Are ergonomics as important as efficiency?

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.

Their first conclusion was that plants needed to be moved to the people and not people to plants. Getting people to plants was time consuming and therefor not cost effective. For instance they worked with movable belts in the greenhouse, which took 25 minutes to move from bay to bay. Not only was this time consuming, but they were also heavy and cumbersome to move around.

With vision techniques, a shipping buffer and a belt system from WPS, moving plants goes twice as fast and ergonomics have improved drastically.

Greenhouse expansion for fuchsias, cyclamen, helianthus, portulacas and poinsettias.

In 2021 C&M Kester added approximately 6500m2 growing area to their 33.000 m2 greenhouse. Besides adding more growing area they added approx. 900m2 to their plant processing area. The WPS system got expanded and optimized as well, adding more production capacity. 

"After the greenhouse expansion in 2021 we wanted to keep the house full with potted plants. The WPS belting system also proves its value here because of its speed, work conditions and durable construction, which makes it a nice system to use.

Speed and ease are important to us. The work conditions for our employees have improved, the plants are moved to the employees, who can now easily pack them."

Willem Jan Hoogduin, international account manager at WPS: "For over 15 years C&M Kester and WPS have been working closely to automate the processes in their greenhouses. The most recent expansion includes our latest technologies, which makes the system even more stable and reliable. Thanks to the modular features the existing WPS system is easily expanded with these newer modules and benefits. The whole process, from sales to commissioning went smooth and delivery was within agreed timeframe.”

Time for happy employees.

The WPS system saves Marino time. This now available time Marino uses to focus on innovations for work processes. Like figuring out how to implement a new supply line, which would allow him to process twice the amount of plants on the current transporting system. This will save him even more time.

“It is important to me that besides speed and efficiency, employees are happy and like the work conditions. When this is the case everything flows better, which gives me energy. Also there might be a little bit time left for me to go bicycle racing or go to my favorite soccer club.”

:Emojis which fit Marino Kester 🌻 😅 👌