Chop Cheong Bee pioneers smart farming in Malaysian poultry sector with Microsoft Azure

Founded in 1985, Chop Cheong Bee began as a poultry trading company, supplying chicken to local markets and establishment in Malaysia. The company then went into poultry farming, but then closed down as it couldn’t keep up with overwhelming hands-on management tasks. With a renewed focus on technology, it started again in the late 2000s with e-farming practices, using sensors and servers to monitor farm operations. Today, Chop Cheong Bee is a crucial poultry supplier that facilitates a significant portion of the chicken supply in Malaysia.

However, integrating Internet of Things (IoT) devices to collect information on operations left Chop Cheong Bee with an overwhelming amount of data to sift through. “Just connecting devices to the Internet doesn’t mean much if you have to spend a lot of time analyzing data. And we need to do that to make decisions and operate smoothly,” explains Datuk Jeffrey Ng Choon Ngee, General Manager at Chop Cheong Bee.

To solve this, Ng started discussions with systems integrator and Microsoft partner, Infront Consulting Group, to see how Chop Cheong Bee could leverage big data in the cloud. This signified a pivot from e-farming to smart farming for the poultry supplier. “When you’re a farmer, you must account for variables and the potential for massive losses. We learned from our experience that if we want to succeed, we need to be smart farmers—and that knowledge can be shared with others in the industry, which would make poultry more affordable in Malaysia,” says Ng.  

Infront Consulting Group hence assisted Chop Cheong Bee in developing a cloud application and web system that would enable farmers and administrative staff to manage their daily operations more efficiently and access historical data to support decision-making.

Doing more tasks in less time with AI

Farm operations at Chop Cheong Bee have saved time on menial work by relying on the new mobile application. “Our workers used to do everything manually, from counting chickens, managing the chickens’ welfare, feeding, and categorizing chickens for different vendors. All communication was done via WhatsApp, and everything was documented on paper,” shares Ng.

However, with the new solution, farm operators can use features like image-based livestock and mortality tracking, thanks to Azure Cognitive Services. “We were able to reduce the time it takes to perform the crucial, yet time-consuming task of tracking livestock mortality by almost 60 percent,” shares Ng. Moreover, there is also a health module that vets can use to generate reports faster and view later on the web system to make a proper diagnosis.

Leveraging data to perform more efficiently

Besides the mobile application, Chop Cheong Bee developed a web system focused on providing a comprehensive overview of farm operations. Relying on automated report generation with Microsoft Power BI, the management team finds visualizing data highly useful for decision-making. “We need to manage our livestock well—that means knowing how much feed they should take, how much they’re growing, and if the feed should be increased based on that or other factors,” shares Ng. “Having more visibility means being able to spot errors quicker and save a lot of time in daily operations.”

The team can run things smoothly without skipping a beat, thanks to automated reminders set up to ensure important tasks are not overlooked, such as stocking feed or scheduling vet visits. As Ng describes, "The software helps farmers manage operations and predict next steps. It’s like an operations assistant in the form of software." The solution can also be used in rural areas with low connectivity by leveraging Azure Kubernetes Service to establish a solid connection.

Empowering Malaysian poultry farming

The improvements achieved by Chop Cheong Bee have been integral in attaining the government's endorsement for the project. “Officials saw our solution as an affordable and effective tool that could be easily installed and used to manage operations, predict outcomes, and mitigate errors on the farm. For us, it’s more than just a business tool—it is a shared resource that could benefit the broader farming community in Malaysia,” Ng shares.

The government’s first endorsement involved funding free initial subscriptions for other farmers, encouraging more farms to undergo digital transformation. “We look at a single crucial number: the broiler production index. The better the index, the better the production—with our solution, we can improve the production index by 20 to 30 points. That’s easily a 10 percent improvement,” says Ng. “If more farms can achieve this, then the cost of production will drop. And then hopefully, more Malaysians can afford quality poultry,” says Ng.

Looking ahead, Chop Cheong Bee will focus on expanding the system's capabilities to track livestock, generate advanced predictions for reducing waste, and enhance the system’s standard operating procedures for a more user-friendly experience.

The poultry supplier wants to continue evolving and improving the digital applications of farming in Malaysia. “If we’re not integrating technology into the agriculture industry, then we’re losing out. That's why our collaboration with Infront Consulting Group and Microsoft is so important to me. We’re not just limited to poultry; we can apply the whole architecture to other areas of agriculture. With the support of Microsoft, I think we will transform our future,” sums up Ng.