Attending a premier industry trade show in Toronto this month enabled me to see some of the up and coming automation for our industry One of the first jobs that I tried to get my foot in the door was a rolling position on my feet all day stuffing an closing tubes of cannabis. Seeing an automated tube filling and closing machine at that show gave me some interesting ideas of my own having a ca[able background.

A lot of people view pick and place mini robots to be the way to go for automation however it will interesting to see what we end up with to replace 25 people stuffing joints and packaging in a room with 5-10. Rotary loading of oriented tubes for filling and closing will be interesting although I have not seen any yet. The automated separators for small buds by rolling stems through a gapped mill while saving large buds for hand trimming seems great. And the tech in separation is doing great enabling many new products.

One of my favorite learning experiences came during my first and only robotic sales position when another vender stressed to be the importance of “bells and whistles” on a operator’s panel which seemed pretty cynical. I like to keep it simple and functional where possible although I understand the different technologies. Technology can look pretty and still be dysfunctional insomuch as income is concerned.

Cannabis is hard work so that making things easier for employees is important to their health and your bottom line. It’s easier to take a straightforward path than to go for complex technologies however for growing intense flowers the advantages of hydroponics and misting can be more productive . The decision is the producer’s to make.