Last year, Flevoplant decided during a strategic reorientation to increase production of cuttings and trays. That is why a new greenhouse of 2.8-hectares was built. But more production also requires more labor. To deal with this in a smart way, nineteen multifunctional crop trolleys are used. Klaas Niewold, CEO at Flevoplant: “The crop trolleys automatically deposit the plants and also remove them again from the greenhouse. That saves a lot of expensive labor. "
The use of crop trolleys was ‘copied’ from the neighbors in the Flevopolder who are working with bedding material. However, at Flevoplant they wanted more, Klaas explains. "The crop trolleys now make it possible to irrigate automatically, spray if necessary and also much faster removal of flowers, care for tendrils and harvest."
Every roof section in the new greenhouse features a crop trolley, but of course human hands are still necessary. To find the optimal interaction between the two is currently looked into. “Now we work with 10 people on a trolley for the flowers and tendrils, with one half taking care of one gutter and the other half taking care of the other one. The slowest, however, sets the pace, so it could well be that we choose to put two people on a trolley and then have five trolleys run simultaneously on different paths. Then you can also see who works the fastest and, which is the most important, still delivers good quality.”
After the reorientation, Flevoplant is working on a switch from frigo plants to more cuttings and tray plants production. Harvesting can start in a week, if all goes well with fewer people than previously required. “We think we can save up to eighty percent on labor for bringing trays in and out of the greenhouse, but also the manual work with flowers, tendrils and harvesting is easier and faster with a crop trolley. And spraying, in addition to plant protection products, for example, also the spraying of growth stimulants for on the leaf, can now be programmed and can be done during the night. That also saves labor, but above all it saves time."
For more information: 
Flevoplant
Klaas Niewold
www.flevoplant.nl
info@flevoplant.nl