Digger magazine

Written to make you a nursery industry expert.

You are here: Home / Archives for Business

Proper credit

By — Posted

Nurseries need to play it safe when it comes to setting payment terms In 2006, about six years after he founded JLPN Inc., a nursery seeding operation in Salem, John Lewis had finally reached a point where he was ready to begin operating on cash. Up until then, the business had been run largely on […]

Moves to make while the economy is still good

By — Posted

Market fluctuations and shifting consumer trends can create economic complications for businesses across industries. However, even though an economic downturn may be looming, the nursery industry’s current strength provides a sturdy foundation for making informed business decisions that could position companies for stability and growth, regardless of outside influences. Following are three steps your nursery […]

Growing at the right pace

By — Posted

  Marred by the recession, nursery growers are evolving along with the industry Over the past few years, Minnesota-headquartered Bailey Nurseries worked on breeding a new addition to its Endless Summer® brand of hydrangeas. Called Summer Crush®, the plant erupts in raspberry red or neon purple flowers, hues that are much bolder than the standard […]

When a buyer comes knocking

By — Posted

Steps to take if you receive an unsolicited offer to purchase your business Mergers and acquisitions are commonplace these days, buoyed by strong industry interest and performance, availability of capital, and low interest rates. In this world, it is not uncommon for nursery owners to receive unsolicited offers to purchase their company. These can come […]

Native plant production and marketing

By — Posted

There are barriers to full adoption of these plants, but also opportunities to promote their adoption By Aaron Anderson Native plants represent an area of untapped growth and expansion for the nursery industry. For example, the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) ranked native plants and native/adapted drought-tolerant plants as the top two landscape and […]

Identifying value and waste

By — Posted

The key is in knowing what the customer is actually willing to pay for The central concept of Lean is to identify process steps that add value and those that are wasteful, eliminating the latter to become more efficient. It sounds simple but isn’t. Rick and Elizabeth Peters own a Wilsonville, Oregon-based Lean consulting firm, […]

Creating ‘standard work’

By — Posted

Finding and reinforcing best work flows helps nurseries run a tighter ship Walk into JLPN Inc., a seeding operation and nursery in Salem, Oregon, and even if you’re not familiar with how to harvest or grade container seedlings, you’d soon be doing it like an experienced hand. How? Simply by looking at the laminated diagrams […]

Organizing spaces with 5S

By — Posted

The 5S methodology for storage and arrangement makes waste reduction far easier Many nurseries deploying Lean to make their processes less wasteful have found that organizing work spaces is a crucial part of their approach. To do this, they are deploying a Lean methodology called “5S.” The letters stand for 1) sort, 2) set in […]

Keeping things moving

By — Posted

The Lean concept of continuous flow delivers big for Oregon’s nurseries Twenty people to five. A quarter-mile span to 20 feet. One week to 20 minutes. What do these all have in common? They are all some of the head-scratching efficiencies that individual nurseries across Oregon have realized since they’ve implemented one key Lean concept […]