4 Ways Technology Can Be a Hidden Advantage for Greenhouse Growers

Introduction

A major factor of success for greenhouse growers is technology innovation. Modern applications and devices position you better to generate sufficient margins and make it easier for your team to match inventory to customer demand.

Making innovation part of your competitive strategy also allows you to operate more efficiently and accelerate your order fulfillment processes—technology eliminates manual processes that lead to inventory and sales order errors. Making your inventory, production, and fulfillment workflows more enjoyable for your team will also increase your ability to retain employees. They will appreciate that you are giving them the right tools to do their jobs effectively.

Technological Advantages

As you consider how to innovate processes for your business, here are four ways technology can be a hidden advantage:

• Operate with confidence by knowing supply and demand—Utilizing a modern ERP platform, you always have an accurate count of what you have to sell and if you have enough for customer orders. A centralized single source of truth—integrated with your entire end-to-end processes (purchasing, inventory, production, shipping, financials) lets your team access real-time information efficiently. They can see current and projected inventory availability based on your production schedule to know if you have enough plants to fill all of your orders. You can also analyze purchase orders and track cancelations and order changes in real time. So, you always know if inventory has been freed up or if additional inventory needs to be allocated.
• Drive efficiency in operations to reduce labor costs—Eliminating manual processes by using barcode scanning allows you to streamline your pick, pack, and ship processes. You always know exactly where products are as they make their way from your suppliers to your facilities and then on to customers. You also get orders out the door faster and reduce fulfilling orders incorrectly. This saves rework time for the team and ensures you properly handle the lifecycle of your plants, which will create happier customers.
• Attract and retain employees and safeguard individual knowledge—Collaboration tools help teams work together more effectively by making information available to everyone. With all key information stored in one central system, you avoid the risk of losing key employees who seem to “know everything inside their head” if they take another job or are out for an extended time. Your environment will also appeal to today’s workforce, which demands current technology tools that allow them to get tasks done quickly. They don’t want to chase down information by searching spreadsheets, sending emails, or making phone calls—all of which makes customers wait too.
• Make profitable decisions based on real-time costing tools—Know when supplier, labor, equipment, and shipping costs are changing and if supplier invoices do not match your quoted prices. This data enables you to set prices that allow you to generate a profit, and by knowing in advance when margins are shrinking, you have time to adjust before it’s too late. Armed with detailed supply chain costs, you are also better positioned to justify any cost increases you apply to your customers.

Adapt to Rising Costs and Supply Chain Interruptions

To improve their ability to innovate, many greenhouse growers have turned to SilverLeaf for Horticulture, which runs on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.

The solution enables you to operate with confidence by giving you the ability to make business decisions based on real-time data that drives greater efficiencies in your operations. You can leverage the SilverLeaf modern tech stack for your greenhouse operations to set your business apart from your competitors and adapt in real time to rising costs and supply chain disruptions.

To learn how listen to our webinar recording, Turning Technology into a Competitive Advantage. Our horticulture industry experts Todd Waterman and Melissa Herbst demonstrate the SilverLeaf platform and show you how leading growers optimize processes to operate faster and more efficiently, and to scale and expand their operations.