Steps to take if you receive an unsolicited offer to purchase your business Mergers and acquisitions are commonplace these days, buoyed by strong industry interest and performance, availability of capital, and low interest rates. In this world, it is not uncommon for nursery owners to receive unsolicited offers to purchase their company. These can come […]
Native plant production and marketing
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There are barriers to full adoption of these plants, but also opportunities to promote their adoption By Aaron Anderson Native plants represent an area of untapped growth and expansion for the nursery industry. For example, the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) ranked native plants and native/adapted drought-tolerant plants as the top two landscape and […]
Identifying value and waste
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The key is in knowing what the customer is actually willing to pay for The central concept of Lean is to identify process steps that add value and those that are wasteful, eliminating the latter to become more efficient. It sounds simple but isn’t. Rick and Elizabeth Peters own a Wilsonville, Oregon-based Lean consulting firm, […]
Creating ‘standard work’
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Finding and reinforcing best work flows helps nurseries run a tighter ship Walk into JLPN Inc., a seeding operation and nursery in Salem, Oregon, and even if you’re not familiar with how to harvest or grade container seedlings, you’d soon be doing it like an experienced hand. How? Simply by looking at the laminated diagrams […]
Organizing spaces with 5S
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The 5S methodology for storage and arrangement makes waste reduction far easier Many nurseries deploying Lean to make their processes less wasteful have found that organizing work spaces is a crucial part of their approach. To do this, they are deploying a Lean methodology called “5S.” The letters stand for 1) sort, 2) set in […]
Keeping things moving
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The Lean concept of continuous flow delivers big for Oregon’s nurseries Twenty people to five. A quarter-mile span to 20 feet. One week to 20 minutes. What do these all have in common? They are all some of the head-scratching efficiencies that individual nurseries across Oregon have realized since they’ve implemented one key Lean concept […]
Looking at your marketing strategy
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I have the privilege and joy of working alongside my brother Erik at our marketing agency, Pivot. He’s usually the one who sits in meetings, silently following the conversation for a while. Midway through the meeting he breaks his silence and asks a question that is so thoughtful, on the nose, and (often) paradigm-shifting that […]
Knowing our customers
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Last fall, I had the opportunity to meet Dr. Bridget Behe, a professor of horticulture at Michigan State University. She was giving a presentation on her research into the marketing of edible and ornamental horticultural crops, which is her area of expertise. If you are not familiar with Dr. Behe’s podcast, “Connect 2 Consumer,” I […]
Terra Nova Nurseries heads to plant expo in China
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Oregon-based Terra Nova® Nurseries Inc. will showcase their plant breeding and genetics at the International Horticultural Exhibition 2019, which runs from April 29 through October 7 in the Expo Park of the Yanquin District of Beijing, China. Terra Nova will be the only American company to exhibit at China’s largest horticultural expo in nearly 10 […]
The value of influence
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Nurseries strategically seek influence and recap the rewards About 10 years ago, Costa Farms launched a campaign called “O2 for You,” which was designed to play up the valuable role that houseplants can play in cleaning pollutants out of indoor air. The Miami, Florida-based horticultural grower — now one of the largest in the world — compiled […]
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