About Rutishauser
Pot plant grower Rutishauser rises from the ashes with ecofarm (and Logiqs benching system).
Swiss pot plant grower Rutishauser, a Logiqs customer for 30 years, entrusted us with the task of designing and building an automated benching system for their new ecofarm.
With the ecofarm, the family business took a new direction after a devastating fire destroyed most of their plant nursery.
Location
Züberwangen,
Switzerland
Crop
Potted plants and tulips
System
Multi-level rolling bench system 2D-Shuttles
Surface
3 hectares
4 generations of Rutishauser
Family business Rutishauser is known as a leader among pot plant growers in Switzerland. Eduard Rutishauser founded the company in 1912 and now the fourth generation is in charge. The company has production sites in Züberwangen, Fällanden, Neukirch-Egnach and Gordola as well as three ‘Flower Family’ garden centers.
Rutishauser was doing very well for years, until the family had to deal with every entrepreneur’s nightmare in 2013. A fire broke out in the production greenhouse in Züberwangen, burning 80% of the 5-hectare plant nursery. But Rutishauser says it’s not for nothing that they rely on state-of-the-art technology and modern infrastructures, so they engaged us for their new ecofarm. We delivered this phase of the project in 2015.
Convenient design
How do you make the most of a high space? By designing a greenhouse consisting of 2 levels, connected by automatic, fast bench elevators.
The first floor of the system is used for loading and unloading of transports, storage of supplies and the production processes of the plants as well as cultivation space. The second level is used exclusively as cultivation space.
Advantages work space
With this design we centralized all production processes in one area. The fast connection between the work area and the cultivation departments means that container transport and logistics run as efficiently as possible, without bottlenecks. It is also a lot more pleasant and safer for the employees in the greenhouse.
In the work area we placed an automatic potting machine and 2 automatic spacing lines. This allows orders to be picked and packed efficiently, with a capacity of between 40 and 60 containers per hour in the final production phase. Hygiene is just as important to us as it is to our customers. Therefore we designed an automated 180-degree container washer that ensures optimal cleaning and disinfection of the emptied containers.
The entire cultivation area is automated with our innovative 2D shuttles that work closely with the automated transport lines and container elevators, for efficient container transport.
And because the irrigation booms are controlled by our software Dat-A-Water, irrigation can be controlled on a container-by-container basis. The system knows if and which benches are empty, so no water and nutrients are wasted. The water used for watering is of course collected and reused.
The entire cultivation area is automated with our innovative 2D shuttles that work closely with the automated transport lines and container elevators, for efficient container transport.
And because the irrigation booms are controlled by our software Dat-A-Water, irrigation can be controlled on a container-by-container basis. The system knows if and which benches are empty, so no water and nutrients are wasted. The water used for watering is of course collected and reused.
Complete system
The entire system is controlled using our own control and registration software: Dat-A-Control. The system comes with all necessary modules: the integration of potting, spacing, control of internal transport and irrigation in one system.
Curious about another case study from our portfolio?
Get In Touch With Us
Email: info@logiqs.nl
Address: Honderdland 841, 2676 LV Maasdijk, The Netherlands