By Dean Borch

Production Engineering Specialist | Transform Production

Orders are climbing, deadlines are tightening, and the pressure is building. Most nurseries already know how they’ll handle it: bring in more people, spread the load, and push harder. It’s the way it’s always been done. But is it the only way?

Every year, the same challenges dominate conversations: rising insurance premiums, electricity bills, pot levies, labour costs, and the struggle to find skilled staff. While some of these pressures are external, others — like labour cost and reliance on highly skilled staff — can be reduced through better systems. The factor with the greatest potential to lift profitability is PRODUCTIVITY, yet it’s rarely discussed. Why? Because “busy” is still mistaken for “productive” — leading to more people, more hours, and more cost.

The truth is, you’re running a tree factory. And factories don’t manage growth by simply adding more people — they improve the way the work flows. That means designing the system before growing the headcount. A business is never too small to have efficient systems. The question is: what comes first — growth, or the systems that enable growth?

When people focus only on “tuning” what they already have, they risk adding fluff — or even refining processes that shouldn’t exist. Real gains come from going deeper: understanding the desired outcomes, then designing the systems, layout, workflows, and digital tools to make those outcomes inevitable. That’s the role of production engineering — a skillset standard in factories but rare in nurseries.

Nurseries already have the horticultural expertise. They already have the work ethic. What’s missing is the skillset that drives operational excellence. In factories, this is the production engineer — the person responsible for making sure work flows efficiently, quality is built in, and the system supports the business goals. It’s not about automation (though it can help) — it’s about removing waste, making work easier, and enabling teams to achieve more with less effort.

Adding more people is the most expensive option. This spring, it’s time to think differently and open our mindsets to other possibilities.