Flower yield increases and labor cost reduction with Softrim
A leading cannabis grower faced two major challenges: the yield they were losing with their conventional blade trimming machine, and the difficulties of unpredictable labor in their trimming area. Looking for answers, they asked Softrim manufacturing engineers to study their process. And, in the end, we delivered solutions exceeding their expectations. To address their first challenge, the Softrim team rolled out our largest cannabis trimming machine into their facility, installing it the same morning. We then opened the machine to reveal the patent-pending silicone finger mats used to gently massage the leaves off the buds – as opposed to having the buds haphazardly shaved with a rotary blade machine. The staff instantly understood the advantage! They saw the simplicity. They appreciated the speed and efficiency. Simply said, they got it. “We’ve never seen anything like this before,” they said. We then placed one pound of flower in the hopper and processed it … in 20 seconds. Eyes opened wide as the product fell into the finished bin with nearly no leaves on the processed bud. The head grower picked through the flowers and said, “This looks like hand trimmed. I can see all the flower formations, and the bud is not shaved into a nub like with our other machine.”
Finished flower yield on first run
They said their facility was producing about 800 pounds of cannabis a month, and getting about 60-65% yield of finished flower. We then weighed the finished buds to find we had 85% of flower yield. We explained that Softrim does not cut any material, so the yield increase is a result of not cutting all the precious outside structures off the flower. We then proceeded to run 100 pounds of buds in the next half hour. When the process manager opened the finished product bag, she said “the smells are amazing!” We noted that the strong aromas were a result of not cutting any of the plant structures. Since Softrim cracks off the brittle leaves and does not cut the bud, the trichomes are left intact providing the true natural smell of the cannabis. As a result, the customer contracted Softrim de-leafing services to come to the facility once a week. Over the course of three months, the Softrim team de-leafed approximately 2000 pounds of flower, representing 17 strains of cannabis. Spreadsheets of flower yield and labor costs were recorded and, as an aggregate, the facility recorded a 20-30% increase in flower yield. They also found that Softrim technology was able to address their second major challenge – labor costs and unpredictable quality – with a 30-50% reduction in labor per strain.
Labor cost reduction
“We are now processing hundreds of pounds of buds an hour,” the plant manager said. “When we were hand trimming, it would take a week to a week and a half to accomplish what we are now doing in three days. “Moreover, with hand trimming the bud quality and flower yield was inconsistent person-to-person and day-to-day. Even from the beginning of the shift to the end of the shift there can be a difference. And its predictable quality that the dispensaries rank us on. Softrim mitigates that. “Softrim has allowed us to reallocate labor and turn our rooms faster. We are getting our product into the dispensaries faster, and getting our accounts payables faster. Softrim gives us an increase in flower yield and makes our team more profitable. “There’s no doubt in my mind: Softrim is better than hand trim.” With yield up and labor down, the customer also noticed that its dispensaries were also commenting on the amazing aroma and natural formation of the flowers.
Brokers bring product from dozens of growers to the dispensaries and buds processed by Softrim are being ranked among the highest. Several dispensaries increased the customer’s product quality ranking – a big deal, given dispensaries have hundreds of purchasing options. More importantly, the ranking value further helped stabilize the customer’s wholesale prices. After three months of our weekly service, the customer purchased a Softrim machine. As we built the machine, we worked with the customer to provide still another Softrim advantage: fine-tuning the Softrim process to their operation. Working with them, we determined the single-piece-flow manufacturing approach providing the best de-leafing quality for flower yield and lowest operating cost specific to their facility (learn more about single-piece-flow in The Advantages of SoftrimTM and the SinglePiece-Flow Process document.) Per our recommendation, it proved to be bucking the flower directly into the Softrim automatic bud trimmer, enabling an even larger reduction in labor and increased turn times to quickly get a saleable product into the dispensaries.
Faced with challenges just a few months ago, the future for this customer is now bright and focused on growth. “The quality, speed and flower yield of Softrim technology is simply outstanding,” they tell us. And we are grateful for the win-win.