WPS News

WPS, a global leader in high-throughput plant handling systems, proudly introduces its latest development in plant research automation, the WPS Phenotyping Gantry.

Says Jason vanWingerden, CEO of The Plant Company. During a visit from Digna van Zanten, WPS CEO, and Willem Jan Hoogduin, WPS Business Manager North-America, the driving force behind this decision was discussed with Jason vanWingerden and Frank Paul, co-owner of The Plant Company.

Meet Ron van der Hengst, the visionary owner of South Central Growers in Tennessee, USA, who recently made a groundbreaking investment in WPS conveyor belts. During a visit from Digna van Zanten, the CEO of WPS, they discussed the driving force behind this decision – the need to make horticultural businesses attractive for the next generation through automation.

Cultivate Ohio - 15 juli - 18 juli #2361

From July 15th till 18th you can find us on at Cultivate. In our booth (2361) we will demonstrate the SmartFlo conveyor system and our smart solutions for automated sorting and preparing your potted plants for shipping. Come over to ask questions or make an appointment with our Director of Business Development North America, Edwin Dijkshoorn and international sales manager Willem Jan Hoogduin.

On Friday, June 2nd, we celebrated the opening of WPS' advanced plant handling system at Sjaak van Schie B.V. 

"Aiming to be handsfree", our article in Greenhouse Management Magazine

WPS’ Edwin Dijkshoorn explains how the company helps growers automate their operations.

The Boyce Thompson Institute, located on the Cornell University campus in Ithaca New York, recently purchased an Automated Phenotyping Platform from WPS. The platform will be used to control a wide range of plant experiments, completely automatic. By expanding its facilities with this system, BTI takes another step in pursuing its goals of “increasing food security, improving environmental sustainability in agriculture and making basic discoveries that will enhance human health.”

Business Unit Plant Phenotyping, for handsfree and data-driven plant research, bolsters growth for WPS.

Michael Meijler started working as a Business Manager of Plant Phenotyping on July 1, 2022. The market share of WPS in robotics, logistic automation and camera solutions for plant research companies has grown enormously. Meanwhile, WPS is delivering to all leading agriscience companies. A separate business unit was established to realize further growth.

Rainbow Greenhouses is located in Chilliwack, Canada. They have three locations in Western Canada and a new build has started. At the main location the current WPS system is installed in three phases:

• First phase 2015 – 2016: 7.176 m2 / 1.75 acres
• Second phase 2019 – 2020: 16.070 m2 / 4 acres
• Third phase 2022: 10.985 m2 / 2.75 acres

Garden State Growers goes for hands-free plant production.

Garden State Growers has chosen to partner with WPS to equip their greenhouse with a SmartFlo system. Edwin Dijkshoorn, Director of Business Development North America, and Roy Den Hollander, CEO of Garden State Growers, made a plan for how the greenhouse can be arranged more efficiently with a SmartFlo system to reduce labor costs.

Join us for a look at the life of this pioneer in the Dutch horticulture industry!

The second generation of WPS, Digna van Zanten

We are extremely proud 🏆 that our SmartFlo Dashboard App has been selected as a finalist for Greenhouse Grower magazine’s Technology Of The Year Award for 2022.

In the coming period you will come across WPS at both Greentech in Amsterdam and Cultivate in Ohio. The trade shows that a pot plant grower should not miss.

At these events, WPS will be showing its latest solutions in the field of automation and hands-free growing. And... we will be introducing our new SmartFlo Dashboard.

NEW: SmartFlo Dashboard App

The SmartFlo Dashboard web app allows a grower to remotely follow plants in the greenhouse and know which routes of the system are activated simultaneously. Performance of your system and personnel are now traceable and available on your desktop or smartphone.

More about SmartFlo Dashboard app >

Meet & greet

Make an appointment with one of our specialists:

• Willem Jan: sorting and shipping expert
• Edwin: SmartFlo expert (USA)
• Michael: Phenotyping expert
• Vincent: Vision specialist
• Czander: team captain

Presentation phenotyping - 15th juni 12.30 pm

What is phenotyping and what is the value? Hosted by one of our colleagues Michael Meijler, Vincent Jalink. Come and join this presentation. 

