Rapid changeovers and user-friendly top critercia when selecting drum seeder

Dutch grower 'Kwekerij A. Baas' has been using a Flier Systems seeding line since 2001. In order to continue meeting production requirements they looked around for a new solution with higher capacity and faster changeovers. They found their answer in the DS11 Drum Seeder. Now, just a few months after commissioning the machine, director Jarno Baas tells us about the selection process and the results that have since been achieved.

Kwekerij A. Baas produces pot and bedding plants at his modern glasshouse horticultural business which covers approximately 25 hectares. Sales are made in both the domestic and international markets.

The challenges

Kwekerij A. Baas was looking for a seeding machine that could raise the capacity while simultaneously reducing manpower. Jarno Baas: "User-friendliness was an important criterion. With the 'old' seeding line it was only ever one person who could get the most out of it. Seeing that there are around 10 different types of seed being sown, it's also important to have rapid changeovers. Because the old seeding line came from Flier, we got involved in discussions with them as well.

The selection process

'At the fair (Horti Fair 2012) we were immediately impressed by the DS11 Drum Seeder,' said Jarno Baas. We also contacted Florensis, because we knew that they had the latest DS11 Drum Seeder from Flier. We eventually decided to take delivery of this system.'

One of the operators at Florensis had already told us about their experiences with the DS11 Drum Seeder: 'The sowing results are good, even when sowing at high speed. The machine offers us much for the future, specifically the controls, which give us a lot of challenging fine tuning possibilities. This is a completely new approach to sowing seeds!'

The implementation

Communications are vitally important when implementing automated systems. The directors at Baas realised this as well. 'We made it very clear at the company that the benefits would be for both personnel and the company finances. This resulted in the solutions being accepted right across the company. The personnel would be working less overtime, which of course has two sides to it. There were no problems when the machine was being implemented. It all went to our satisfaction.'

Results achieved

'We have been able to increase capacity with the same amount of people. The production capacity achieved for sowing Tagetes was raised by nearly 200%! In the past we needed three people to sow Tagetes in order to ensure that the seeds were properly sown, but this is no longer necessary. The operator can now do everything on his own. This is where we make the greatest savings. Production capacity has risen by about 100% for other types of seeds. We're also losing less time at changeovers. We no longer even do shift work! This means that we have improved efficiency and therefore made substantial labour savings.'

Further information or product demonstrations:

Flier Systems
www.fliersystems.nl

For ornamental plants:
Henk Meulstee
Tel: +31-(0)613118016
Email: h.meulstee@fliersystems.nl