Chop and Plop 101

Processing Farm Made Bouquets

 

  Information given

- 3000 cases per week packed 15 bouquets per case

- labor cost including all employer costs are about $10.00/hr

- presently an employee generates about 18 cases of finished bouquets per hour  in a manual system using bench operated guillotines

- using a Posie Packer cutter, either bouquet organizer or underwater cutter, productivity is increased by 200 -      300 %. This assumption is based on my experience as well as that of other customers.

 

 Manual Operation

  Machine aided operation

Assume only a 200%  increase in productivity.

Cost per case would be reduced to .2775 cents labor per case  Savings per week  (3000 x .2775)  $832.00

(36 cases per man hour)

 

Assume a 300% increase in productivity

Cost per case would be reduced to .185 cents labor per case  Savings per week  (3000 x .55 ) $1110.00

(54 cases per man hour)

 

Return on investment calculation

 

Bouquet organizer:                                 at 200% increase in productivity

 

                                                         ROI  $43,264.00  (52 x 832)   =  412.04 %

$10,500.00

                                                                                                                  or

 

                   Machine is paid for in 12.62 weeks……………10,500.00  = 12.62

                                                                                               832.00

 

                                                                ****************************************************

                                                                                                at 300% increase in productivity 7.2 weeks

 

                                                         ROI  $57,720.00   (52 x 1110)  =  549.71 %

                                                                  $10.500.00

                                                                                                                  or

 

                   Machine is paid for in  9.46 weeks……………10,500.00  = 9.46                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  1110.00

                                *****************************************************

Underwater cutter:    at 200% increase in productivity 

 

                                                         ROI  $43,264.00  =  222 %

                                                                                                                 $19,500.00

                                                                         or

                   Machine is paid for in  23.44 weeks

                                                        

                                                         **************************************

                                             at 300% increase in productivity  16.66 weeks

 

                                                         ROI  $57,720.00  = 296  %

                                                                  $19,500.00

                                                                          or

                   Machine is paid for in  17.57 weeks

Note:

                   No allowance has been made for the benefit of cutting flower stems underwater, a essential component of a good post harvest floral processing system.

                                                        

                                                         **************************************

 

 

Based on these numbers,  operating  a "chop and plop" operation manually is a very expensive option.

 

It should be noted that these calculations are understated. The assumption is made that an employee does work constantly for 8 hours. Reality has shown that an employer is lucky of he receives 6.5 hours of production per day per employee after allowance has been made for coffee and lunch breaks etc.

 

The key to the operation is that Posie Packer’s cutting machines incorporate a delivery system that can be used by effectively by either one person or several people at the same time; maximizing productivity for all of them. This " elasticity of production capacity" is a feature that has been designed into all of Posie Packer's machinery.