The Dutch flower and plant wholesaler Van der Plas is a full-service provider for wholesalers and florists, retailers, the export and commission business and large-scale importers. The product range includes cut flowers, foliage, plants and decorations, which are supplied as a complete package to customers throughout Europe. The company has quadrupled its turnover in recent years. Internet sales are currently one of the pillars of this expansion.

However, the growth had already had a direct impact on the efficiency of internal logistics for some time. "The change in our business activities also affected our logistics operations. Whereas in the past, plants were often loaded directly onto trucks, we now deal with aspects of warehouse management and order picking," explains Machiel van der Bent, Business Process Engineer at Van der Plas.

"We were bursting at the seams"

The increasing complexity of the logistics activities involved posed a growing challenge for Van der Plas. Due to its growth, the company was also faced with space problems. External storage space had to be rented, which in turn resulted in increased processing time and therefore higher costs. "In short, we were bursting at the seams in our old business premises," says van der Bent. In addition, all plants and flowers were still sorted manually until a year ago.

With the move to new, larger premises on the FloraHolland auction site in Rijnsburg, the necessary optimization has finally been achieved. The new building has 50 percent more space and enables a more efficient logistics flow. There are two reasons for this: Firstly, there is now a direct bridge connection with FloraHolland and secondly, a conveyor and sorting system developed and installed by Van Riet Material Handling Systems is now in use, which improves internal processes. "We need fewer staff and there is more transparency and control," explains van der Bent.

20 percent higher productivity

Van Riet has developed a conveying and sorting system that makes the internal process more efficient and less prone to errors. When the orders are complete, the flowers are packed into boxes at four double-sided packing stations. A powered conveyor belt then collects the filled boxes in a central row, where they are scanned and transported towards a shoe sorter. If necessary, the IQ-Grid - a sorting solution with swivel rollers - guides the cartons to the edge of the conveyor belt. A shoe sorter with a capacity of 1,250 cartons per hour finally directs the orders to the correct exit. The empty flower buckets are placed on a lower conveyor belt at the packing stations and transported to an automatic tipping system, which empties and stacks 2,000 flower buckets per hour.