Laevo Sector Case

Horticulture

Products in use: Laevo FLEX

With over 24 years of experience, Ard is a seasoned entrepreneur in hydrangea nursery. Although he has a strong focus to deliver the best quality products, there is one thing that is more important to him: employee wellbeing. His team consists of approximately ten people. When two of his employees showed lower back pain in the past year, impeding not only their work but also their personal life, he decided to do something about this. After seeing and trying the Laevo FLEX on a fair he decided to implement the exoskeleton in his company. The results were instant. Not only impacting the Quality of Work but also worker happiness. 

“With the Laevo FLEX we can produce for longer with the same people. Tasks we could sustain for two hours only, we can now do for four hours per day.”
— Kick Spaargaren (Employee Van Klaveren Plant)

The hydrangea are standing on the ground in big pots. The pruning is performed manually. To prune the plants, Ard and his colleagues need to bend forward for several hours. With the support of the Laevo FLEX, the time he can prune without experiencing lower back pain has more than doubled: from two hours a day to at least four hours a day. Furthermore, he is able to perform the work without any long breaks. Ard is extremely happy with the exoskeleton support, in particular because he does not experience back pain anymore.  

Where we normally needed three persons, now one person can do the job and deliver everything with good quality.
— Ard van Klaveren (Owner Van Klaveren Plant)

To Ard, the main reason to implement the Laevo FLEX was to improve the wellbeing of the employees. However now he is using the Laevo FLEX he does experience the financial benefit from the purchase. Although the prevention of lower back pain and the a reduction of absenteeism cost have some influence on the Payback Period and ROI of the exoskeleton,  it is the increased flexibility that’s the true gamechanger.  

Please read more about this here [link to ROI case van Klaveren]