Giltrap Ag CASE STUDY: Giltrap Ag

Duncan seed drill manufacturer Giltrap Ag asked Company-X to build a mobile app enabling tractor drivers to calibrate mechanical and e-drive seed drills without leaving the cab. The app was designed for use in all countries Duncan Drills are sold in including New Zealand, Australia, Chile, Ireland, Japan, Uruguay, and the United Kingdom.

From seed to feed. That’s the Giltrap Ag difference. From Duncan Drills, the world-best drilling technology, to hard working Giltrap machinery to help farmers feed, spread and carry, Giltrap Ag helps take the hard work out of producing some of the world’s highest yielding crops and pasture for stock grazing. Plus, every piece of equipment is made by passionate people who put a bit of themselves into every product. Giltrap Ag is headquartered in Otorohanga in the King Country of New Zealand, where it has a manufacturing base. It also manufactures in Timaru, in the South Island, and has a warehouse in Melbourne, Australia.

Tractor drivers pulling Duncan Drills seed drills manufactured by Giltrap Ag were calibrating mechanical seed drills from printed tables and manuals, or the case of e-drive machines using a control terminal in the tractor cab, without being able to see what the drill was doing from the cab. Calibration included setting the seed type and planting rate in the cab before climbing out of the cab to check the drill. In many cases seed drill calibration could involve the tractor driver climbing out of the cab, calibrating the drill, and climbing back into the cab between eight and 12 times.

Company-X senior software engineer Arno van Niekerk led a team who built the Duncan Drill Seed Calibration App. The app connects to the e-drive seeders using a wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) to communicate and calibrate the equipment. The app was deployed in the Apple App and Google Play Stores. Users download the app and register their details, allowing Giltrap Ag to interact with its Duncan Drills users.

Tractor drivers using the app can calibrate the seed drill remotely to drop the right volume of seed at the right frequency and interval for an area. The app also contains guides on how to manually calibrate the various models that do not have WIFI capability.

“Arno was fantastic. He made the effort to understand the problems that we had and was very good at getting back to us promptly.”

Giltrap Engineering managing director Craig Mulgrew