Wirtschaftsforum: Mr. Harms, ANEDO is a highly regarded provider of control and operating devices in agricultural machinery technology, focusing on the ISOBUS standard. How did this focus come about?

Fredo Harms: The origins lie in a small engineering office for contract development. Later, in 2006, the company was converted into a limited liability company (British Ltd.). In 2007, the idea came up to think beyond mere contract development. Product platforms for control devices were set up to spare customers the initial development steps. From an already existing product platform, the customer could then shape their own, customer-specific variants.

Wirtschaftsforum: Since when have you been working in the company and how has ANEDO evolved?

Fredo Harms: I joined the company as Managing Director in 2010. Having grown up on a farm and completed my training as an agricultural machinery mechanic followed by a degree in mechanical engineering, I have always had a special affinity for the sector. I have contributed to the further development of products and processes at ANEDO. In 2008, we started setting up production here in Eydelstedt, initially to be able to manufacture small series. To support the continuous growth, we introduced a new ERP system in 2011 and implemented Lean Production in 2013, giving the company a significant boost forward. Since 2018, ANEDO has been certified according to DIN EN ISO 9001:2015 and received the additional certificate according to EU Directive 2007/46/EC - requirements for road traffic related matters with the KBA approval. This became necessary to obtain the product-specific EU type-approval (E1) according to Regulation 167/2013 for our T50i terminals. A year later, prompted by Brexit, we converted the company to a GmbH. Today we have 40 employees and an annual production volume of > 15,000 devices.

Wirtschaftsforum: What exactly characterizes ANEDO products?

Fredo Harms: As an OEM supplier, ANEDO offers control devices, operating units, and connectivity modules for agricultural machinery manufacturers, specializing in attachment manufacturers. We rely on a decentralized system for our products. This means an attachment has a control unit that contains all logic, functionality, and an operating concept, which is installed as a black box. This communicates with the terminal in the tractor cab via the ISOBUS-based protocol. With ISOBUS, different attachments can be controlled via the same ISOBUS terminal regardless of manufacturer, provided that – according to the standard – ISOBUS-capable control units and terminals are used.

Wirtschaftsforum: On an ISOBUS device, like a mobile phone, there are various functionalities, many apps. Can you say something about this?

Fredo Harms: Among the most important apps are naturally those that are ISOBUS certified, such as the Universal Terminal (UT), Auxiliary (AUX), Fileserver (FS), Tractor ECU (TECU), and the Task Controller (TC) for handling orders with its functionalities TCBas for beginners, TC-Geo for geo-based application rate control with compatible application map import, and the Precision App via Section Control (SC) for automatic part-width control. With UT, it is possible to operate an ISOBUS device with any terminal and various devices with one terminal. AUX stands for additional operating devices such as joysticks, which can be added to facilitate the operation of complex machines. With TC, the order management can be activated, that is, it takes over set points and documentation, data exchange between the field mapping and Task Controller occurs via the ISO-XML data format. SC handles the automatic switching of partial widths, for example in fertilizer spreaders or crop protection sprayers for site-specific fieldwork. ANEDO offers the user additional functionalities outside of the ISOBUS standard with additional apps such as VECU, VRA, Cam-Bas, and CAMDigi, to name a few. Please refer to our website for their individual meanings. In Auto Steering, the steering system of one of our partners is integrated. We are not talking about autonomous driving here; unlike there, the driver must remain seated and observe the processes in order to intervene if necessary.

Wirtschaftsforum: How has the Coronavirus crisis affected the development of the company?

Fredo Harms: Despite Corona, we had a very steady business development, which can continue as long as the tense procurement situation recovers promptly.

Wirtschaftsforum: Digital agriculture, Smart Farming – these are important issues that many farmers are already dealing with today. ANEDO is operating in a promising industry. What can ANEDO offer in this environment?

Fredo Harms: As for ISOBUS, we offer everything from a single source plus extraordinary flexibility. Customers can start exactly where they want. Our products are highly scalable as they are based on a modular system. Customers can choose a complete package or individual parts. We are also close to our customers and understand their needs very well. In addition to the products, we have the appropriate tooling and, alongside consulting, the appropriate methodology to equip machinery with electronics up to ISOBUS. That's a big plus.

Wirtschaftsforum: ANEDO has also been involved in research projects for several years and has been able to build a good network. Behind this future-oriented work are not only innovative technologies but above all committed and competent employees. What values does ANEDO uphold when it comes to employee leadership?

Fredo Harms: At ANEDO, hierarchies are less important than the process idea. This attitude runs through the entire company philosophy.