In many cases customer focus and cost savings don’t complement each other. WPS makes it possible at Van Winden. By using a smart sorting system from WPS, Van Winden can achieve better results, better quality with less labor. Making customers happier while increasing profits.

By the end of this year Sjaak van Schie will sort and process their hydrangea and tropical plant orders with help of a new WPS system. This WPS system will have a WPS Plant vision module and to sort the plants by: variety, size and color. After sorting, the plants will be assigned and transported via a conveyor system to the individual order fulfillment stations, which are part of the total system.

During these processes all gathered data will be stored. This will enable Sjaak van Schie to evaluate their production and quality. Helping them to maintain a very high quality standard for their plant selections.
The system will give Sjaak van Schie more flexibility and overview of their delivery process. But also help them reduce labor.

By Brian D. Sparks 

Going forward crop protection has become a whole lot easier for The Mastergrowers in De Lier. The crop protection spay robot from Robur Holland drives over the WPS SmartFlo tracks spays the hydrangeas more evenly then before. Besides this the work became easier and faster. This is a prime example for WPS and Robur to combine forces and come to a good handsfree solution for growers.

Ergonomic work processes are becoming more important, also in horticulture. 13 years ago Marino and Cornee Kester from C&M Kester took on the challenge to automate their greenhouses. Talking to other growers they found out how automation could help them in their processes.

 

For most plant growers labor is a big challenge. Luckily we see a lot of innovations in our industry. We are talking to Jelle Strijbis, president of SV.CO, about what his challenges are with automation. SV.CO has 3 facilities with a WPS systems. Ranging from vision sorting to SmartFlo, the WPS conveyor belt system. The systems help SV.CO optimize their work flow and herewith increasing their output numbers without the need for overtime.

A Dutch technology company offers fully integrated plant moving solutions to fit any size greenhouse. Labor constraints that have only been exacerbated by COVID-19 disruptions have driven commercial greenhouse growers to take a closer look at where automating processes makes the most sense.

Every day at WPS we are working on achieving handsfree growing. What does this mean for greenhouse owner Thom Persoon of Forever Plants?
About 1.5 years ago this tropical plant grower bought a WPS sorting and shipping system. The system is consists of the following functionalities: camera sorting, buffering belts (marketplace) with watering channels, flexible order picking and 8 packing stations. This automation brings overview and savings in regards to labor

Our WPS team has formulated nice challenging resolutions for 2022. But we also have put the challenges in front of the individuals of our expert panel.

Which resolution gives you new energy for 2022

More and more domestic as well as international customers are using the SmartFlo conveyor product line from WPS to automate logistics in their facilities.

In the last couple of years WPS has evolved. Not only in their product range but also in their core organization. Along with the hiring of new staff a new breeze went through the company.
We are paying better attention to service, differentiating ourselves and employee satisfaction.
Our mission and values of the past are not measuring up to our current drive. Therefore we have worded a new mission, dream and placed a new dot on the horizon for our company.

In February of 2021 WPS and the Barth Groep formed a strategic alliance.

WPS’s filled order portfolio and international ambitions stood at the basis of forming this alliance. In particular a number of large projects were a reason to look for a dependable partner for WPS. WPS has the ambition to keep growing and developing itself as a system integrator. With this said, WPS has also chosen not to develop and build all components of the systems as previously, but outsource some of this, yet another reason for finding the right strategic partner.

“During the discussions with the Barth Groep we noticed that both companies see high quality and strong relationships as a key point for cooperating.”
Other items on the WPS wish list were, that a reliable partner had to be large enough and has a strong service track record with their customers. This led us to choosing the Barth group as our partner.” According to Digna van Zanten, Managing Director WPS.

“We are very pleased to have WPS as our strategic partner. WPS’s core values fit seamlessly in our own company strategies of customer care, innovation and capacity to empathize with customers. Additionally interesting to us is that WPS services the horticultural and agriscience market.” according to Henk Verschoor, Managing Director Barth Groep, Divisie Industrial Solutions.

For over 25 year WPS develops and manufactures innovative solutions for the international floral industry and agriscience clients.

