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We have 16 greenhouses. We grow in

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36,000 square feet of greenhouse. We grow

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for this park citywide. We also grow for

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the zoo and the Denver Botanic Gardens. We

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have 30 horticulturists that help

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maintain all the 40-plus parks. There was

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a lot of talk about the problems that

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were here, but there wasn't a lot of how

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are we going to fix these problems and

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how are we going to find those solutions.

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In the past, it used to be people would

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either be at the garage door and they'd

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load up plants that way, or they would

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actually drive through the hallway and

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go from one end of the greenhouse out

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the other. You'd call somebody and be like, Hey, can

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I place an order for 2:00?

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And they'd be like, Let me grab a piece of

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paper, or Let me run down to the other

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side of the greenhouse. You know?

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So it was just not organized. We really talked

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to all of the park's horticulturists out

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in the districts. We communicated a lot

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to figure out where the breakdown was

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happening, and then we tried to really

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pinpoint those solutions and start from there.

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So if we were disorganized on our end,

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it would only slow the process down for them.

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We're always about improving efficiency.

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While we're not selling anything,

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the citizens of the City and

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County of Denver are paying for us to do

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what we're doing, and ultimately, they are

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the customer. So when I first took over

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the greenhouse and started using the

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Black Belt techniques and some of the

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processes--looking at the A3--you know, the

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biggest thing there was What's the

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current state, and where would we

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want to go? So the current state for the

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greenhouse at that time was a lot of

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chaos and also a lot of frustration for people.

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What we did was we started using

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all of our doors, and the way we are able

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to do that is that we actually pull the

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orders for them ahead of time and

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place them at the back of the

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greenhouses toward the doors. Now

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we're loading people from 14 doors

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rather than two, and their

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material is ready when they get here.

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Some people can be on the north, some people

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can be on the south, and they can get

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their plants, get loaded, and get going to

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go plant the bed. We have an online kind

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of ordering system, so to speak. Like, we

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send an email, basically, that has the

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beds that we're picking up and what's in

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them, and then we send that to them as an

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Excel sheet, and then they're able to

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pull the orders that way. You can pick

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your date and your hour that you're

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picking up, and you can pick your bed

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number there. So for us, you know, there's much less

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room for error. We can just drop it right

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into the spreadsheet, and then we can

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actually sort and find what we're doing

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for each day. So good organization is key

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from the very beginning all the way through.

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We see that there's a problem. We

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talk about it. We communicate together as

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a team. Hey, we see this as a problem,

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and then we figure out a way to make it right.

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If it wasn't what it is now, I can't

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imagine how we would operate. Our fellow

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coworkers come in and are always very

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pleased with the system and are like,

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You guys are so well organized, and we

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appreciate it. We appreciate the plants,

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and it just goes and flows really well.

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It's really cool. It makes it all

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worthwhile in my mind. That's what it's

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for--for other people to enjoy.

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[Music].