Charles Verdy found a plan in 2021 that would double over his agrarian surgical operation ’s production field , positive there was a farm market place for his fresh herbaceous plant . He was less confident , however , that he would find the workers to aid him action this bold expansion .
Verdy is chairperson of Gourma , which operates greenhouses in Saint - Norbert , Quebec , an hour due east of Montreal , and propagate a mixed bag of refreshed herbs throughout the province . His company had answer the responsibility ’s post - pandemic call for more homegrown produce by coming up with a plan to expound the telephone number of its greenhouse .
But the British Labour Party shortage got in the means of those plan .
He ’s not alone in get difficulty finding worker . accord to a 2023 written report from Food Processing Skills Canada , the Canadian food and drink fabrication industry will need 142,000 newfangled multitude , or almost 50 % of that class ’s manpower , in the next seven years . The fact that Gourma is locate far from an urban centre make hiring even more thought-provoking .
Verdy realized that if he wanted to expand and optimize the company ’s operation , he could not rely on be hiring practices and product methods . It was time to turn to automation .
But refreshful herbs and mechanization are not always an easy match . Each of Gourma ’s 34 dissimilar multifariousness has its own unparalleled characteristics , such as size and emergence time , so it was unrealistic for the caller to automatise the production of all its plant .
He decided to limit mechanisation to basil , the troupe ’s most popular product .
While the seeding stage of the basil plant was already automated , employee were still placing seedlings on a tray and then moving to the dissimilar subdivision of the greenhouse at every subsequent stage . At crop meter , they had to go into the greenhouses to pick the industrial plant , package them one by one , and transmit them to a workstation , where other employees would pack them in cases .
While the company could calculate to machines to automate that part of the process , it would still be dodgy . deal sweet basil works can be problematic : there is a jeopardy of contaminant , and the flora have finespun leaves .
" client do n’t want damaged plant with torn - off or crush leaves , " Verdy say .
An technologist by trade , the company chairwoman infer the concepts and proficient jargon involved in the project , but he ’d never carried out such extensive mechanization and needed some support .
He grow to BDC , which helped him set up specifications , acquire acceptance tests for equipment , promise pitfalls , and avoid foreseeable problem . " They also helped accurately pinpoint my needs and the associated costs , " said Verdy .
Automating basil plant production lead to significant productivity gains for Gourma , with the high achieved in the publicity stage . simple machine , oversee by three employee , now wield the following operations of bag the plants , tack together box , putting the plant in boxes , and sealing the boxes .
The event have been very positivistic , with the robots and conveyer bang help Gourma to reduce plant equipment casualty , improve time to shelf , optimize workspace , increase productiveness , expand to new markets , and cancel hiring need .
" throw to a more automated yield did not lead to any employee layoff , " Verdy says . " but it did help us get the best our enlisting challenges . " Gourma had 12 employee assigned to basil before doubling its production area . After the elaboration , it would have needed 25 employee to conform to its new capacity demands . " Thanks to the mechanization project , we now only need four , " Verdy says .
Those free - up employees were reassigned to the product of other plants , allow the society to retain its full stave . This not only enable Gourma to subdue its staffing challenges but also branch out the employment of its teams .
While his employees are on board with the changes , Verdy was heedful to let in them in the process . He image them as the output expert and recommend that other businesses expect to automate do the same .
" Their knowledge is crucial , and without their input , a task like ours would have been impossible to sway out . You postulate to postulate them in the projection ’s development and in follow out new activities . "
He say including your squad from the starting signal helps to ensure that nominate answer are pragmatic and feasible , draw innovative thought from stave on the ground , prognosticate or even resolve potential issues , and surrogate buy - in and consignment among your employees .
expert see resistance to change stem from fear and immobilise the blame for that awe on a company badly put across its aim . That was an important way out for Verdy .
" You need to explain what you require to reach . In our eccentric , we emphasized that we wanted to improve how we work and that robots would sour side - by - side with our team penis , not substitute them . "
Gourma also listen to its squad members to well understand what they involve and wanted . " Everyone ’s dissimilar , " explained Verdy . " So , we worked with our team members to order them where they wanted to be : those that preferred manual employment were given a manual posture in the production of other plants . "
usher in new process and technology requires learning novel skills . Gourma had to ensure employees had the necessary expertness .
" We put up training with the manufacturer of our raw machines as well as with the technology integrator , " said Verdy . identify champions — people who are concerned and have the potency to spring up the skills postulate for the young place — helped support the transition .
Gourma now swash over 20,000 satisfying meters of greenhouse , 65 employees , and a more rich operation . " For our entire plant life production system , our mechanization project yield an step-up in productiveness of at least 15 % , " declares Verdy .
He is no longer worried about finding enough workers , with all the original worker who continue with the company now on add-in with the changes .
" Today , our employee are so familiar with the engineering science that they can instruct our integrator new things , " said Verdy . " It was a major succeeder . "
Source : BDC
