iFlow: working on smarter decisions in the day trading of floriculture products /strengthening pricing in day trading

The clock has always been an effective and efficient instrument in establishing a good market price and in the fast commercial and logistic management of many transactions. However, there has been a sharp increase in the direct flows between grower and customer. Furthermore, the clock is still very important for price formation in the total market. At the same time, this price formation is affected by various factors and has become less stable. In turn this instability in pricing on the clock puts more pressure on pricing in the direct flows. Also, logistic management linked to the clock is still a benchmark in the market.

The use of new ICT and advanced tools to support decision making help modernise the day trading process and the associated logistic chain network and make it more competitive and sustainable. Research by RSM has shown that it is possible to help growers and customers take better decisions on buying and selling flowers and plants. Based on that conclusion, the iFlow project looks for tools which can do that, so that people can use them to work on good and stable pricing. Wageningen University, involved in the Davinci project, builds further on research on demand driven logistics.

The four year project is financed by The Top Knowledge Institute for Horticulture, the Horticultural Product Board and the participating businesses. The project is co-ordinated by FloraHolland and RSM.