Celebrating Excellence: Meijer Potato Computable Award Nomination

Crossing Potatoes: A Digital Innovation in Potato Breeding

The process of selecting optimal 'parent' potatoes to develop a new potato variety with specific characteristics such as suitability for different soil conditions, temperature tolerance, starch content, and size has traditionally relied on limited human expertise. "Crossing Potatoes" revolutionizes this process through an advanced data model integrated with a user-friendly application, making it automated, more effective and transferable.

The application interacts with a modern data platform via the Boomi iPaaS platform in conjunction with Solace, achieving an optimal event-driven architecture. It incorporates the Boomi Master Data Hub (MDH) as the single source of truth, housing comprehensive data on current and potential new varieties. Advanced models calculate the 'perfect cross' based on the desired genetic characteristics of the final variety. In addition, Meijer Potato can now establish a High-Performance Compute (HPC) centre in the cloud, enabling complex DNA calculations that previously relied on external research partners.

Tackling Complexity and Risks of Implementation

The development of new potato varieties is mission critical for potato breeding companies, with each breeding cycle lasting almost a decade. The complexity and extensive experience required make this a high-risk process that is vital to customers' operations.

Automating and standardizing this complex process reduces the risk of error and improves overall efficiency. Previously reliant on individual creativity, the process is now harmonized into a complex data model aligned with desired outcomes. The accompanying cloud-based data platform ensures structured data storage throughout the breeding cycle, facilitating continuous optimization and integration of disparate data sources such as drone imagery and temperature sensors. It also provides a robust foundation for progress towards AI-driven applications, which are essential for the development of future potato varieties.

Originality and Innovation

The solution's security, scalability and cloud-based nature reflect its innovative approach. It seamlessly integrates best-of-breed technologies (Mendix/Boomi/Solace/Databricks) and offers capabilities such as Azure-based HPC for sophisticated DNA analysis, typically costly and specialized, but now accessible through cloud solutions. The Databricks data platform also enables analysts to leverage insights from HPC analysis and other data sources.

Emixa guided Meijer Potato from inception to implementation, determining optimal architecture and fostering step-by-step collaboration. Beyond technical aspects, Emixa aligned with the client's strategic vision across process, organizational, and system levels. They continue to serve as a knowledge and technology partner, providing IT strategic guidance and project management under a collaborative approach.

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