Implementation of Lean Manufacturing Principles in a Vertical Farming System to Reduce Dependency on Human Labour

Abstract

Based on the current trends and projections of population growth and average caloric intake per capita, the world is growing hungrier with every passing decade. Despite the advancements in agriculture techniques, the rising temperature, increasing frequency of natural disasters and changes in global precipitation concentration have negatively affected the yield of agriculture sectors around the world. Adding to the fact that there is a scarcity for labour in farms worldwide, the agriculture sector is facing an immense challenge to meet the growing demand for agriculture produce. With the largest consumers of said produce concentrated in the urban areas, a new revolution of growing and harvesting produce known as Urban Farming has gained popularity as a green and self-sustaining initiative. Among the common urban farming systems, a plant factory that combines water-based agriculture, vertical farming and controlled environment agriculture, boasting the highest yield and growth rate has the most potential to feed the ever-growing population of urban dwellers. However, plant factories are notorious for their high overhead cost due to the high-power consumption and dependency on human labour. This paper attempts to redesign the typical plant factory layout in order to reduce the need to move the growing trays and enable the implementation of low-cost, simple cartesian robotics. The prototype adopts the lean management principle karakuri kaizen to enable mechanical motion of the growing trays which reduces the amount of vertical and horizontal motion needed by a cartesian robot as well as maximizing the space used for the growing area of any typical plant factory layout. Experimental results show that 90% of 36 seedlings of cabbage have grown successfully within a 6-week period.

The Lean Farm: Application of Tools and Concepts of Lean Manufacturing in Agro-Pastoral Crops

“…Examples of productivity results generated by applying tools related to operation function (OF): 99.87% efficiency in rice processing and loading [55], 16.52% reduction in total process lead time [58], and better productivity rates through implementation of LP practices [15,54,56]. The same trend of better results is seen when applying tools related to process function (PF): a 15% increase in rate of surviving shrimp after process quality control [53], reduction in processing lead-time [55,58,59,63,67], elimination of tasks and activities that do not add value to the product or process [63][64][65]; improvement in product quality [59,62]; modeling for optimization of results [5,60]; customer satisfaction [66]; reduction in production costs [61]; and reduction in losses and productivity impacts in a broad way [15,54,56].…”

“…Heng et al [62] checked the concept of lean manufacturing (LM) to create a vertical vegetable production system in closed environments. They work in layout organization, lighting, and irrigation.…”

“…Table 6 presents the relationship between losses and wastes reduced through implementation of tools proposed by lean production (LP), relating them to process function (PF) and operation function (OF). The impacts of applying lean manufacturing to agropastoral production can be seen in elimination of the following seven main types of waste and losses: Through the presented results, five publications reduce losses in OF [15,[54][55][56]58] and fourteen in PF [15,[53][54][55][56]58,59,[61][62][63][64][65][66][67] through application of LP tools. It is possible to verify that a great part of the applications of LP concepts in agro-pastoral productions is related to process function (PF), wherein better flow of process and material flows for gains in efficiency and productivity are required [34,42].…”

“…The increased shrimp survival rate Economic and Environmental [53] Reduced lead time processing Economic [55,58,59,63,67] Adherence to lean philosophy and tools Economic and Social [15,54,56,57] Improved productivity rates Economic and Social [15,54,56] Improved quality Economic, social, and environmental [59,62] Customer satisfaction Economic and social [66] Optimization of results Economic [5,60] Elimination of non-value-added tasks and activities Economic [63][64][65] Cost reduction Economic and Social [61] 1 Impacts on TBL sustainability concept.…”

Tensile Properties of Untreated Bambusa Vulgaris, Gigantoch-loa Levis Gigantochloa Scortechinii, Gigantochloa Wrayi, and Schizostachyum Zollingeri Bamboo Fibers

“…Worldwide, bamboo forest area totals 22 million hectares generating over 30 million tons of bamboo fiber per year [2]. Bamboo grows faster unlike normal timber that usually having issues in maintaining their annual crop yield due to longer harvest duration between six to eight months after maturity [3], [4]. Besides, normal timber normally relied on agricultural technologies to reach their sustainable growth [5].…”