11 considerations when deciding which jobs to mechanize

Departments - Tech Solutions

Heed these tips when determining where and which tasks to automate in the greenhouse.

November 18, 2020

A forklift speeds cart handling in both the field and greenhouse.
Photos courtesy of John W. Bartok Jr.

Identifying where to mechanize or automate is not an easy task. Most businesses have a limited amount of capital for mechanization and it is important to get maximum return.

A good starting point is to measure the amount of time that goes into the different operations that are performed. This can be done by having workers keep track of their time and output for the different tasks. However, one problem many growers encounter when attempting to do this is that there are a large number of tasks that are performed, and this can involve considerable record keeping. For example, in a study I did for the Horticultural Research Institute there were more than 70 different tasks associated with shipping plants from a nursery rewholesale yard.

One method that will help you find the best jobs to mechanize is to analyze each task for the following factors:

1. Repetitiveness. Tasks that are done over and over again are prime candidates for mechanization — for example, container filling, dibbling, transplanting, tagging and watering. For most of these there is a wide selection of equipment available for both large and small operations.

2. Backup in the flow of materials. This is an indication that parts of the system are operating at different rates. A review of the different tasks may require adding more help to a particular task or adjusting the rate that a machine is operating.

3. Labor input. Tasks with significant labor input are ones that should be considered first for mechanization. For example, considerable labor goes into moving plants several times during the growing process. Carts and conveyors are typical devices that can move larger quantities with only minimal labor.

4. Length of the job. The number of days that a particular task is performed can influence your decision on mechanization. Watering is a task that is done almost every day. It should be given high priority when looking at mechanization. Seeding, on the other hand, may be done only a few days during the year. Investing considerable capital into a precision seeder may not be justified.

5. Tasks requiring heavy physical activity. Workers tire quickly when the objects they move are over 50 pounds. Handling materials such as bales of growing mix, bags of fertilizer and larger containers or ball and burlap plants can be mechanized using forklifts, bucket loaders and other lifting devices.

Drip irrigation systems save labor and water.

6. Ergonomic activity. Tasks that require repetitive motion of fingers, wrists, elbows, shoulders, neck and back can result in cumulative trauma disorder (CTD) complaints and lost work time. Besides rotating employees between jobs, the use of equipment can reduce the potential for injury.

7. Employee comfort and safety. Because of the large amount of material that is handled over long distances and on wet and rough surfaces, safety for employees should be of major concern. Equipment can be employed that will reduce the risk factor and make working conditions better.

8. Tasks requiring considerable walking. This is one area where considerable savings can be made by applying equipment. Examples include carrying plants long distances, walking to locate materials and locating restroom facilities a significant distance from work areas.

9. Excessive plant injury. Manual handling of plants can often result in plant injuries like broken stems, damaged leaves, and broken flower buds. Equipment, such as carts or conveyors, may help to reduce this loss.

10. Skilled labor doing materials handling tasks. With the large variety of materials handling equipment available today, it is possible to reduce manual handling of many materials. Skilled labor should oversee the materials handling operation and keep everything operating smoothly.

11. Time constraints. The spring season and holidays are usually rush times for growers. There is always more to do that the time allows. Mechanization can help to accomplish more during these periods.

The primary objectives of the automation and mechanization of tasks should be to reduce production costs, increase output, save time and reduce physical effort.

John is an agricultural engineer, an emeritus extension professor at the University of Connecticut and a regular contributor to Greenhouse Management. He is an author, consultant and certified technical service provider doing greenhouse energy audits for USDA grant programs in New England. jbartok@rcn.com

Growing through expansion

Departments - Meet the grower: Mary Beth Martin

Mary Beth Martin looks for ways to grow more efficiently at Michael’s Greenhouses.

November 18, 2020

Brooke Bilyj

Mary Beth Martin realized early on that nature makes her happy. Growing up in Connecticut, she spent most of her time “wandering around the woods, climbing trees and finding wildflowers.” Today, Martin gets to share the happiness that plants provide with others, as head grower at Michael’s Greenhouses in Cheshire.

