Holland successfully implements RFID in greenhouses

Filed in archive Implementation on July 19, 2007

It runs the world's largest and most advanced potted plant business in the world and if you keep your eyes on what's going around you then you might have guessed it correctly till now that I am talking about Holland. The country has around fifteen hundred potted plant growers with around thousand hectares of greenhouse space. The country has tasted success in implementing RFID in its greenhouses. Walking Plant Systems or WPS which is a leading systems provider for greenhouse botanical growers has achieved success in implementing RFID in its Plant Order System for commercial greenhouses. Every potted plant has been affixed with a RFID tag so that a strict watch can be kept on the lengthy greenhouse process.

With this technology they have been able to track every plant in their greenhouse spread over 30,000 sq m from seed to sale and the period ranges from six months to a year. The Plant Order System comprises of pot adopters, conveyor belts and plant nutrition systems which takes care of the plant from seeding to customer orders. A combination of RFID and photography ensures that the plant is not neglected. In case the plant requires further nutrients the system takes not of the fact and sends the plant to the necessary section. RFID has enabled to achieve full automation and optimization and as a result achieve savings in high value assets production. The reason RFID was chosen over other technology is because it was found out to be reliable and diverse and it has helped in meeting the international standards.

Earlier companies were hesitant to implement RFID but now there seems to be a reversal of trend where companies are coming forward to and implementing RFID after realizing that this technology can deliver for sure.