Bergcamp Nursey worked together with Degramec to improve the potting process of the nursery. Now they have come up with a solution specifically aimed at the nursery's needs: 'Potting plan 3.0'. Walter van den Berg of Bergcamp nursery and Maarten Acke of Degramec tell us more about it.
Maarten and Walter with the new machine
Walter van den Berg
Walter (34) runs Bergcamp Nursery together with his brother Robert (36). The company was founded by their father and now has three greenhouses. "We grow seasonal products, cyclamen, campanula and pelargonium. We have been busy looking at how we can improve the potting process. We were looking for machines with overcapacity to cope with future growth. We call it Bergcamp Potting Plan 3.0," says Walter.
"Automation, which we wanted to implement at first, would result in having to decrease our amount of plants in the greenhouse by 2%. But with the Degraplace potting robot that we have now designed, we are not only more efficient, but we now have 2% more plants in the greenhouse."
"In the last 3 years, we have compiled a list of practical things that could be done even better and that would make us more efficient and better. During this time, we have mapped out all breakdowns so that we could eliminate them."
"Before that, Maarten came over with some machines to see what would suit us, so they were involved early on in the process. So we designed and conceived it together from scratch. In the end, it took more than a year, with a good result.
Benefits of the Degraplace 3.0 machine:
- All plants are automatically put down to the façade.
- The robot places all plants uniformly against each other to the millimetre.
- This robot can buffer more plants, so they have increased the capacity by 25%.
- It is a compact machine that is easy to move between the different greenhouses.
- The pots can be supplied from the front and back and from left and right.
Maarten Acke
Maarten Acke of Degramec followed the project at Bergcamp and worked with Walter to find a solution to the grower's problem. "Selling a standard machine is always possible, but we prefer to look at each client specifically to see what they need and then to make a robot or machine that seamlessly connects to the client's needs or problems. What we have done together with Bergcamp is an excellent example of this," says Maarten about the project.
"The second robot that we have now delivered to Bergcamp is also completely tailored to what they needed exactly. If you look at the buffer, the fork that is only half the width of the machine, the put-away system that goes over the belt instead of under it, the width of the robot itself so that it can be transported in the truck, the high capacity, being able to put away up to 10 cm from the façade, etc, then you see a unique robot that is currently not found anywhere else."
For more information:
Degramec 
Ambachtenlaan 13
IZ Lozen Boer
9080 Lochristi
+32 (0) 9 328 4050
info@degramec.be
www.degramec.be
Bergcamp 
Oudecampsweg 11
2678 NN De Lier
+31 (0) 174 51 80 85
www.bergcamp.nl