“I’ve always loved flowers and the joy they bring people, and now I get to create that,” says Martin, who has been at Michael’s since 2012. “If I do my job well, we have beautiful product leaving the greenhouse that’s going to give people a big smile and brighten up their whole day.”

Martin didn’t plan on a horticulture career, though. While earning her biology degree at Fairfield University, she took an assortment of courses to explore different areas of the field. Initially, she wanted to study birds, but her advisors steered her toward opportunities in horticulture, and she went on to earn a master’s degree in plant pathology from the University of Massachusetts.

Falling back on her lifelong love of flowers, Martin applied for a growing job at White Flower Farm, and she worked there for a while before having a child. She stayed home with her daughter for 10 years before returning to horticulture, growing for a small begonia greenhouse near her home. She worked there for 10 years, until a growing position opened at Michael’s Greenhouses in 2012.

Since joining Michael’s Greenhouses, her role has grown right along with the operation as the family-owned wholesale grower continues to expand and innovate. Today, she oversees all 10 acres of greenhouse production, while looking for ways to more efficiently produce the high-quality plants her customers expect.

Responding to growth

Initially, Martin managed a rental property spanning about an acre’s worth of greenhouses. After a year, she was promoted to head grower, and her responsibilities quickly expanded as the operation added more space.

“When they offered me the head grower job, there were 3 acres of greenhouses at that point,” she says. “Then they added another 3 acres in 2013, and then another acre and a half a couple years later. Just last year, we added another 2 acres of greenhouse, so it’s been expanding ever since I started.”

As Michael’s enlarges, Martin constantly moves plants around to match crops to the right conditions. “We always put crops in different greenhouses as we add space, and try to pair the environment to what the plant [needs],” she says. “Every greenhouse is different, every crop is different, and every season is different, so everything is a constant variable. You can’t just follow the same instructions every year.”

For example, when Martin started her greenhouse growing career, growers typically sprayed chemicals weekly, “whether plants needed it or not,” she recalls, “because that’s just what you did.” Now, Martin pays close attention to plants and her scouts for potential pest problems, instead of just following a set spray rotation. (Hanging baskets are an exception — since they’re too high to scout for pests, they still get a preventative drench of insecticide.)

Growing more efficiently

As Michael’s Greenhouses grows, the company continually invests in technologies that make operations more efficient.

“We’re always looking for ways to be more sustainable and save labor,” Martin says. New greenhouse structures include energy-saving features like LED lights and heated floors. Automated booms improve watering efficiency and consistency, and Argus environmental controls let Martin and her growers “manipulate the greenhouse environment to reduce problem conditions.”

One of Martin’s responsibilities is tracking the operation’s chemical use for Michael’s MPS (More Profitable Sustainability) certification, which measures environmentally responsible practices in the greenhouse. “Part of my job is making sure that we use the safest chemicals we can,” she says. “I spend a lot of time researching new products that are good for the environment and good for my workers.”

Martin often applies RootShield, an organic biological fungicide, as a “root protection system” during production, which has “reduced our chemical needs for root diseases to almost nothing,” she says. Likewise, she uses DiPel, a biological insecticide, to control caterpillars without adding hazardous re-entry interval windows for her workers. She also uses beneficial bugs to manage pests, including:

Nematodes to control fungus gnats and thrips

Predatory mites to fight thrips on Gerber daisies

Predatory wasps for whitefly control on poinsettias

To evaluate new chemistries and controls, Martin must balance crop results with cost margins to keep Michael’s Greenhouses growing efficiently. “We’re trying to be as innovative as we can, but we also have to watch our margins,” she says. “If I can look back and say, ‘We produced this beautiful plant, and we did it in a cost-effective manner,’ that’s when I know that we’ve done our job right.”

No more status quo

Departments - Hort Truths

Staying up to date with the latest trends or driving the next big thing will keep customers coming back for more.

