ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA, U.S. — The American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) announced on April 4 the first AFIA Information Technology (IT) Innovation Award was given to Novus International, Inc. of St. Charles, Missouri, U.S. The runner-up was awarded to Feed Energy Company of Des Moines, Iowa, U.S.

In 1993, Novus pioneered a vendor-managed inventory for bulk liquid feed ingredients with the introduction of a patented automated remote monitoring system known as AIMS. This system provided improved inventory management of Novus’s bulk liquid ingredients via the telecommunications system.

In 2009-10, Novus upgraded the AIMS infrastructure by incorporating the latest satellite communications and remote monitoring technology throughout its bulk liquid product supply chain. The new platform is internet-based and provides precise, dependable and instantaneous inventory readings for any customer 24/7, and has been implemented at over 500 locations across North America.

The 2011 runner-up, Feed Energy Company, recently developed a computational-based stochastic model, the Nth Load, to help the company in decision making and optimization of inventory management for ingredient procurement, processing and finished goods inventories. The model is run weekly using historical and current data from Feed Energy’s three locations in a five-week planning horizon. The Nth Load has helped Feed Energy ensure it has the proper supply to meet the demands of its livestock and poultry customers.

The 2011 AFIA IT Innovation Award was sponsored by AgGateway and Feed & Grain magazine. Novus will be recognized on April 29 at their St. Charles, Missouri, U.S. offices and a donation will be made to the Global 4-H Knowledge Platform Project on their behalf.