NY98031 Optimum Work Methods in the Nursery Potting Process W
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NY98031 Optimum Work Methods in the Nursery Potting Process W Radajewski, D Brown and T Franklin Queensland Horticulture Institute NY98031 This report is published by the Horticulture Australia Ltd to pass on information concerning horticultural research and development undertaken for the nursery industry. The research contained in this report was funded by Horticulture Australia Ltd with the financial support of the nursery industry. All expressions of opinion are not to be regarded as expressing the opinion of Horticulture Australia Ltd or any authority of the Australian Government. The Corporation and the Australian Government accept no responsibility for any of the opinions or the accuracy of the information contained in this report and readers should rely upon their own enquiries in making decisions concerning their own interests. Cover price; $22.00 (GST Inclusive) ISBN 0 7341 0226 7 Published and distributed by: Horticultural Australia Ltd Level 1 50 Carrington Street Sydney NSW 2000 Telephone: (02) 8295 2300 Fax: (02) 8295 2399 E-Mail: [email protected] .au ©Copyright 2001 Horticulture Australia Limited Final Report Project NY98031 (April 2001) Optimum Work Methods in the Nursery Potting Process W. Radajewski, D. Brown, T. Franklin Department of Primary Industries Queensland Horticulture Institute Centre for Amenity and Environmental Horticulture Project NY98031 Dr W. Radqjewski Queensland Horticulture Institute P.O. Box 327 Cleveland 4163 Phone (07) 32861488 The purpose of this report is to provide information to the Australian nursery industry on the present state of potting production efficiency and potting labour costs and show potential methods of improving potting production performance. Horticulture ••••• A Australia IIUI A Nursery Industry Australia Un wH^Associstion Limited ••!•* «88W»1IL»» of Australia APRIL 2001 Any recommendations contained in this publication do not necessarily represent current Horticulture Australia policy. No person should act on the basis of the content of this publication, whether as to matters of fact or opinion or other content, without first obtaining specific, independent professional advice in respect of the matters set out in this publication. MEDIA SUMMARY 3 TECHNICAL SUMMARY 4 1 INTRODUCTION 5 2 MATERIALS AND METHODS 7 2.1 NURSERIES AND SYSTEMS INVESTIGATED 7 2.2 DATA COLLECTION METHODS 9 3 RESULTS 10 3.1 NURSERY POTTING PRODUCTION DATA 12 3.2 POTTING PERFORMANCE 15 3.3 POTTING COST 17 3.3.1 Potting systems 18 3.3.2. Mechanisation level 22 3.3.3 Pot size 22 3.3.4 Nursery size 28 3.3.5 State 31 3.4 HANDLING OF POTTED PLANTS 34 4 DISCUSSION 38 4.1 TASKS AND LABOUR COST INVOLVED 38 4.2 FACTORS AFFECTING POTTING PRODUCTION EFFICIENCY 39 4.2.1 Work organisation 40 4.2.2 Potting work environment 40 4.2.3 Worker related issues 40 4.3 GENERAL INDUSTRY ISSUES 40 4.4 SPECIFIC PROBLEMS RELATED TO POTTING PRODUCTION 41 4.5 BEST PRACTICE FOR POTTING PRODUCTION 42 4.5.1 Potting Optimisation Factors 42 4.5.2 Benchmarks 43 4. 5.3 Economic evaluation 44 4.5.4 Basic principles of improving production efficiency 45 5 TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER 46 5.1 REPORTS AND PUBLICATIONS 46 5.2 PROJECT FIELD DAYS 47 5.3 PRODUCT DEMONSTRATION 47 5.4 SURVEYS A 48 5.5 TRAINING MATERIAL 48 5.6 COMMERCIALISATION 48 6 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 50 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 52 BIBLIOGRAPHY 52 APPENDIX 1. DATA COLLECTION FORMS 53 APPENDIX 2. METHODOLOGY OF SOLVING INEFFICIENCY IN POTTING PRODUCTION 58 APPENDIX 3. LIST OF TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER ACTIVITIES 69 APPENDIX 4. SURVEY FORMS & RESULTS 70 APPENDIX 5. POTTED PLANT HANDLING SYSTEMS 74 APPENDIX 6. LIST OF ATTACHMENTS 81 Media summary The investigation of potting labour costs has been carried out by a team of researchers from the Queensland Department of Primary Industries in collaboration with the Queensland, New South Wales and Victorian Nursery Industry Associations. All of the investigative work has been carried out on representative nurseries in these states. The aim of the project has been to identify and recommend methods for improving nursery labour efficiencies in the area of potting up. The project has progressed through stages that resulted in the following major outcomes: • Labour cost components of the potting operation have been identified • Potting production inefficiencies have been identified and solutions proposed • Benchmarks for the potting operation have been developed • A potted plant handling system has been developed and commercialised • Training resource material has been developed Though research has confirmed that the vast majority of Australian nurseries operate with excessive production labour costs, nurseries