Planning wheel takes the guesswork out of ordering, scheduling

Problem: Production planning schedule sometimes suffers during the busy spring season.

Solution: The Grower Planning Wheel takes the guesswork out of scheduling. Growers place plug orders in a timely manner, which helps both the plug producer and the finished grower.

Details: Growers easily plan production with the wheel based on crop, finished size and ship date.

Northwest Horticulture in Mount Vernon, Wash., is a large plug producer with customers spread across the United States. The company created the Grower Planning Wheel as a tool for its broker representatives, regional managers and grower customers to better manage scheduling.

“One of the challenges we’ve always had is getting the grower customer to stop in the middle of their busy spring season to look at their planting needs,” said Richard Gigot, director of sales and marketing at Northwest Horticulture. “There’s a small window of time for us to grow plugs and ship them on time.”

The wheel was designed to give users a “quick planning matrix,” he said. The wheel provides options for different crops, sizes and ready dates.

Once you choose a crop and a finished size, the wheel tells you when to order it and when you should plant it.

“It gives us time to grow the plugs so the growers have plenty of time to finish the plants,” Gigot said.

The four-color wheel measures 7 1/2 inches in diameter and is made of a water-resistant synthetic paper for use in the greenhouse, Gigot said.

It was launched about two years ago, and Northwest Horticulture expects to update and expand the wheel next year.

This year the Grower Planning Wheel won the Silver Award of Achievement in the trade/special project category from the Garden Writers Association (GWA). That award puts the wheel in the running for GWA’s Gold Awards for Best Product.

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For more: Northwest Horticulture, (888) 840-4024; www.northwesthorticulture.com.