IT is not only in IT. 10 technological solutions that surprised us at ATB, Farmak, OKKO, Milk Alliance and Astarta

“Technology is just a tool,” Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft Corporation, once said. These words of the billionaire take on a new color every year, as technology penetrates into all areas of modern life. Today, IT and digital are an inseparable component not only of IT companies or manufacturers of high-precision electronics. Other industries are increasingly permeated with technology, too — from pharma and food to retail and agriculture.

dev.ua talked to five leaders of the, at first glance, analog industries. It turned out that modern pharma, agriculture, fuel business, retail and food industry are advancing on five technogiants and leaders of the electronics market. All of them implement Enterprise Resource Planning, use leading SAP and Microsoft developments. Non-technological companies also have unique technological solutions. We talk about 10 technological solutions that surprised us at ATB, Farmak, OKKO, Milk Alliance and Astarta companies.

ATB — with care for sellers and buyers
ATB is the largest food retail system in Ukraine. The company has more than 1,000 stores throughout Ukraine. The staff of IT experts is 300 specialists.

ATB supplier portal
Since 2021, the ATB company has been operating an electronic platform for effective and transparent interaction with suppliers of goods. The “Supplier’s Portal” enables each partner of the network to get acquainted with the terms of cooperation in free access, to provide a commercial proposal without wasting time searching for contacts of managers; you are guaranteed to receive a response to your offer within the specified time; sign a supply contract with automatic filling of information from the supplier’s profile. Here is an up-to-date directory of product characteristics; archive of all signed documents with electronic signatures in the supplier’s personal account; product specifications are automatically generated when prices change. The portal is currently available from both desktop and mobile to existing suppliers, with new product suppliers scheduled to be available starting in the second quarter of 2023.

“Mobile assistant of the seller” and electronic certificates
The seller’s assistant application can be installed on almost any smartphone and contains all the functions that a data collection terminal usually performs (virtual planogram, checking the balance of goods, receiving goods, inventory, writing off, etc.). Data exchange with accounting systems is performed online, which allows you to receive up-to-date information about goods that are in the store or are on their way to it.

Also recently, at the beginning of 2023, the project of electronic certificates for the purchase of goods in the ATB-MARKET network was launched. Certificates can be purchased by individuals and legal entities.

“Farmak” — production control without physical presence
The Farmak company is the leader of the Ukrainian pharmaceutical market. Produces almost 400 names of medicines sold in more than 50 countries of the world.

Digital recipe
A few decades ago, pharmacists calculated the proportions of components for certain drugs manually – with the help of mechanical scales, reference books similar to recipe books with formulas. Today, the recipe is created digitally, and the operator’s function is reduced to choosing the desired recipe and starting its execution on the touch panel. A person performs a control function here. Thanks to this “Pharmak” technology, we get one hundred percent repeatability of the technology and increase the productivity of the company.

In the photo, the Operator Activates the Electronic Prescription of the Drug Formulation Process at the Production Site of the “Farmak” Company.
Big brother is watching you

The equipment involved in the production of the product is connected to special technological stations. Accordingly, management personnel can monitor all production processes from their computer screens without leaving their office. For example, the head of the workshop or the foreman of the site can see in real time at what stage of preparation the medicinal product is, whether it has already been submitted for bottling, how much time is left until the bottling of the medicine in ampoules, vials, etc. is completed. In addition, the company has its own internal video surveillance system at the production sites, the data from which is available for a month to review the recordings if necessary. Videos of critical production operations are stored for six months.

SIMIT, or virtual models
The company uses the unique SIMIT software, which makes it possible to simulate technological processes in real time. Thus, engineers virtually work out options for modernizing production, optimizing space, etc., without stopping technological processes. Thanks to this, “Farmak” saves time for modernization of existing processes or launching new ones.

OKKO — dozens of IT experts in the interests of the client
OKKO is one of the largest fuel retail chains, which has 400 gas stations, 10 oil depots and 19 stationary and mobile oil product quality control laboratories. The company is also developing a chain of restaurants, which already has 30 establishments. IT department of the company

nii has about 150 specialists, and most of the technological solutions here are developed in-house.

OKKO PAY and Fishka
This is an opportunity to pay for gas without entering the sales hall, without queues and unnecessary contacts, or to buy goods from cafes and shops.

The national Fishka loyalty program through the mobile application also operates in the network. The application allows you to make purchases in 110 online stores, which are divided into categories for more convenient shopping according to the amount of cashback. In 2021, a new “Fuel wallet” functionality appeared in the Fishka application – it works on the principle of fuel coupons for legal entities – it allows you to buy the necessary amount of fuel in advance and gradually fill up employees’ cars with it, fixing the cost of fuel.

Gas station management system
This service makes it possible to automate the activity of network gas stations. First, the IT specialists analyzed the existing solutions for business — and in order to fully satisfy all the needs of the company, they decided to develop their own software. From 2019, the development of the concept, the creation of a development project began, and from September 2021, the first pilot of the new software was implemented at one of the gas stations of the network. Since May 2022, a new system has been implemented in the entire OKKO network, which has significantly accelerated all processes that take place at gas stations, made it possible to manage more efficiently and collect analytical data. OKKO IT specialists recreated the existing model, introduced new functions and modules, in particular, for the operation of the OKKO Drive quick order window, and are integrating the system with one of the delivery services. In addition, the new system is easily customized for any retail, which will allow you to quickly adapt the product to any company requirements.

Astarta and its own agribusiness management system
Agropromholding “Astarta-Kyiv” is one of the largest agricultural producers in Ukraine with a land bank of 220,000 hectares. Five years ago, the company created its own IT company – AgriChain, which has gone from a startup to a classic product company with more than 45 specialists.