Hortech, Inc.

JOB DESCRIPTION/PERFORMANCE EXPECTATIONS

Intern Teammate

Last updated 1/8/2018

Primary supervisor and mentor: Human Resources Manager

Secondary supervisors and mentors:Shipping Manager, LiveRoof and Hortech Production Managers, and Assistant General Manager.

Internship Experience:

Hortech Inc. offers a limited number of hands-on internship positions that are focused on generating experience and perspective (of horticultural products and services, and green roof and planted wall eco-systems) through a rotation of hands-on work experiences, and exposure to the people, products and processes of our organization. Most of the work is supervised, in groups; occasionally with suggested reading and experience outside of our typical work environment. Subjects that will be addressed, mostly through hands on work, include the following:

  • Horticulture
/
  • Plant care – Grown Earth Friendly

  • Botany
/
  • Business

  • Plant Propagation
/
  • Lean Manufacturing

  • Customer Service
/
  • Teamwork

  • Logistics
/
  • Language and culture

  • Green Roofs
/
  • Green Walls

Schedule and Focus:

May – August, M-F, Typical hours range from 8am-5pm, often later during our busy May and June shipping and production season.

May–Interns will work as team members on our shipping teams and daily will participate in gathering plants and loading trucks. Training and education will focus on logistical efficiency, quality control, team work and customer service.

June – Interns will work as team members on both our LiveRoof cultural team, caring for field stock plants, and on our production team, executing production of vegetated modules in the LiveRoof system. Activities will include weeding, harvesting cuttings, and planting.

July– Interns will work on a team that is focused on new plant development, and will spend their time caring for, evaluating, and propagating new plant products (from our own breeding and from plants that have been sourced outside of Hortech)—in order to scale them up for potential future introduction into our product lines.

August – Interns will get hands on with the LiveWall planted living wall system and gain experience designing, planting (plants) and installing plants in the LiveWall system. A customer-directed PowerPoint with one of our sales specialist mayalso be part of this experience.

Requirements:

  • 18 years of age, or older.
  • Valid Driver’s License.
  • Current college student or related certificate program.
  • Able to work full-time throughout summer months with minimal disruptions in schedule.
  • Physical stamina is a must as often lifting and walking with 30-50 pounds is a regular activity.
  • Team centered attitude, willingness to pitch in and work hard.

Preferred Degrees:

Horticulture, Botany, Business, Logistics, or Communication/Language (Spanish/English).

Seeking candidates who love the outdoors; not afraid to get dirty and work outside in any weather conditions. Work well in groups and embrace multi-cultural interactions and teamwork. Enjoy learning new things and sharing ideas for improvement. See problems as opportunities to improve. Passionate about plants and improving our environment and focused on sustainable business practices. Attitude of pitching in where help is needed.

Compensation:

Status/Pay Rate: Seasonal

Normal hourly pay: $10.20per hour,with no prior work experience with our company.

$10.71 per hour, with prior work experience with our company.

Time and a half for overtime.

NOTE: enhanced experiences through suggested activities listed below are unpaid time and often completed outside of our normal business hours. Although coordination of such activities may count as school credit and may be monitored by our HR Manager and a college professor and/or college counselor.

Some work includes piece rate pay when working on teams, and allows interns to potentially earn above (or below) their hourly pay rate. Piece rate is designed to incentivize effort and provide an avenue for the individual to earn more than their established hourly wage.

Continual Improvement and Enhanced Opportunities.

There may be multiple project opportunities outside of daily work tasks that will be driven and outlined by the Intern and coordinated with/by the Human Resources Manager; such as job site analysis, customer interactions, teammate interviews, data research, tours and observations, product/process development or involvement, and language.

Enhance your experience through these suggested activities (as an intern, if you have an idea please present it to the Human Resources Manager for further evaluation):

Read and study:

  • Hortech, LiveRoof, and LiveWall plant and product Catalogs.
  • Book Botany for Gardeners.
  • Hortech Certification

Tour:

  • Trial garden, grade plants and record on a weekly basis.
  • Tour local green roofs and green walls and write a summary of your experience and the advantages of green roofs and green walls.
  • Tour local garden centers and review the difference between “big box stores” and independent garden centers.
  • Frederick Meijer Gardens

Staff:

  • Interview a teammate of your choice.

Language:

  • We have many opportunities to learn Spanish: both through on-the-job experience as well as practice work sheets to complete and study.

Central to the obligation of working toward and enhancing the effectiveness and profitability of Hortech is our companywide focus on "Continual Improvement", whereby we continually improve our procedures, facility, and staff. This ensures that we remain a strong competitive company and it helps to create job security for all of us. On a personal level, this means that the teammate must also be dedicated to continual improvement, ongoing education, and enhancement of skills and abilities. By doing so the teammate not only contributes to the strength of our company, but enhances his/her job security, and advancement potential. Throughout the season you are highly encouraged to participate in the enhanced opportunities listed above.

