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IoT & Connected Products
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Next-generation scale display for agricultural weighing applications boasting an oversized screen, simple controls, and advanced connectivity.
Weighing technology is extremely vital to the efficiency and profitability of any agricultural operation. Correct weighing is necessary for things like buying and selling produce & livestock, monitoring field yields, measuring moisture content, and making future planting decisions.
Scale-Tec designs, sells and services all types of weighing technology from planter/seeder scale systems, grain cart, seed tender, feed mixer, and livestock scales for use in the agriculture industry. Scale-Tec serves farmers across the USA and all of North America and is a pioneer of Internet of Things applications for weighing systems.
For Scale-Tec, scale system innovation has always been a point of pride and passion. Through their strong customer relationships, they began to notice an opportunity to build a display that improved upon the outdated interfaces that had currently dominated the market—a display with remote data collection capabilities and a better user experience for today’s precision-minded farmers. After attempting to convince their OEM partners to produce such a product, Scale-Tec realized that in order to make a better display a reality, they would need to be the ones to make it happen.
Scale-Tec reached out i3 to develop a rugged, innovative scale system that is highly flexible. They knew that every farm’s needs were unique so their system had to adapt to the readiness of farms to opt-in to a data-driven operation. Scale-Tec envisioned a smart scale head that could simply be used as a display or could take the leap into the Internet of Things (IoT) to wirelessly communicate its data.
During development, the engineering teams went through extensive field and environmental testing to ensure the display would meet up to the farmer’s high standards and expectations when it comes to investing in farm equipment.
The i3 team designed POINT to leverage Long Range Bluetooth® wireless technology and apps for iOS and Android. The ability for the scale head to communicate data to a mobile device from an extremely long range meant that farmers could see the weight from their scale indicator on their mobile app at distances of 1,000 feet or more. This advanced connectivity also allows multiple smart devices to connect to the POINT scale display at once for producers to simultaneously view and share weight data.
POINT will also connect to other Bluetooth® wireless devices, such as an EID Tag reader, allowing animal identification to be read alongside its weight for record keeping purposes. The ISOBUS compatibility connects POINT to most virtual terminals to reduce cab clutter in the tractor so farmers can use technology they already own to view and zero the scale.
Scale-Tec and i3 also created a customer support model for POINT that is unlike any of their competitors. POINT is supported and serviced through over-the-air (OTA) updates. These updates become available in the mobile app and are easily pushed to the indicator. Scale-Tec has also paved the way for remote support as the first to implement Cygnus Reach in order to virtually access a customer’s POINT display to troubleshoot and diagnose an entire scale system.
When it comes to packaging of farm equipment, implements and accessories, many retailers simply use a brown cardboard box to contain their product. Scale-Tec knew that the packaging for POINT could serve as an additional brand touchpoint for their customers and act as another way to seperate themselves from the competition.
Because i3 already had all of the artwork for POINT in the form of CAD drawings, Scale-Tec imagined taking these basic forms and turning them into artistic isometric linework to adorn the box. Additional graphics and branding material including a quick start guide and trade show flyers have also been created to tie the whole experience together. i3 worked with a packaging vendor to deliver an unboxing experience that would showcase the POINT product and provide a dedicated insert for any accessories that may accompany a customer’s indicator.
i3 Product Development has been a long-time partner with Scale-Tec. POINT was designed and built with power and durability in mind and i3 has been proud to assist Scale-Tec with manufacturing of their POINT scale indicators up until demand has grown beyond our in-house capabilities. As production transitioned out of our prototype shop, i3 assisted with sourcing a long-term manufacturing solution to meet Scale-Tec’s growing production needs.
