Hydroponics Automation
Problem statement
At first look into SubZero’s Summer Crisp Lettuce hydroponics lab one can see an impressive operation taking place. The lab is home to two industrial storage racks each capable of growing two lettuce crops, each consisting of 108 plants, over a seven week period. The system successfully delivers nutrients and light to each crop on a careful schedule with high lettuce health and low variability in mind. Although the lettuce have an ideal environment to grow, the hydroponics lab requires a level of maintenance that is unideal for Sub-Zero’s employees to commit their time to. Lacy, a member of the Sub-Zero design team, was tasked with maintaining the hydroponics lab. Maintenance is very tedious and entails sprouting new lettuce plants, transplanting those sprouts into the main lab area, updating the water reservoirs’ chemical feed concentrations, harvesting the plants, and washing the lettuce growing troughs. Lacy has been spending 50% of her time working at Sub-Zero maintaining this hydroponics lab and aside from the time commitment alone, some maintenance tasks require her to handle corrosive chemicals and subject herself to falls and strains while working around the non-ergonomic lab layout. Although producing healthy lettuce is vital to Sub-Zero’s product testing specifications, the hydroponics lab is proving itself to be a high consumer of Sub-Zero’s time and resources. In order for Sub-Zero to resume the lab’s functionality while reducing maintenance, safety risks, and better utilize Lacy’s talents, the lab’s structure and processes need to be optimized. We intend to provide to Sub-Zero, and Lacy specifically, solutions to streamline the lettuce growth maintenance processes and reduce lab safety concerns while implementing an ergonomic rack design. If we can successfully implement solutions Lacy will be able to spend more time focusing on ways to increase the lettuce health, reduce crop variability, and focus on her many other design duties.
Team members
Alexander Kneeland – leader
Jared Straka – communicator
Nicholas Lane – accountant
Jacob May – admin
Client
Jason Konz, SubZero Wolf