Dashboards give orchid grower clear view of daily operations

WESTLAND, Netherlands: In Dutch greenhouse horticulture, there is ever-increasing attention to digitalisation. Through data collection businesses can gain valuable insights into key areas such as production, stock, labour and planning. Orchid grower OK Plant uses Codema SDF dashboards to analyse collected data and gain insight into their daily operations.

The goal is to allow better management decision-making and better customer service. OK Plant has recently begun using SDF Datawarehouse to present visual data at internal meetings and in customer discussions. Thijs van der Valk, Manager at OK Plant, explains in the video how they do this.

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The family business OK Plant was founded by Rob and Desiree Olsthoorn in 1990. They grow a range of seasonal ornamentals and Phalaenopsis in 9 cm pots all year round. Thijs van der Valk uses the SDF software on a daily basis. “The world is rapidly changing and we work more digitally all the time. We now collect a great deal of data in SDF software and use Datawarehouse to present visual data attractively in dashboards. We now have extremely good insight into our daily operations. We present the dashboards to customers and during internal meetings. This allows us to clearly see the numbers we have to sell and when we have to accelerate or conversely apply the brakes. This also allows us to be less dependent on the clock because we have less surplus.”

Van der Valk explains how the data helps him to plan production and labour: “The prognosis figures we enter into SDF are displayed in dashboards. These contain data on totals, price levels and on the different families of orchids. This allows various departments to see how much we have to produce or deliver per day or week giving insight to our delivery managers. The dashboards also help in the planning of labour. If we have sold too much for Monday, we can organise in advance that we start at 6 o’clock rather than 7, or that people are added to the packing line. This means we can stop on time and our customers receive their goods on time, because ‘just in time’ is becoming ever more important.

In SDF Datawarehouse the orchid grower creates customer reports that are shared with its customers once a month. “This keeps them up to date with turnover increases and decreases. We also tell them about new products that are coming on to the market at that time, because we cultivate seasonal products. We now also link up with customers more quickly whenever we see an increase or decrease. Then we start discussions with our customers about whether we can convert a decrease into an increase. We’re very transparent with our customers. This has become our way of doing business and it also allows for closer cooperation. Now we don’t have to turn away sales so often and we can serve our customers better,” says Van der Valk.

He adds, “SDF Datawarehouse gives us good insight into our daily operations in the areas of stock, sales and labour planning. We can deliver better to our customers and we make fewer mistakes. We’ve become less dependent on particular sales channels. Working closely with the Codema SDF consultant allows us to update our dashboards regularly in the most useful way.”