Positioning and inserting the milled sticks is physically hard work, people stand bending over all day. That is why Beekenkamp Plants chose the Mobile Sticking Machine (MSM) by Flier Systems.
Ron Duijvestijn, manager at Beekenkamp Plants, knew about the existence of this system for quite a while. He went to see a fellow grower and saw the solution to improve the working conditions for the employees: "The great importance of the machine is to reduce/eliminate heavy physical work. The other alternative is manual sticking whereby people have to stand in a bent position all day.”
Ron Duijvestijn, manager at Beekenkamp Plants
“In addition, automation also provides higher uniformity. The sticks will be better in position with a uniformly inserted depth. Better position means that the plant is guided better in the right direction. In addition, it is important that the stick is deep enough so that it cannot fall over and damage the plant during transport.”
Exact positioning
Henk Meulstee, Sales Engineer at Flier Systems, explains the applied technique: “The technique that is used is separating a row of blocks and placing them exactly in line and position by using a chain conveyor. The carriage of the chain conveyor ensures this exact positioning so that the stick can be placed in any desired position.”
Henk Meulstee
“We gratefully made use of the beautiful development from Edward Keijzer of Hortiquip. He is the inventor of the thin out and stick inserting principle.”
Flier Systems has made changes in the area of safety and improvement of service. The machine has been made safer with regard to operation and operator safety. Service provision has been improved because Flier Systems has equipped the machine with the standards that are also applied to other machines. Flier Systems is therefore, also thanks to its large international network and professional service department, able to serve the customer in the right way. Watch the mobile sticking machine in action in the video below.
Ron Duijvestijn: “It is a wonderful machine. We really have to learn how work with it. Each batch is different. Stick thickness, length and the number of sticks per pot require new settings. We are gaining more and more experience in that. In the beginning it takes some time getting used to it. If there is anything wrong or if we have questions, we call Henk. That communication goes well.”
Ad Kranendonk, Head of Sales and Business Development at Flier Systems: “We recently shot beautiful pictures at Beekenkamp Plants, which were used in the accompanying video. The realisation that the machine is now taking over the work of 20 people, is very satisfying. Aad van Os, logistics employee: "This machine saves an enormous amount of labour. And that is important, because there will be increasingly fewer people available in the future."
For more information:
Flier Systems
www.fliersystems.com