We are proud to announce that Altman Plants has installed a WPS SmartFlo conveyor belt system. The SmartFlo system is installed in a main aisle in their greenhouse in Peyton CO. Richard Dekker, maintenance manager at Altman Plants, scanned the market and ended up at WPS SmartFlo.

Altman awarded the system to WPS, because of its affordability in combination with the features and possible expansion options.

Starting October 1^st we have a new face in our organization: Michael Deelen fulfills the role of:...

Ammerlaan-Sosef has commissioned WPS to further update and improve its current sorting and shipping buffering system. WPS is working vigilantly to get the job done within the allotted time slot and get all new wishes implemented.

Expansion and upgrading the buffer
The number of tracks of the renewed buffer system will almost be doubled and for a large part will be a continuation of the existing buffer. In this new setup Ammerlaan-Sosef will be able to water the plants in the gutter tracks of the shipping buffer. Furthermore the buffering system will be integrated and connected to last years installed SmartFlo system.

Sorting with Plant Vision technology
Plant Vision technology in combination with WPS’s software analyzes at high speed large numbers of plants. Plants can be sorted based on characteristics, such as size, color and species. Next, the sorted plants are automatically transported to assigned buffering tracks and packing stations.

Part 2 of the project: Packaging Line automation
Besides upgrading the sorting buffer, Ammerlaan-Sosef has even more ambitious plans in the form of automating the packaging line. This automation consists of a sleeving machine, a Smart Placing robot which automatically places plants in an assortment of trays and an automatic tray de-stacker called Smart Destacker, which can de-stack trays of various sizes. In the next few weeks we will keep you updated on this project as well.

In horticulture Corona has hit hard. Many horticulturists were forced to throw away plants. One would think that larger investments would be put on the back burner. Nevertheless, we see another trend at WPS: after having dealt with the first blow, it turned out that the demand among horticulturalists for automation was increasing.

For years they have been one of the most recognizable elements of our customers' logistic systems in pot plant cultivation: the woven transport belts. They are the way to transport plants over long distances and the basis of many plant buffer systems. Yet there are still elements that can be improved on such an apparently simple product. Weaving and choice of material are determinants for e.g. stretch, wear and tear and straight running of a belt.

Do you need to reach the WPS Service Department?  You can now also use Whatsapp!

Hoogeveen Plants, growers of shrubs, small trees and grasses, in Hazerswoude-Dorp the Netherlands is going to implement a WPS SmartFlo system at one of their locations. SmartFlo will be used to move plants into the growing areas as well as consolidating growing space and getting plants to the shipping departments. A key requirement was: to be as flexible as possible with use of the systems and being able to do various routes through the growing area. But being able to save labor was Hoogeveen Plants’ main requirement.

Three years ago, WPS started the development of the SmartFlo Extension, an addition to the SmartFlo Conveyor System. The SmartFlo Extension is a very useful innovation, which is proving its worth, given the 50 units sold this year.

Plant color is an important parameter to see breeding results in detail and enabling you to classify plants automatically.

Nursery Ammerlaan-Sosef has asked WPS to install an automatic packing line.

Last month OK Plant has taken into use a new sorting and delivery system from WPS. The purpose of the system is to increase flexibility and further improve ergonomics for employees. The newly acquired system has therefore been built to the highest standards.

Vreugdenhil Bulbs & Plants from 's-Gravenzande, Holland is a grower of a wide range of bulbs and...

At the nursery at the Sprongenloet in Honselersdijk, The Netherlands, Ammerlaan-Sosef grows various varieties of Celosia and Primula. In order to further improve the sorting and delivery system, they opted for a WPS solution.

KP Holland has implemented an innovative robotic arm for placing its Kalanchoe 7 cm in trays. This robotic arm has uniquely developed "brushes" that ensure that all plants are placed undamaged in trays. With this new implementation KP Holland can guaranty its top quality plants.

Karma Plants supplies more than 200 different customers every week, each with their own specific requirements. In recent years, the range of colors and pot sizes has grown considerably. In order to further optimize this delivery process, Karma Plants invests in a new flexible internal logistical system.

