The Greenery is a market-oriented sales company whose shares are owned by the
producers who are members of the horticultural cooperative VoedingsTuinbouw
Nederland (VTN). The 1,700 producer-owned member companies market all their
products via The Greenery.
The transport of products from the 1,700 producers (referring to about 2,000 physical
locations) to one of the Greenery distribution centers used to be the responsibility of the
growers, who had to decide for themselves what transport modality, timing and route
were optimal. As a result all thinkable modalities, times and routes were applied resulting
in a huge complexity and inefficiencies in the system: a lot of half-truck loads, multiple
transporters at the same time in one lane, waiting times at the warehouse docks, etc.
Over the years, the Greenery has implemented a number of changes to improve its supply
chain performance.