Denver Parks & Recreation Improve the Tracking and Distribution of Spring Plants

We have 16 greenhouses. We grow in

36,000 square feet of greenhouse. We grow

for this park citywide. We also grow for

the zoo and the Denver Botanic Gardens. We

have 30 horticulturists that help

maintain all the 40-plus parks. There was

a lot of talk about the problems that

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

are we going to fix these problems and

how are we going to find those solutions.

In the past, it used to be people would

either be at the garage door and they'd

load up plants that way, or they would

actually drive through the hallway and

go from one end of the greenhouse out

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

I place an order for 2:00?

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

paper, or Let me run down to the other

side of the greenhouse. You know?

So it was just not organized. We really talked

to all of the park's horticulturists out

in the districts. We communicated a lot

to figure out where the breakdown was

happening, and then we tried to really

pinpoint those solutions and start from there.

So if we were disorganized on our end,

it would only slow the process down for them.

We're always about improving efficiency.

While we're not selling anything,

the citizens of the City and

County of Denver are paying for us to do

what we're doing, and ultimately, they are

the customer. So when I first took over

the greenhouse and started using the

Black Belt techniques and some of the

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

biggest thing there was What's the

current state, and where would we

want to go? So the current state for the

greenhouse at that time was a lot of

chaos and also a lot of frustration for people.

What we did was we started using

all of our doors, and the way we are able

to do that is that we actually pull the

orders for them ahead of time and

place them at the back of the

greenhouses toward the doors. Now

we're loading people from 14 doors

rather than two, and their

material is ready when they get here.

Some people can be on the north, some people

can be on the south, and they can get

their plants, get loaded, and get going to

go plant the bed. We have an online kind

of ordering system, so to speak. Like, we

send an email, basically, that has the

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

them, and then we send that to them as an

Excel sheet, and then they're able to

pull the orders that way. You can pick

your date and your hour that you're

picking up, and you can pick your bed

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

room for error. We can just drop it right

into the spreadsheet, and then we can

actually sort and find what we're doing

for each day. So good organization is key

from the very beginning all the way through.

We see that there's a problem. We

talk about it. We communicate together as

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

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

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

imagine how we would operate. Our fellow

coworkers come in and are always very

pleased with the system and are like,

You guys are so well organized, and we

appreciate it. We appreciate the plants,

and it just goes and flows really well.

It's really cool. It makes it all

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

for--for other people to enjoy.

[Music].