To track the performance of your logistics system, to be able to control on input and output, but also to be able to determine per employee whether they process enough plants: the SmartFlo Count measures this.

Ammerlaan-Sosef is a modern potted plant nursery in the heart of horticultural area the Westland. Ammerlaan-Sosef was founded in 1999 after Ard Ammerlaan started working together with son Jeffrey and employee Gertjan Sosef. After Ard’s original crops, pot chrysanthemums and Celosia Caracas, which he had been producing for years, Ammerlaan-Sosef now has an annual program with Primula Sweet Kisses, Cyclamen and Celosia 'Deep Purple' Caracas and a few other Celosias, including the new varieties Javalin and Vintage.
Ammerlaan-Sosef was the winner of the Dutch Flower Award 2018.
At the Sprongenloet nursery in Honselersdijk, Ammerlaan Sosef grows 6 varieties of Celosia and 13 colors of Primula. In order to further improve logistics in this nursery, they have chosen again for the WPS’ SmartFlo automated transport system.

Crossing
The SmartFlo Crossover, a conveyor belt with a mobile frame, will be used to connect the main and bay belts. Furthermore, extendable parts in the conveyor belt, the SmartFlo Extension tm, will be used to cross the main isle,
Innovation
Ammerlaan Sosef is also one of the first to use the new SmartFlo Count, a flexible counter that allows customers to wirelessly keep track of efficiencies during plant movements in the greenhouse.

Collaboration
WPS and Ammerlaan-Sosef have been working together for several years. With this new deal, the collaboration between the two companies is further confirmed.

 

Kooij Nertera has implemented a new WPS Plant Order System (POS). One remarkable feature is that the various components (plant feed, photo imaging unit and plant buffer) can be moved, so that space can be freed up when needed. The underlying principle for the mobile POS is that it provides flexibility and convenience. Further it reduces labor and makes work easier for employees.

Kooij Nertera from Ens (NL) grows Nertera Granadenis. Kooij Nertera Natural is the only producer of Nertera Granadensis Astrid® worldwide. Growing these plant to produce berries is a unique process. They propagate this unique plant in various colors and pot sizes. Pot size 8 was extensively tested first by WPS to see if it could be processed by the system.
The POS evaluates and sorts the plant by:
- Height
- Flowering phase (number of colored buds compared to green leaves),
- Plant diameter

"So better working conditions, peace of mind in the delivery process and accurate sorting, all thanks to the WPS mobile plant order system."

Henk Kooij, owner, explains his choice: "We were looking for a system that would ease the work for us in preparing our plants for auction and would bring more flow in the delivery process.
Normally we were used to picking up and sorting in the greenhouse directly from the concrete floors.
Now we bring the plants to the system and sort them, make stock of sorted plants, so during the day when orders come in we can efficiently pick these orders from this buffer.
So better working conditions, peace of mind in the delivery process and accurate sorting, all thanks to the WPS mobile plant order system. The system was timely delivered according specifications and contract.
Jan Moekestorm, WPS project leader: "We are pleased and proud that we were able to realize this wonderful project for Kooij Nertera and that the cooperation went so well. We wish Kooij Nertera lots of success with our system and we hope to be of service to them again.

On June 7, Opti-flor opened its newest location: Opti-flor Design, for the cultivation of...

OK Plant has chosen to renew their current sorting and delivery buffer. WPS is proud to carry out...

Edwin Dijkshoorn has taken a new position as Director of Business Development North America at WPS....

Source: MMJ Daily
https://www.mmjdaily.com/article/9111471/automation-of-cannabis-production/

To give interested parties a better idea of WPS' automation solutions in real life, we organised the very first WPS Automation Inspiration Tour on the last day of the Greentech, Thursday 13 June. This tour was a great success! With two vans, we visited three customers in two tours who explained the WPS system they were running.
Participants of the tour were of course allowed to ask questions and take pictures.

We would like to thank KP Holland, Bart van der Valk, Forever Plants, Ammerlaan-Sosef and Bestplant very much for their hospitality!

WPS recently delivered a new internal transport system to Bestplant in Poeldijk. Bestplant already...

Source: VAKBLAD ONDER GLAS, 29 MEI 2019

Forever Plants has been a customer of WPS for over 12 years and has chosen to completely renew the...

