Eighty percent of the bouquets that are spell into the US are from Colombia . But how are these bouquets made ? Earlier this calendar month , FloralDaily visited expectant assorted bouquet producer Riofrio Bouquets in Chía , where they export 600,000 full boxes of flowers , think 290 million stems a year to the US . In this article , an effect of the facility and operations .
Based on colorAt Riofrio Bouquets , they do not run with specific miscellany but body of work with efflorescence and colors . " Our customer separate us what kind of prime and colors they desire , and we make the bouquets fit in to the invention . We discipline over 280 unlike peak and colors " , says Maria I García , Director of Planning of RioFrio Bouquets . The flush used in the posy come from sister farms in Colombia , but when necessary , flowers from third - company farm and from Ecuador and Colombia are also used .
Group of fragrance makers .
WorkforceRiofrio Bouquets employs 800 hoi polloi , and during the vacation seasons , like Valentine ’s Day and Mother ’s Day , 1,400 people are working in the adeptness . The bulk of the employee are from the arena , and three buses a 24-hour interval convey them from their home to the facility . And over the last three year , the portion of Venezuelan employees increased , and nowadays , 26 % of their employee are from Venezuela .
Gustavo Naranjo , Manufacturing Director .
11 linesThere are about 50 hoi polloi per line , and in total , they have 11 lines to make nosegay . in three ways : manual , with a machine , or a compounding of the two . Which method they use depend on the order they receive from their customers , which are principally US supermarket like Kroger , Walmart , and Cosco . This year , they added young machines and are eager to invest in more machines in the future . " machine make labor serious . We latterly empower in a Mecaflor machine , for exemplar . With this machine , a worker only has to lay one bloom in a designate spot . It not only simplify the work , it also enable us to make many and large bouquets . "
Packaging field .
CoolingWhen the bouquet are made , they are wad ( mostly dry - pack ) and cooled before they are debase in the truck . " When the efflorescence enter the cooling system , they are freeze - cooled first . Then , they stay on in the cooling till they will be loaded into the truck . so as to do this as fast as possible , we habituate a belt system that we have inside the chill field and outside the truck . In this way , we can load a full truck in 45 hour to 1 hour .
Cooling area . On the left , where the flower are being freeze - cooled , and on the right , the cooling area with the smash on the leftfield for nimble loading of the trucks .
societal and environmental responsibilityNot only within the facility but also on social and environmental level , they have been and are still making big step . They , for example , recycle their plastic , send back their fresh flower to the farms to compost , and are planning to install solar panels . On the societal side , they are taking care of their employee ( and even the dogs that are around at the facility ) in several means . They have even been awarded by the municipality of Tocancipa as the phone number one generator of employment in the area . On top of that , they support students , internally and outwardly , financially , coordinate capacity program for disabled people , and much more .
proletarian stretching in the morning , on the back of the jacket from the worker it says ' Manos que transformen , ' which think of hands that make the transformation .
Pre - covid sale numbersDuring the pandemic , numbers increase , but when looking at this yr , number will be standardized to pre - covid years . " During covid , it was expected that the unremarkable consumption of blossom would remain gamy . But that is not the typeface any longer . When looking at the numbers this year , they are similar to pre - covid geezerhood , with peak period around Valentine ’s Day and Mother ’s Day .
Ricardo González Manager of Riofrio .
Main challenge during holidaysDuring the vacation season , which takes about 21 Day , around 4,500 full boxes leave behind the deftness a day . accord to García , the major challenge these days is labor , as it is not easy to get labor for this geological period and to get the amount of flowers we need . "
Below are more picture taken at the facility .
Here , bouquets are made manually . One somebody makes the bouquets , and one person ready the stems for two fragrancy makers .
A peek in the facility .
Here , the bouquets are made and put on a line .
prime and blood .
There is more automation in this area where the workers see on the screen what kind of bloom they demand to put on the whack .
And the most advanced machine at the facility is the Mecaflor belt . The recipe are instal in advance , and then every color map a flower . Every worker lay in a flower .
They also have a computer hardware field where the sleeves and tags are prepare .
The left side was coiffe up especially for the Proflora week so that customer could see what flowers and colors they had to offer .
And , of course , a picture of the wiener houses .
For more informationRiofrio Bouquetsagroindustriasdelriofrio.com
© FloralDaily.com/Elita Vellekoop
