Transforming Greenheart Farms Nursery Operations with a
Fully Customized ERP Solution by i2i Automation Inc.
Greenheart Acres Case Study.
Client Overview
Greenheart Farms is one of the largest nurseries in the US with over 120 acres of indoor and outdoor growing space. With three facilities in California, they rank among California’s leading Vegetable, Restoration, and Rose transplant producers. With over 200 year-round employees, they grow over a billion ornamental and vegetable plants every Year.
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The Challenge
Large nursery operations, such as Greenheart’s, have many moving parts and require precise coordination across various departments to successfully execute customer orders. Greenheart was struggling to keep up with the demands of their expanding business.
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Their existing tools were outdated and unable to support the complexity of their workflows. The systems were disconnected, difficult to use, and reliant on manual spreadsheets (various apps, excel sheets, online forms, paper forms etc). Departments often lacked real-time visibility, which led to inefficiencies, delays, and duplicated efforts.
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The team needed a way to: manage seeding, cuttings, propagation of hundreds of varieties, track intricate growth schedules, plan production cycles, monitor live inventory, and keep sales, shipping, and accounting aligned on constantly changing information.
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After exploring multiple ERP systems over several years, Greenheart found “off-the-shelf” ERP systems were too rigid and could not handle the depth of customization needed to support the nursery’s specialized workflows. This led them to partner with i2i Automation for a fully customized ERP system that will adapt to the way they operate today and continue to evolve with them.
The Solution: A Custom ERP Designed for Horticulture.
i2i Automation created a fully customized ERP platform that brought the entire operation into one cohesive system. Every component was built around the nursery’s real processes and daily challenges, ensuring that the software supported their workflow rather than forcing them to adapt to generic functionality.
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The system unified critical operational areas, including:
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Production planning
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Propagation and Growing
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Live, real-time inventory tracking
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Sales order management with live visibility into inventory and production capacity
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Order fulfillment, from order picking, load building, and shipping
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Integration with accounting software
One of the standout features was a suite of custom smart reports. These reports provided immediate insights tailored to their needs, eliminating manual spreadsheet work and enabling the leadership team to make informed decisions quickly. Real-time dashboards gave each department complete visibility, strengthening communication and reducing bottlenecks across the operation.
Results and Impact
The improvements were both immediate and meaningful. Order processing and shipping times were cut in half, creating a faster and more reliable experience for customers. Complete traceability across every plant batch enhanced quality control and ensured compliance with industry expectations. Sales, shipping, production, and accounting all gained access to accurate, real-time data, bringing the entire organization into alignment.
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Month-end reporting, once a time-consuming and manual process, became instant and accurate. Manual data entry was eliminated, and the nursery now operates with a level of clarity and efficiency that their previous systems could not provide.
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Most importantly, the team finally has a long-term ERP solution that is built for their business. The platform is flexible, scalable, and capable of growing alongside them as their operation evolves.
Conclusion
This transformation shows the value of industry-specific software and the impact that a truly customized ERP can have on a horticultural operation. By building technology around real-world nursery workflows, i2i Automation helped this business streamline operations, strengthen communication, and position itself for long-term growth. It is a powerful example of what becomes possible when software is designed to fit the business rather than the other way around.