display a notable lack of motivation and success in attempting to improve their production efficiency. This is because nurseries have no access to information on how they compare with other nurseries in terms of production efficiency. As a result of this: • some nurseries choose to believe they are doing much better than everyone else and do not attempt to improve their production efficiency • some nurseries accept they are inefficient but don't know exactly how inefficient they are or how they can improve H some attempt to improve efficiency but have no idea of their current level of efficiency or the level they should be aiming for, typically basing their improvements on untested, non objective information and therefore fail to achieve any significant improvement or achieve a negative result (ie. production costs increase) • the last and smallest group (estimated at not more than 1 % of all production nurseries), despite being unaware of their current level of efficiency or the level they should be aiming for, try and do achieve some improvement in their production efficiency although not always in terms of an acceptable cost benefit result. In order to maximise the benefit of research, the engineering section at DPI is proposing to establish a permanent, full time centre for nursery production research. Nursery industry members and allied manufacturers will be encouraged to use the centre's research data and information for their mutual gain and researchers will be able to continually monitor, investigate and report on all aspects affecting nursery production. 3 Technical Summary The reasons for high labour costs in potting production have been studied at small, medium and large nurseries in pot sizes ranging chiefly from 100mm to 200mm. Both hand potting and machine aided potting were investigated in the 52 Australian and 10 overseas potting systems commercially operating in the nurseries collaborating with the project. Ten distinct potting systems were studied in the project: standard bench, modified bench, mobile bench, Javo, Comet, Mayer, C-Mac, rotary table, KW Engineering and the prototypes of the WHTI potting machine. The labour cost of overall potting production was divided into three potting stages: preparation, potting, and after potting. The labour cost of potting was investigated on the basis of nine potting processes: handling planting stock, pot handling, fertiliser handling, media handling, handling pot with media, handling the potted plant, handling other associated materials, maintaining the potting area and preparing the growing area. The lowest amount recorded for total potting of 3.1 cents per pot represents potting easy to pot plants into small sized pots and the highest amount for total potting of 35.43 cents represents potting difficult to pot plants into large sized pots. Benchmarks for the labour cost of potting production have been developed that include adjustments for the differences in potting difficulty between various plant species. The benchmark figures are suitable for nurseries to use to establish their level of potting production efficiency and determine their potential for labour cost savings. A device has been developed and a prototype built to minimise the cost of potted plant handling which is commonly the most costly element in the potting operation. The concept of this device has been patented and a commercial company is presently involved in the development of a commercial version of the device. In general, the investigation concluded that nursery operators' lack of objective information on various aspects of production efficiency is the major reason for existing high levels of labour cost. It also concluded that the specific reasons for excessive potting labour costs paid by nurseries is most often due to: • inefficient organisation of potting procedures often combined with the use of an inappropriate potting system and equipment as well as poor materials handling methods are responsible for approximately 65-85% of excessive potting labour costs • staff with inadequate job training and accompanying levels of skill and motivation is responsible for approximately 10-20% of excessive potting labour costs • high potting difficulty of plants is responsible for approximately 5-15% of excessive potting labour costs. The general recommendation is to increase the average daily number of plants to be potted that have similar requirements with regard to treatments, potting procedures, pot sizes, pot colours and/or to keep the daily work load as constant as possible. This strategy will immediately lower potting labour costs without any expenditure. 4 1 Introduction The issue of labour efficiencies is a significant concern to the nursery industry and has led to much discussion over past years in terms of what can be done to increase nursery production efficiencies and minimise labour costs.