Dogtooth Technologies is an industry leader in agricultural robotics, focusing on automated solutions for fruit harvesting. Their robotics technology enables farms to efficiently harvest crops like strawberries, raspberries, and other soft fruits. As they expanded their operations, Dogtooth needed a solution to better manage their maintenance processes, streamline operations, and track the performance of their fleet of robots across multiple customer sites.
We sat down with Edward Herbert, Founder and Chief Operating Officer and Daniel Cressingham, Operations Engineer at Dogtooth, who is responsible for overseeing the maintenance of robots across three customer sites. This requires tracking preventative maintenance, inter-site moves, and ensuring the robots were always performing optimally.
Dogtooth before Makula
This was the company’s pre-Makula setup:
- Information scattered across multiple Google Sheets and Docs: Maintenance data and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) were stored in more than 10 Google Sheets and various directories. This made it difficult to locate important information quickly.
- Disorganized maintenance tracking: The existing system for tracking repairs and preventative maintenance was inefficient, leading to delayed responses to breakdowns and missed maintenance tasks.
- Ineffective bug reporting tool: The tool they used to track faults was inadequate for managing breakdowns and documenting performance.
Implementing Makula and its impact
Makula was introduced to streamline reporting and centralize information. Dogtooth’s goal was to consolidate their data into one easily accessible platform, allowing their teams to track maintenance, attach SOPs, and manage robot performance more effectively.
- Centralized data management: One of the most significant changes was the reduction in scattered Google Sheets and Docs. With Makula, all essential information regarding machine maintenance, fault reports, and SOPs is stored in one place, allowing Daniel and his team to quickly access the data they need.
- Time savings: Edward reported that Makula saves Dogtooth “a couple hours at least a day per engineer” by reducing the time spent on phone calls and searching through scattered documents. This time saving has improved overall operational efficiency.
- Better fault reporting: Makula has provided a more structured way of tracking breakdowns and repairs. For example, since July 2024, 96 tong changes have been tracked across the robot fleet, offering valuable data on failure rates and helping the team proactively manage maintenance schedules.
- Process improvements:
- Formalized daily checks: Previously, daily checks on the robots were informal and unrecorded. With Makula, these checks are now consistently documented, helping the team monitor performance and spot issues early.
- Enhanced preventative maintenance: The platform has helped Dogtooth improve how they manage preventative maintenance, ensuring robots receive necessary care before any issues arise.
- Reduced paper usage: By centralizing data and reducing the reliance on paper-based field reports, Makula has made field operations more efficient and environmentally friendly.
- Formalized daily checks: Previously, daily checks on the robots were informal and unrecorded. With Makula, these checks are now consistently documented, helping the team monitor performance and spot issues early.
Future Plans with Makula
Dogtooth plans to expand its use of Makula as the company transitions to selling robot fleets directly to customers in 2025. Makula will play a crucial role in easing the transition for these customers by streamlining after-sales support, reducing operational friction, and providing real-time data on robot performance.
Additionally, Daniel expressed excitement about future developments in Makula, particularly the AI tool integration. These tools could help manage complex documentation and further enhance Dogtooth’s after-sales capabilities.
