
Announcements
Vacancies
"Tweeting Growers"
Top 5 - yesterday
- CAN (SK): “The flowers take a long time to start growing but it is worth it because they are so beautiful”
- Plants remove cancer causing toxins from air
- Use of prohydrojasmon to suppress Frankliniella occidentalis and tomato spotted wilt virus in chrysanthemums
- Kuehne+Nagel announces management changes in Middle East and Africa region
- UK: Award-winning Chelsea Flower Show garden to go on display in Hampshire
Top 5 - last week
Top 5 - last month
- Hasfarm’s network expands in Indonesia, partnering with Bromelia Flowers and Tropika
- "Breeders need to study the Chinese market carefully before introducing a variety"
- Royal Flowers merges with The Elite Group
- North America: “Unbridled optimism for Mother’s Day tempered by reality”
- “A new sales channel for flower companies without any labor or high fixed costs”
US (OR): Lean group boosts value for Marion Ag Service
The team focused on the process of fulfilling a customer’s order, targeting the extra time and steps involved. Company leaders had a goal of reducing non-value-added activity by 25 percent. The improvement team exceeded these expectations, cutting steps by more than half and increasing the value-added ratio by 112 percent.
“Rarely do you have the opportunity to open up a process to new ideas, fresh eyes, and unique perspectives,” said John Hockett, Marion Ag Service Head of Sales. “The Lean Consortium provides us the environment to rethink and improve our processes with our customers’ input.”
Members of the Oregon Nursery Lean Consortium have committed to learning and applying Lean principles together for one year. Top practitioners in each company meet for rapid improvement sessions at a hosting site each month.
The event at Marion Ag Service was also the consortium’s first application of process mapping this year—a visual technique for exposing waste. Process maps are excellent tools for helping participants understand each other’s tasks and the impacts each has in the overall flow of an organization. They are often used for business processes where time observations are difficult to capture and where many hand-offs in information, signatures or approvals occur.
Lean is a proven method for eliminating waste that results in more value to customers delivered at a lower cost, in a shorter time, with fewer defects and less human effort. Initial results are often dramatic. It is common to see double- or triple-digit productivity improvements the first time Lean is effectively deployed in an area.
Seven companies are involved in the Oregon consortium this year: Eshraghi Nurseries, JLPN, Marion Ag Service, PRT Oregon, Robinson Nursery, Smith Gardens Aurora, and Woodburn Nursery & Azaleas. A second Lean consortium was launched recently in the Puget Sound region. Companies interested in participating can contact Elizabeth Peters, 503-250-2235 or epeters@petersco.net for information and an application form. To learn more about what a lean consortium is, visit www.petersco.net/consortium.
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Other news in this sector:
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- 2023-05-17 Pursuing sustainability in floriculture
- 2023-05-15 "Vertical solar panels under the gutter can provide significant savings in plastic greenhouses"
- 2023-05-11 Embracing change with new growing systems
- 2023-05-05 US (CA): Winery uses flowers instead of grapes
- 2023-05-05 Scientists unlock the secret to roses aroma
- 2023-05-04 The lost art of chrysanthemum cultivation
- 2023-05-03 Comprehensive assessment of varieties of garden roses in the conditions of the Udmurt Republic
- 2023-05-03 Differential physiological responses and tolerance to potentially toxic elements in Primula forbesii Franch
- 2023-05-03 Growth of leopard flower (Belamcanda chinensis) with humics acids in nursery garden
- 2023-05-02 Russia: Takeaways from the greenhouse experts meeting in Ulyanovsk
- 2023-05-02 Denmark: Vanilla trial shows promising potential for domestic market
- 2023-05-02 University of Florida Greenhouse Training Online 2023 program starts May 29th