Automated greenhouse for hydroponic vegetable cultivation: Using a prototype to validate a business idea
codecentric worked with engineering firm Venjakob to test the business idea of an automated hydroponic greenhouse for vegetable growing using an interactive prototype, enabling them to gain insights into demand, target groups, and distribution channels at an early stage.
Venjakob Maschinenbau GmbH & Co. KG has been producing efficient and modern paint systems and paint lines at its headquarters in Rheda-Wiedenbrück since 1963. The third-generation family-owned company has developed into an internationally recognized system manufacturer of surface facilities and conveyor technology and is looking to diversify its portfolio.
Initial situation
What difference does it make whether you are automating paint shops or greenhouses? That was what Dominik Osthues and Andre Frank of Venjakob Maschinenbau GmbH & Co. KG thought. To diversify its portfolio, Venjakob joined forces with Pflanzentheke, a developer of hydroponic systems, with the aim of launching dCrop. The two companies plan to use dCrop to advance the digitalization of hydroponic vegetable cultivation and offer an automated greenhouse for growing vegetables hydroponically. It is an ambitious project and not entirely without risk.
Venjakob can overcome the technical challenges behind a holistic system, as the company has a broad expertise in equipment engineering. However, the team wondered if there was any demand for an automated greenhouse for vegetable growing.
Venjakob joined forces with codecentric to develop a prototype to validate the business idea and to better assess demand. The lean prototype was designed to provide the necessary insights at IPM 2023, the world's leading horticultural trade show. codecentric was tasked with providing advice on the validation process and developing the prototype.
codecentric has already successfully navigated many companies from an initial product idea to a prototype. Thanks to this expertise, we were able to provide Venjakob with good support even at short notice - the kick-off was three weeks before the trade show. The codecentric team worked with Venjakob to define the specifics of the business idea, developed the prototype, provided methods for collecting feedback and helped to analyze the data.
What is hydroponic vegetable cultivation?
In a few short words, hydroponics is the replacement of soil with water. Hydroponic cultivation, which is well known for indoor plants, is also increasingly being used to grow vegetables. In the process, soil is replaced by water. The plants are supplied with nutrients in the water. Hydroponics brings a number of advantages, including growing in a confined space and seasonal independence.
Solution
The first step was to identify the most important questions regarding the business idea that needed to be investigated. This is how we started with a specific business idea, but gave ourselves room for iteration. The motto was: build, measure, learn.
Evaluating business ideas with questions and metrics
Venjakob and codecentric worked together in a series of workshops to develop questions that would allow a thorough evaluation of the business idea. Is a trade show the right place to reach a target group? Or are partnerships perhaps more promising? Who is the target group and what are their concerns? Which aspects are critical for a functioning business model?
The goal of these workshops was to identify the riskiest assumptions of the product idea in order to analyze them more closely.
We developed experiments for the most important questions and provided them with success metrics to be able to assess the results later on. We also trained the trade show team in methodological interview techniques to get the most out of the conversations at the show.
Visualizing the product vision with an app prototype
Venjakob and Pflanzentheke built an eye-catching mini greenhouse on the stand to draw the IPM 40,000 visitors to their stand.
The prototype was used to visualize the product idea of fully automatic vegetable growing. It allowed individual plants such as basil or lettuce to be selected and their cultivation planned. The app indicated which parameters were ideal for the growth of each plant, which material needed to be procured, and which tasks had to be performed over the cultivation period.
The prototype also demonstrated how real measurement data on, for example, nutrient values in the water, light, or temperature might be recorded and intelligently controlled. It was also possible to control the light and water pump in the greenhouse on the stand using switches in the app.
The React app was developed in just four days. Even if only dummy data was stored in the background, the aim of this small app was to make Venjakob's concept and idea tangible and understandable. The aim was, firstly, to hold follow-up meetings with the target group and, secondly, to gain a better understanding of the challenges and needs within the target group.
The Venjakob team felt well prepared for the trade show as they had been armed with the right questions, a set of methods for conversations, and a functioning prototype.
Result
Practical testing of the idea
There was a lively exchange of ideas with the target group at the trade show. The stand with the greenhouse attracted the attention of visitors and the prototype achieved exactly the desired result: many lively discussions, even more than expected. The Venjakob team was able to gather valuable feedback on the product idea at a very early stage of product development.
Retro – a signpost to the future
The goals set for the various experiments were considered and interpreted with codecentric in a joint retrospective review of the trade show. It was already possible to better assess some of the original questions and assumptions. However, this gave rise to new questions.
A roadmap was created to address these issues, in order to reduce further uncertainty, and to obtain an even more differentiated view of the market. Over the coming weeks, Venjakob intends to follow up on the discussions with the contacts it collected and launch its first pilot projects.
The experiments developed with codecentric have provided us with valuable insights. The approach has sensitized us to work out the most important questions in a targeted manner and then to examine them systematically. The collaboration was very cooperative and open and we are confidently moving on to the next phase of product development.
Dominik Osthues
Head of R&D, Venjakob GmbH & Co. KG
Any questions about the project?
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Market Lead Manufacturing & Automotive | Location Manager Nuremberg
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Ali Resa Rothbauer
Market Lead Manufacturing & Automotive | Location Manager Nuremberg