On the last day of the Greentech, Thursday 13 June, WPS is organising the WPS Automation...

In Ter Laak's new Daylight Greenhouse, the new WPS delivery system has been put into use, which makes it possible to compile orders more efficiently.

We proudly present you the newest corner guidance with actuator for our SmartFlo transport conveyor...

Dutch biologists have discovered the missing link in the ‘safe signal’ of plants. Although a lot of information was already known about jasmonic acid and it effects, the so called ‘safe signal’ was quite a mystery.

During the last Westland Event the interactive map with innovations in the greenhouse horticulture sector was presented: https://www.westlandhortibusiness.com/en/innovations-and-solutions.

WPS has completed phase 2 in the daylight greenhouse of Ter Laak Orchids. Phase 2 focuses on the widening of the orchid, whereby the orchid is transferred to a larger Plant Growth Cell (PGC).

As of 1 August this year, there will be a change in the composition of the WPS board and Digna van Zanten will officially take over as Managing Director from Marc Knulst and from her father, owner and founder, Eef van Zanten.

Marc has found a new opportunity as director at Perfectkeur. He will ensure a smooth transfer of his duties until 1 August. Over the last 2.5 years, Marc Knulst has played an important role at WPS and the company would like to thank him for all his efforts, all the progress and for the growth he brought.

The Ter Laak Orchids nursery is currently expanding its Wateringen premises in the Netherlands with a new 50,000 m² Daylight Greenhouse. To kit out the new greenhouse, Ter Laak Orchids has decided to install another WPS system. With this innovative automated system, the orchid grower expects to be able to respond better to the rapidly changing market demand and ever smaller order sizes.

Last week we gave growers a sneak preview of our new WPS automatic packing line. That afternoon, all eyes were on our brand new Smart Destacking, Smart Placing and Smart Wrapping systems.

Rainbow Greenhouses, a wholesale grower and distributer of potted plants, recently invested in a SmartFlo system for transporting trays. Crops may need to be moved as often as every two weeks to provide the best growing environment. With WPS they created an effective system with the aim of reducing labour and increasing space utilization and working speed in the nursery.

Image analysis and classification techniques are advancing rapidly with developments such as deep learning, neural networks and artificial intelligence. These developments are of upmost importance for plant phenotyping, as they will play an increasingly prominent role in the future.

Dijk van Dijk Hydrangea and garden plant nursery recently invested in a SmartFlo and delivery system for transporting, cleaning, sorting and delivering hydrangeas. Robin van Dijk worked with WPS to create an effective system with the aim of optimising operations in the nursery and achieving cost and management efficiencies.

A 10,000 m2 expansion of the Walking Plant System has enabled Karma Plants to increase its production. To get the most out of this expansion, the nursery has decided to extend its current WPS system as it has already led to a remarkable improvement in quality and higher yields per square metre.

Danish grower PKM is investing in efficiency and stability

Danish company Gartneriet PKM, one of the market leaders in the production of Campanula, is investing in efficiency and stability. PKM aims to reduce labour, improve response times to the market, and create a more stable working environment. In collaboration with WPS, the company developed a delivery system that meets all these requirements, and which is in operation since the beginning of 2017.

At the IPM Essen, we will present our SmartStaff robots. Every week we will introduce one robot to you and in total, three robots will be presented. Every robot has their unique characteristics, but we can tell you one thing for sure: they take work out off your hands!

WPS is very proud to announce its new exclusive partnership with Zegami to deliver Smart Data Exploration software to the phenotyping world. The Zegami software is an exciting new image based data discovery tool, which provides organizations with the unique opportunity to organize and analyze big data sets, driving new quality standards within the industry.

Currently, 20% of the world’s arable land is affected by salinity in the soil, representing grave environmental stress that negatively affects the productivity of crops. Considering the forecast that by 2050 the rising soil salinization will influence over 50% of all of the global arable landmass, whilst global population is growing faster than ever before, we can conclude this is a pressing issue.

The WPS digital phenotyping system is the most complete and versatile system on the market, giving researchers the unique ability to fully control every parameter in an experiment. The turnkey solution is designed to work alongside and fully document the growth cycle of the plants, using advanced imaging techniques.

