able to answer an important question within the various sectors. More information about the SC400 can be found here.

CO detectors

In addition to process computers, we have also built up a good reputation with our CO detectors. Developed and manufactured entirely in-house, this product has been shipped worldwide for decades. For example, our partner Zantingh recently placed an order for the delivery of 20 CO detectors and controls. More information about this product can be found here.

Process computer for irrigation and climate company Mostert

Kwekerij Mostert from Nieuwerkerk aan den IJssel recently placed the definitive order for an extensive process computer. This will be used to control both the irrigation and the climate in the greenhouses. An important reason why Mostert chose SERCOM was the unique link that we can make with SDF. It is something the competing provider was unable to deliver.

Due to the close cooperation with our partner Codema, this nursery ultimately gave preference to SERCOM. I would like to congratulate Mostert on the expansion of their production capacity. We hope for a successful continuation of our collaboration.

Expansion of Zimflora

The renowned company Zimflora has also recently opted for SERCOM to expand their production. Zimflora is an important producer of flowers and has various locations in Zimbabwe. Sercom’s Project Manager Ignacio Rodríguez Gracia played an important role in guiding and completing this project.

Further expansion for storage cells in Russia

AgroSave is a relatively new partner of SERCOM. They take care of the representation of our process computer for storage cells in Russia. In the past year they have invested a lot of time and energy in promoting SERCOM in their region. This has resulted into deliveries to large local potato growers. In recent months, two more systems have been sold by this dealer. We are therefore delighted to be able to work with this partner.

Touchscreen option within SercoVision 5

The Touchscreen function has been part of Sercom process computers for quite some time. We have added the Infographics option to it. With this software development, the operation of the touchscreen has been significantly improved. Especially the operation on tablets now offers many more options.

The first order for this combination has recently been confirmed and will be delivered soon. For more information about this option, please contact our sales team.

Control via Modbus over IP

We continue to focus on developing our products to make them more user-friendly and cost effective. For example, a commissioning took place at the company Ruigrok Flowerbulbs in De Zilk. The fans are controlled via Modbus over IP. This is an important development that ensures that investments are significantly lower than control via the conventional way. We expect to supply many more applications of this system in the future.

Hopefully I have given you a good impression of what has happened within SERCOM recently. In addition, I wish you good health and business prosperity.

Sincerely,

Jan-Willem Lut