With the energy issue largely resolved within pot plant cultivation, entrepreneurs are focusing on labor challenges. With a wage increase of at least 7% by 2024, labor cost reduction is at the top of the investment agenda for many entrepreneurs. This means that increasing labor productivity and using labor more efficiently has become a crucial priority to remain competitive (or even survive). "On average, labor costs have doubled in recent years, including for migrant workers," says Digna van Zanten, owner of WPS. "And on top of that, availability has become an increasing challenge."
Government encourages robotization and automation for agriculture and horticulture
Robotization and automation are an important solution to today's labor challenges. Thierry Aartsen, a Member of Parliament for the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) in the Netherlands, argues in a recent vision paper that migrant workers should be phasing out in practical professions, such as agriculture and horticulture. LTO Netherlands supports this and calls on the government to invest heavily in technological solutions to relieve the pressure on employers. LTO emphasized in a recent reconnaissance that technological innovation in the sector is essential. This ties in with the cabinet's ambition to launch a robotization innovation program aimed at labor savings.
WPS sees strong demand growth in the Dutch market
In addition to developments in labor costs and robotization, WPS sees strong growth in demand for automation solutions in the Netherlands.
"In recent months, we have seen unprecedented increases in requests," says Digna van Zanten, owner of WPS. "In the first years after the coronavirus pandemic, requests from the Dutch market decreased significantly compared to before. As a result, we have somewhat broadened our focus in recent years and expanded our position in ornamental plant cultivation in North America and in plant research. However, due to the continuing rise in labor costs in the Netherlands and the increasing scarcity of labor, we are now seeing a sharp increase in applications. We are also noticing that people are now looking at the next level of automation for hands-free plant production. Besides groundbreaking logistics and delivery solutions, packing solutions with robots and automatic trolley loading are already being considered. Automatic trolley loading is now well applicable, the next step we are working on is packing robots."
For more information:
Digna van Zanten
WPS
Tel: +31 174 671 371
[email protected]
www.wps.eu