Packing house simulation to increase productivity of a green ornamentals' farm

Gad Vitner, Avital Bechar

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

The study investigates the issue of reducing the working hours in the packing house of a farm growing green ornamentals. The farm under study consists of 6.3 hectares and employs 6 workers. It grows 4.0 ha of Ruscus Hypoglossum in screen houses, 1.3 ha of Maireana Sedifolia in open fields, 0.4 ha of Ornithogalum Thyrsoides and 0.6 ha of Globularia in green houses. The annual yield of the farm in 2010 was 3.0 million branches. During the six months of November to April there are very large demands for Ruscus Hypoglossum and Maireana Sedifolia, where the demand for Ornithogalum Thyrsoides starts on April and Globularia grows all over the year. The objective of the study was to increase the yield in order to satisfy increasing demand thus improving revenue. Time studies were conducted to define the time standards of work elements and to verify the productive working hours versus nonproductive/service periods. It was found that 34% of the time is devoted to nonproductive processes. A computer simulation model was developed using the Arena. The model inputs are the quantities to be delivered, number of workers per station in the packing house. Time studies revealed that the 'length sorting' station of the Ruscus is a bottleneck. Thus, five alternatives were tested where each alternative examined a different working method (manual work with different number of workers with/without additional support of mechanical sorting) at the length sorting work station. Simulation results show that the best alternative increased the yield by 38%.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationAmerican Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers Annual International Meeting 2012, ASABE 2012
PublisherAmerican Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers
Pages4333-4337
Number of pages5
ISBN (Print)9781622762088
StatePublished - 1 Jan 2012
Externally publishedYes
EventAmerican Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers Annual International Meeting 2012 - Dallas, TX, United States
Duration: 29 Jul 20121 Aug 2012

Publication series

NameAmerican Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers Annual International Meeting 2012, ASABE 2012
Volume5

Conference

ConferenceAmerican Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers Annual International Meeting 2012
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityDallas, TX
Period29/07/121/08/12

Keywords

  • Green ornamentals
  • Packing house
  • Productivity
  • Simulation

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Agronomy and Crop Science
  • Bioengineering

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