Like the Netherlands, all Western nations are facing staff shortages. Part of the solution lies in the automation of labour, and it marks the start of a golden age for the machine manufacturers at the IFTF. Ironically, they themselves also face shortages of technical staff.
Since Brexit, the UK has suffered from severe staff shortages, including a shortage of flower bunchers. Eastern Europeans are not too keen on going through the hassle with visa. ‘We have sold more flower-bunching machines in the last ten months than we did in the three years before', says Antonio dos Santos, sales manager at Havatec. ‘Perhaps I shouldn't really say this, but Brexit is the best thing that has ever happened to us. One of our British clients, for instance, ordered two bunching machines without ever seeing them. They were talking about ordering two more after six months, but their follow-up order came within six weeks.’
As Bjorn Bierman, sales manager at Bercomex, points out, ‘return on investment is really no longer an issue. The machine has become essential to the survival of the business, so the most important question for clients is how many employees it can replace.’
