For our third day in Amsterdam, we had a massively early start in which we all had to meet at 6:00AM for our bus ride to Royal FloraHolland, the world’s largest international trade platform for flowers and plants. Upon arrival the facade showcased a regular flower shop; however, once entering the actual warehouse portion, a lot more was shown. Bustling carts filled with flowers, the aroma from the many flowers being held, and tourists peering from the platform above, so much was going on within the factory. For a whole 24-hour cycle, flower auctions are occurring and within just a mere 90 minutes, the flowers that were bought online are ready to be shipped right to your door.

The systems behind the whole operation of the facility were mind blowing since there were so many moving parts. The actual auction and the instantaneous moving of the flowers, to make sure the consumer had gotten their product in a timely manner, were so fluid and efficient. On one hand there were workers that were using mechanized pulley scooters that were transporting flowers throughout the entire facility, and on the other were the transactions that were directing the flowers to all over the world.

One aspect that was very prominent was the efficiency of the workers and their usage of their machinery. One worker was separating full carts of flowers using a system that was implemented into the floor that resembled tram tracks with their use of guide rails. Another aspect that was very important to the entire operation was the traffic control of the workers and how they maneuvered around the “mini city”. Workers were using different lanes to get to their respective place, using hand signals to communicate, and mainly using these pulley scooters to effectively transport their flowers from one end of the factory to the other. This entire operation pulls from the farms all around the Netherlands and forms a cooperative venture to then promote unity and growth through the entire flower industry of the Netherlands and even further.

The next stop of our day was a famous farm known for their sustainable practices, many rows of tulips, and their picture-perfect background for all Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn profile pictures. De Tulperij, a fourth generational farm grows all types of flowers but are mostly known for their tulip buds that they sell. Daan Jansze, the owner of the farm, talked all about the sustainable practices that the farm utilizes in order to create a more environmentally friendly business while still being able to profit from the flowers. Using a sand-based ground, like most Netherlands farms, the irrigation system is self-sustainable with a main water source being right next to the rows of flowers. Jansze also talked about the cycle that many tulips have to go through in order to maximize the profits that he can make from this business, in which they start planting the buds in the autumn season to use their time efficiently. With this, the buds are able to use the entire winter to develop and once the spring comes, the flowers are first cut off to then have the buds grow even bigger since all of the energy would be concentrated to the formation of another bud. Using the cut off flowerheads for festivals, selling them, or even allowing them to decompose in the fields allow for the business to be environmentally friendly while still maximizing the time they have to profit off of the buds that come from the tulips.

Overall, both of these businesses showcase the front end of the supply chain process in which they are delivering and selling directly to buyers from all over. Maximizing efficiency was a big aspect in the respective companies in which time is their biggest competitor due to the limiting factors that hold a strain on the entire industry. This experience taught a lot about the importance in optimizing the processes in order to feed to the needs of the consumer.