A recent study published in the Computers and Electrics in Agriculture journal by Yi Lin (2015) discussed the potential of LiDAR technology in plant phenotyping. Although current limitations of the LiDAR technology are well known, the review study focusses on the future potential of the technique, based on continuous research and development.

Phenotyping can be defined as: G + E = P. Meaning, the phenotype (P) of an organism (in this case a plant) is the result of the genotype (G), the physiological traits of a plant, and the environment (E) it is growing in. Therefore, the study of the combination of these factors is called Phenotyping. In this simplified definition, the answer to the question mentioned above can be found.

Gerbera producer LG Flowers (the Netherlands) saw an opportunity to effect a labour saving change in the processing of gerberas. WPS and LG Flowers have together designed a system that fully meets the needs of the latter company. The basic principles governing the design of the WPS processing system were: a faster response to customer orders, a more stable working environment, continuous supply to the cut flower processing lines and creating sufficient stock for an hour’s work.

At the end of the production process in a greenhouse, plants are packed and transported to the customers. Before that moment, plants bridge a considerable distance in an internal logistics system. Every grower of course knows which route his plants take in his system, but what no one knows is exactly how beautiful the view of a plant is during the transportation process.

Tom Abramowski, owner of Rockwell Farms, recently decided to invest in SmartFlo conveyor belts. One of the major players in first-year pot and bedding plants in the US, Rockwell Farms sees SmartFlo conveyor belts as the ideal solution both for saving on labour and for creating a calmer working atmosphere. The SmartFlo range uses space more efficiently with more plants per square metre and belts that can be walked on. At Rockwell Farms, SmartFlo conveyor belts are used for positioning and selecting plants. They opted for the wider version of the conveyor belt, which is big enough for both large pot sizes and trays. The belts will be installed in autumn 2016.

The wide conveyor belt is suitable for transporting large pots and trays. The SmartFlo series consists of several modules of conveyors that are connected online. This allows you to tailor the system to cater exactly to your operational horticultural requirements, which means that you never need to buy a system that is either too large or too small for your specific needs. This makes the SmartFlo conveyor system very affordable, especially when you consider that you can expand SmartFlo in steps to create a more comprehensive system. Not to mention that working with SmartFlo conveyors provides calm in the workplace!

In this interview, Gary Spink of Marlborough Nursery reveals his reasons for using Plant Growth Cells. After a testing period, Gary decided to purchase the PGCs in 2013. During the last three years the PGCs offered Gary an substantial increase in the number of plants per m2, improved quality of plants and the ‘quarantaine’ of plants in case of disease. Read the whole story of Gary in the interview below.

It used to be difficult to deliver excellent quality plants in an efficient manner, simply because of the many types of bulbs grown at Roma Nova. When you consider that the 80 different kinds are all wrapped in their own beautiful packaging, each with their own specific label, you can begin to appreciate the challenge Roma Nova faced, as these processes are not merely labour intensive but also expensive. Erik Willemse, Roma Nova’s owner, approached WPS to brainstorm about a logistics solutions which would help reduce labour, establish a calm, well organised workplace and obtain a better overview.

WPS and Opti-flor together developed a new sorting and delivery system for Opti-flor’s expansion with the establishment of its Haeghe-flor location. The system has evolved from the current systems that Opti-flor and WPS had developed together earlier on. Given the pleasant manner of cooperation at that time it made sense for Opti-flor to settle on WPS again: “WPS is our preferred supplier for our logistics systems,” said co-owner Rene Hendriks.

In order to meet their customers’ high quality requirements and to distinguish itself even further from the rest, Piet Vijverberg Nurseries have switched to the revolutionary SmartScan 3D system for sorting Phalaenopsis. With the new camera technology developed by TNO and WPS, plants can now be sorted perfectly and 100% reliably thanks to SmartScan 3D technology. During sorting the SmartScan 3D (SS3D) system looks at the number of flowers, buds, stems, stem length and branching. “Only plants that meet the highest standards are eligible for the ‘Star Quality By5’ brand name,” Sander Vijverberg asserts.