Twenty people to five.
A quarter-mile span to 20 feet.
One week to 20 minutes.
What do these all have in common? They are all some of the head-scratching efficiencies that individual nurseries across Oregon have realized since they’ve implemented one key Lean concept — continuous flow. In short, it means efficiently moving materials through a streamlined production process from start to finish.
“It’s made a big difference for us,” said Tristan Wampole, continuous flow manager at Kraemer’s Nursery in Mt. Angel, Oregon. “There’s a big drive in the horticulture industry in general, because labor is getting more expensive and harder to find, to figure out ways to be more efficient.”