Hello everyone! I’m Shohei.
This column is about what I felt and experienced at a plant factory in Japan.
When you’ve been in the field for over 10 years, a lot of things happen. I write freely about what I remember.
Please feel free to read it while thinking, “Wow, that’s how Japanese plant factories work.”
Are records paper or data?
It is said that the spread of e-commerce platforms in Japan’s agricultural sector is still lagging behind other industries.
Agricultural products tend to vary in quality and standards, and this is probably due to the fact that they are difficult to adapt to computerization.
I also had this experience before.
We had a customer who sent us an order by fax every day around 6pm.
My daily routine was to receive an order from a customer and immediately ship it in that quantity, but there were many times when the important order quantity was blurred and I couldn’t see it. The reason was that I was using a fax.
Each time this happens, we will call the customer to confirm.
It is a tedious task of checking each order sent by fax over the phone one by one. The longer this confirmation is delayed, the later the shipment will be delayed.
It would be nice if the phone could connect easily, but sometimes it doesn’t. Also, since it was around 6pm, there were days when customers had already started drinking drinks.
This happens quite often, so I once asked them to stop using faxes and switch to e-mail instead.
However, for some reason I don’t know, I was unable to receive any response other than by fax.
Now, in your facility, do you manage the forms used for records, etc., on paper or as data?
Basically, I think that data is more convenient for most forms.
In particular, the purpose of cultivation data and product data is to correlate data and use it for analysis, so paper records are not useful.
There is no problem when receiving external authentication such as GGAP as long as it is recorded as data.
On the other hand, paper may be more convenient for cleaning and inspection checklists.
If you’re just marking a table with a ◯, it’s faster to do it on paper than to enter data.
Also, although the plant factory is a workplace where people of all ages can work, there are some elderly people who simply don’t like electronic devices. If you have a lot of people like that, paper may be better.
However, in modern times, smartphones and tablets have become completely ubiquitous, and everyone carries them around with them as a matter of course.
Even if you are not good at it, if you teach it how to use it, you will be surprised at how well it works.
In conclusion, I think paper and data should be used differently depending on the purpose. Let’s take advantage of the strengths of each to improve workplace efficiency and productivity.
This column was published in a collection of know-how to improve on-site skills.
This column is included in the Plant Factory Know-How Collection below.
This know-how collection is packed with useful tips to help you increase profitability, regardless of the specifications or equipment on-site.
This is a must-read for those operating plant factories or indoor farms. Implement the know-how to increase profitability.
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