Working planning in packing houses of flowers mixed farms to increase the yield

Abstract

The study deals with performance improvement in flowers mixed farms.  The farm under investigation is located in the central part of Israel and grows three types of green ornamentals: Pittosporum, Aralia and Aspidistra.  The farm consists of 8 hectares and employs 7 workers.  The annual yield of the farm in 2009 was 3.5 million branches.  The study investigates the working processes of the packing house.  A computer model and work planning management tool was developed using MATLAB.  The model inputs are: flower type and quantity, due date and sales price.  The output is a work schedule.  Results show an improvement of processing time by: 47% for Pittosporum, 19% - 45% for Aralia, and 23% - 54% for Aspidistra.