Rowe Farming - Case Study​

Rowe Farming has been growing and packing daffodils since 2011 and was acquired by Produce Investments in 2012. Their customer base covers both retail and export, farming circa 2,500 acres. Due to the nature of the product and its seasonality, a lot happens in the space of 16 weeks.

Rowe had a desire to improve the efficiency in the packhouse, the aesthetic look of the bunch and at the request from retail to reduce the use of plastic. This is where the search began for a suitable company and the Atwell team arranged to come to our site in Cornwall specifically to discuss the opportunity of moving to the paper wrap applicators. We welcomed the visit for the reasons mentioned previously. The timeline of progression was exceptionally fast as we were impressed with the applicators, the pitch, and the cost. The only assessment we needed to do was to number crunch the payback period vs the initial outlay, which was felt to be achievable.

One of the biggest improvements Rowe have seen is the presentation of the bunch as the paper wrap is more impactful. The other is the reduction in labour needed to achieve the daily orders. Rowe can foresee themselves progressing from 300 wraps PPH to around 600 – 700 wraps PPH.

“There is potential for further improvements from using new machines once the set-up process is completed, this is only amplified by time and the experience of the operators in getting the most out of the machines and learning how to manage the technical challenges. All of which is supported by Atwell and their teams.”