1. Todd Cavins Allen Hammer Brian Whipker Gordon Elsbury
Irrigation Workshop
Todd Cavins
Allen Hammer
Brian Whipker
Gordon Elsbury
NC STATE UNIVERSITY
Irrigation Workshop 2003

2. Greenhouse Automation For The Small Grower

3. Automation is a Tool
A tool is both contrived and used for extending the force of an intelligent agent to something that is operated upon.

4. “Automation is driving the future of the greenhouse industry”
And the size of the greenhouse does not matter

5. Greenhouse size does affect what you automate however
Every greenhouse can automate something for a profit

6. How do you increase profit?
increase price
lower costs
increase efficiency

7. It is simply not true that:
Automation just doesn’t work unless there is a major area of one crop at one time

8. why automate? make work easier small window of opportunity
holiday markets, too much work in a short period of time
improved work quality
less quality workforce
lower labor costs
replace unavailable labor
labor is your major production cost

9. Is finding labor a problem?
or Is it just easier to deal with automation than employees?

10. Fingers do not do it better

15. Automation Look at greenhouse tasks - repetitive - tedious
- time-consuming

16. Study tasks time and motion studies

17. What are those time consuming hand labor jobs?

18. What are your major costs?
Where does it make sense to reduce production costs?
automation is probably your most important cost savings

19. Take A Systems Approach to Automation
“automating a job”
“automating a process”
Automation should be cost effective
It should be a short term investment - one that has a payoff in a very few years
Irrigation Workshop 2003

20. Study your entire greenhouse operation
labor saving devices often produce better quality and more uniformity automation often times work
location of materials and controls is very important for efficiency and reducing worker fatigue

23. Automation has a learning curve
automation often requires a different approach
automation allows worker to better manage the plants
automation often increases skill levels
Irrigation Workshop 2003

25. Automation can have added benefits
do not use the single minded approach of only considering efficiency or reduced costs

26. improved working conditions

27. Do not simply automate your present way of doing things
“think new”
Do not simply automate your present way of doing things
You do not automate your hose - you automate watering

29. Automation - first things first
Watering
Materials handling
Benches
Flat and pot fillers
Seeders
Transplanters

30. watering. Ebb and Flood. Trough. Drip. Spaghetti Tubes. Boom. Mat
watering Ebb and Flood Trough Drip Spaghetti Tubes Boom Mat Stationary Overhead Sprinklers

31. Automation
it does not have to be complex or expensive

32. Has made it very easy to automate greenhouse watering
Plastic pipe and valves
Has made it very easy to automate greenhouse watering

34. design the system with both clear and fertilizer water
fertilizer injectors are very important even in the smallest of greenhouses

38. Simple and Conservative

39. Watering
Watering is both a science and an art

40. You can not do it better by a hand

41. Perched water table Free water The science and the art of watering
When to water?
How to water?
You can apply too little water
You can not apply too much water

45. Hand watering
is not better
is not cheaper
Is not easier

48. Automation - first things first
Watering is the very first thing to automate