May:Shipping and Logistics

During May, the focus of your internship will be working in the Shipping department, gaining hands on experience shipping our products. There will be a great emphasis on plant quality and customer service. Efficiency is a key component in logistics and we effectively use an advanced process (traditionally used in manufacturing) called Lean Manufacturing or Lean Systems (work smarter, not harder).

Smart logistics and excellent quality and customer service are vital components to providing the best plants, green roofs, and green walls to our customers.

Why Quality, Efficiency, and Customer Service?

  • Value – customer’s perceived value, what they’re willing to pay for
  • Reputation – professionalism and experts
  • Profitability – differentiation and repeat business
  • Stewardship – care for people and plants

How do we ship?

  • Lean Systems – continual improvement, work smarter, not harder; 5S, 5 why, value, etc.
  • Gathering and Loading
  • Customer pick up orders
  • Teamwork – communication and coordination

Logistics:

  • Consistent steadfast service
  • Scheduling and Routing
  • Cost – value – efficiency
  • Rules and regulations
  • Pull versus Push

Piecework systems

  • What – pay determined by quantity of product done over period of time
  • Why – output is greater and measurable because quantity is driving factor
  • How – leader to show paperwork, how quantities/times are recorded

Plant quality:

  • Premium Plants Defined
  • Grown Earth Friendly
  • Inspections and watering
  • Disease/insects

June: LiveRoof Care and Production

During June, interns will spend 2 weeks working with LiveRoof field teams participating in weed management, stock bed planting and general field plant care. This is followed by 2 weeks working with our production teams filling modules, moving modules, harvesting cuttings, and planting modules.

You will learn/experience the following while interning in these positions:

Field Management:

  • The importance of teamwork to our success
  • Continual improvement and use of our Voice of the Customer program
  • How incentive based compensation works
  • Weed control options and prevention
  • Weed life cycles
  • Plant ID
  • Pest/disease ID and controls
  • What are banker plants and how do they control pests
  • How to plant stock beds
  • General irrigation needs of stock beds
  • Field Soil characteristics
  • Equipment used in fields

Production:

  • The importance of teamwork
  • Continual improvement and use of our Voice of the Customer program
  • How incentive based compensation works
  • What Lean Flow is and how to use it to decrease waste
  • How to fill modules
  • Plant ID

How to harvest cuttings

  • How to vegetate modules with cuttings
  • Module soil characteristics
  • Module irrigation
  • Equipment

JULY: NEW PLANT DEVELOPMENT

During July, the focus of your internship will be working in the Production department, gaining hands on experience with plant propagation, primarily with new plants—mostly from our own breeding efforts. There will be small projects focused on evaluating how the plants respond (qualitatively and quantitatively) to various propagation methods. And, there will be larger projects where the quantities are progressively scaled up, to quantities sufficient to establish stock beds, as a prelude to introduction into the marketplace.

New plants, whether they originate from in-house efforts, or those that are sourced from other breeders, are essential to Hortech and LiveRoof’s marketing and sales strategy.

Why new plants?

  • To provide for market demands, or to show the market a better way?
  • What specific needs are we trying to address?
  • What processes do we use?

How they are selected?

  • Chance mutations
  • Deliberate breeding
  • Tour of both trial gardens and weekly participation of plant evaluation.
  • Culling, why and when?

How is stock built?

  • Start small, build to appropriate scale.
  • Cuttings (with scissors or other tools)
  • Division via shovel, etc.
  • Seed collection
  • Tissue culture (contracted out)

Piecework systems

  • What – pay determined by quantity of product done over period of time
  • Why – output is greater and measurable because quantity is driving factor
  • How – leader to show paperwork, how quantities/times are recorded

Soil needs specific to each plant type

  • 50/50 –lighter mix, best drainage
  • #52 – barkier, air space good drainage as well
  • Compost – heavier, less space, better water retention

Appropriate sized container

  • Determine proper drainage needs for each plant, and which container will provide that

How to determine production needs

  • Quantities, specific selections, market demand

Plant care

  • Proper placement i.e. sun, shade, under mist, no mist
  • Watering needs
  • Fertilizer

AUG 1-15: LiveWall

During August, the focus of your internship will be working with LiveWall products—and exposure to sales and marketing. There will be activities that revolve around design, replanting, and maintenance as well as plant production and care. Provided we have clients or prospects that are willing, we will visit a client or two and make a presentation based upon educating others on the merits of Living Walls, with the goal of gaining them as a future client.

Design

  • System basics
  • Plant basics
  • Plant types and their uses
  • Design assignments

System

  • Overview of how it installs, indoors and outdoors
  • Soils and fertilizer
  • Nuances of Irrigation system
  • System function

Un-planting and Planting Exercise

Maintenance

  • LiveWall Nuances of Irrigation system
  • System function

Outside Education

  • Tour of Walls and Roofs in Grand Rapids
  • Sales presentation: the value of Living Walls

Contact:

Brandon Baar

616-842-1392