EMBRACING AUTOMATION How have nurseries in the Netherlands embedded automation and robotics in their businesses? Wayne Brough, AHDB Knowledge Exchange Manager, went and found out.
Nursery production systems have evolved over time in response to ever-changing influencing factors, including available technologies, environmental legislation and customer demand. With the increased availability of robotics and automation, many UK businesses have automated single tasks or several closely related tasks. A classic example of this has been the rise of the automated transplanter, which has become a standard feature in many nurseries. But is looking at the whole nursery production system, rather than individual tasks, a better approach? Looking at the system as a whole has definitely reaped rewards at several large bedding and pot plant nurseries in the Netherlands, which have taken a strategic approach to automating their businesses. PERRY VAN DER HAAK
Perry van der Haak is a specialist pelargonium nursery based near Gravenzande. The nursery is entirely designed around automated bench movement. Within their new 3.2 ha site, the 4,000 production benches are controlled by a sophisticated software system that allows individual bench movement to be controlled throughout production and dispatch, either from the office computer or via mobile phone. The system, installed by Codema, minimises the time staff spend moving around endless batches of plants. Plants can also move more easily through the various production zones to the dispatch area, which is located on a mezzanine floor in the glasshouse. ZUIDBAAK NURSERY
This business, which is similar to a typical UK production nursery, has achieved a joined-up approach to nursery automation on a relatively small budget. Powered shovels and conveyors move bulk-growing media to the production lines. Transplanting occurs via a TTA transplanter, while a continuously moving chain pulley system, embedded in the concrete paths, automatically moves plants around the nursery on trolleys. Plants are placed onto beds (and lifted) in bulk by several large, manually operated, powered forks. An irrigation tunnel can water several trolleys of plants at a time, prior to dispatch.
Figure 1. Study tour delegates examine the automated bench system at Perry van der Haak Nursery
26 AHDB Grower INNOVATE
4,000 production benches are controlled by a sophisticated software system that allows individual bench movement to be controlled throughout production and dispatch, either from the office computer or via mobile phone
