What insiders don’t say… The issue with plant factories is that people don’t stay

Hello everyone! I’m Shohei.

The “challenges of plant factories” that are often discussed tend to include things like:

Well… certainly all of these are challenging.

But I want to suggest that the essence is something else.

As someone who has been in the plant factory field for a long time, what I consider to be a particularly serious issue.

It’s specifically:
People don’t stay

Poor profitability and various other problems ultimately trace back to “the lack of specialized personnel”.

After all, if the level of on-site staff is high and they have the right know-how, operating a plant factory in the black is possible.

These kinds of “people don’t stay” stories surprisingly don’t often come to light.
It’s bad for a company’s image and difficult to talk about openly.

So I’d like you to read this article.

I, who know everything about the behind-the-scenes of plant factories,
will talk about the challenge of “people not staying”.

If you’re considering entering the plant factory business or are interested in it, please read through to the end.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of plant factories in the first place?
I’ve written about that in the article below. Please check it out as well.

Indeed, operating at a loss is a problem

First, as a premise.

It’s true that many plant factory companies operate at a loss, and it’s not an easy business to make money in.

That said, the negative image that “plant factories are unprofitable” that’s commonly held in society.
There are some misconceptions about this.

I’ve written about that in the article below.

I’m the one providing support to improve losses

By the way, I’m the one providing support through education, training, and content provision to improve the losses of such plant factories.

The main topic of this article:

I am working to support these challenges.

On this site, we also provide content that can be used to increase profitability, like the following.

We also have tools and services that are useful for site managers.

Please check them out.

The reality of “specialized personnel shortage”

Now, let’s get to the main point.

In my field experience, I’ve always felt firsthand the fact that “people skilled in Crop Management and Production Management are few”.

So what’s the actual situation?

I’ll explain the reality of the shortage of specialized personnel that plant factories face.

1. Manufacturing industry as a whole is already short of personnel

According to a December 2017 survey by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, more than 94% of manufacturing companies reported labor shortages.

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare’s 2023 survey shows that the effective job opening-to-application ratio in manufacturing is about 1.74 times. The average for all industries is 1.27 times, so the labor shortage is more serious than in other industries.

So, in a way, it’s inevitable that there’s a labor shortage.

But there are also circumstances specific to plant factories, so let’s take a look at those as well.

2. Plant factories require a wide range of skill sets

Based on the role of plant factory managers, I’ve roughly listed the necessary skillsets.

It’s detailed and numerous!
Hard to see, isn’t it?

Besides these, management and leadership skills are naturally required, and the knowledge needed is extremely broad.

So, plant factories want to hire such personnel, but they’re not easy to find.

To begin with, there are no people who have received education in both plant physiology and engineering at the same time.

That means that personnel meeting the conditions would have to be experienced in plant factories or facility cultivation.

In reality, finding such people would be lucky, and the overwhelming majority of cases involve hiring inexperienced people and educating them.

But even if you take the time to educate your staff, there’s no guarantee they’ll continue working for you for a long time. It’s a difficult situation.

3. When the parent company is large, there are other circumstances…

For large-scale plant factories, there are other circumstances.

The larger the factory scale, the more abundant funding is essential. In other words, the plant factory business starts as part of a large corporation or as a department of a large company.

In such cases, a common scenario is that the site manager includes someone seconded from the head office or parent company.

Depending on the situation, secondees may not be counted as site managers. After all, they will eventually leave the site.

Perhaps the handover to locally hired staff might fail.

Having secondees on-site means carrying the risk of personnel shortage in the long term.

Personnel shortage means the site cannot be maintained

I’ve talked about how due to several factors, plant factories end up with a shortage of personnel.

By the way, even though plant factories face labor shortages, I don’t think it’s a “black” business where people quit one after another.

It’s simply that it’s difficult to secure specialized personnel, and education takes time. When things take time, the probability of people quitting before mastering the job increases.

That’s why there’s a shortage of specialized personnel.

And when there’s a shortage of specialized personnel, various problems occur as a result.

Without know-how, this is what happens on-site

In plant factories, it’s necessary to finely adjust temperature, humidity, light amount, etc., to create an optimal environment for plants.

This requires advanced technology and specialized knowledge.

If such knowledge is lacking on-site… this is what happens.

Production issues

• Environmental control failures:
  Growth problems and yield reduction due to improper management of temperature, humidity, light intensity, CO2 concentration, nutrient solution composition, etc.
• Lack of data analysis capabilities:
  Inability to effectively utilize data obtained from sensors, missing opportunities for productivity improvement
• Lack of daily observation skills:
  Inability to detect plant abnormalities early, small problems developing into major damage

Management and operation issues

• Lack of management know-how:
  Inability to properly manage costs or set prices, leading to operating at a loss
• Failure in market development:
  Inability to appeal added value commensurate with the high-cost structure, being avoided simply as “expensive vegetables”

Economic issues

• Running costs cannot be reduced:
  Excessive costs occurring due to lack of knowledge to efficiently use energy and optimize production
• Failure of equipment investment recovery plans:
  Improper plans for recovering high initial investments leading to financial difficulties

These problems are interrelated and create a vicious cycle.

For sustained development, establishing systematic education and training programs and promoting know-how sharing are essential.

In other words, what I want to say in this article is,

The problems that occur at plant factory sites are attributed to the lack of specialized personnel.

Conclusion: Only steady effort can overcome the challenges

I’ve been in the plant factory industry for many years.

In my opinion, only steady effort can overcome the challenges.

The problem of personnel retention cannot be easily solved, and it takes a considerable amount of time.

Incorporating correct know-how and steadily improving staff skills.
I believe that’s the only way.

First, building a systematic education and training program is absolutely necessary. Without this, staff skills will never improve.

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