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.