November 18, 2020

Leslie F. Halleck

How do you find the next big thing? That is a question I am asked a lot, especially when I am at industry conferences. Unfortunately, none of us are getting the benefit this year of attending industry conferences, where we normally get exposure to new plants, products and consumer trends. Not to mention, missing out on all the in-person networking that helps us connect the dots and generate new business. With so much less live networking going on these days, you are going to have to hone your trend-spotting skills in other ways if you want to keep up with — or get ahead of — the times.

When faced with figuring out how to predict, or at least catch up with, potentially profitable market trends, where should you start?

Ask first

Before good answers always come good questions. Start by drilling down into the overall marketplace and our industry to develop the right questions. What is staying the same with consumers overall and what is staying the same in the green industry? What is changing in both? What do your customers value about our industry and your business? How are current industry trends impacting or changing our values? Use these questions to help you find new paths to profits.

What not to do

Figuring out what to do next may often come from first figuring out what not to do. Pay attention to what is not working — either industry-wide or for you personally. Sometimes it pays off to sit back and wait while brand-new trends take off, to see how quickly they start to fizzle. When you can observe how something is quickly not working as well or selling as well as was anticipated, you might spot an alternative opportunity. What was missing from the plant, product or service in terms of why it did not fulfill customer expectations? Can you move in with a better solution?

Anticipating change

Do you enjoy managing change, or would you rather lead it? Reacting to and managing change is often a chaotic and exhausting endeavor. It can make you feel like you can never catch up. If instead, you work to keep your finger on the pulse of what general consumers — and gardening industry consumers — are doing, using and responding to, you can either create the change you want, or at least lead it. That means paying attention across many different media platforms. A lot of attention. If you do not have marketing staff dedicated to this kind of work, now’s the time to hire on staff or contract out someone to help you.

Accepting change

Yes, there are still quite a few companies in the green industry that have not accepted that a lack of a website and social media presence, or a lackluster website with no e-commerce capabilities, puts them at a severe disadvantage. Clinging to the status quo for dear life just is not a good strategy for business success and growth. When I work on website projects with clients, my motto is “go big or go home.” Meaning, a cheap static website with no commerce capabilities is not going to cut it. If you do not accept how we all — your customers included — live, work, learn, socialize and shop online these days, then your days in business are numbered.

Tempo

The speed at which you either create or adopt a new trend will of course determine your ROI (good or bad). The more proactive you are at keeping up with technology and innovation within your company, the faster on your feet you will be when a big new opportunity presents itself. If you are way behind the times with your technology — be it equipment or digital tools — the more difficult it is to pivot in time.

Trend-spotting tools

Personally, I find that good trendspotting comes naturally from paying attention to a lot of different forms of media. TV commercials, print ads and branded social media content always contain tell-tale indicators for me about items that have garnered mass consumer favor. I often spot common threads through multiple forms of media at the same time. This observation tells me that something has already been identified as a trend by a lot of other expensive marketing companies; they have already done the high-price analysis for you. Whether it is houseplants showing up in the ads, specific colors or styles of decor, they are worth paying attention to.

If you want to do a little digital data mining, then get cozy with Google Trends. This free analytical tool can be found at trends.google.com, where you can input any combination of keywords or phrases to see their relevance in terms of online searches. The results will also provide you with comparisons to related keywords or phrases, and you can of course drill down on your geographical region. I guarantee what you discover will provide you with some surprises and aha moments — as well as some reminders about the constant and ongoing needs of beginner gardeners.

Make the trends

Personally, I am not one who likes to sit back and wait for trends. I prefer to create and drive them. In my opinion, it is not the customer’s job to decide what the next “hot thing” is while we wait around for them ... it is our job. The better we are at proactively producing plants, products, services and content that customers will desire — and the more proactive we are about consumer communications — the more we get to control the conversation.

Your challenge for 2021, if you choose to accept it: Do you want to be a trend-setter, or just a trend-chaser?

Leslie (CPH) owns Halleck Horticultural, LLC, through which she provides horticultural consulting, business and marketing strategy, product development and branding, and content creation for green industry companies. lesliehalleck.com