Luís Silva: Designing a medical cannabis project? Start with the product, not the equipment
3 min read
If you had to design the cultivation management system for a new medical cannabis project from scratch, what would you do radically differently compared with the projects you were working on 4 or 5 years ago?
What I would change at the root is the order of decisions. Before choosing equipment or software, I would define what product we are going to deliver, at what quality, in what volume and at what cost. Based on those requirements, I would design the whole operation and size the facility, the team and the management system.
This forces you to think about the product's entire journey. Cultivation scheduling has to fit with drying capacity, post-harvest operations, quality controls and cleaning and maintenance times. If one stage cannot absorb the output of the previous one, expanding cultivation can increase costs without increasing sales.
The same happens inside each room. A lighting decision affects the plant's response, the heat load and the humidity that will have to be removed. Its profitability also depends on the climate control and energy consumption it requires. That is why I would evaluate every improvement by its impact on the whole operation: how much product meets the required specifications and what its real production cost is.
Before awarding equipment or systems, I would have the critical parameters, operating limits and acceptance tests defined. Commissioning must show that the systems reach the intended conditions and that the team knows how to operate them. Documentation, training and maintenance are part of that handover. Having the facility finished is only one part of being ready to produce.
The data I would collect would support specific decisions. Each batch record should link cultivation and post-harvest conditions, interventions and quality results. Consumption figures and equipment behaviour make it possible to check whether the facility is performing as planned. For example, detecting a gradual loss of efficiency in a piece of equipment lets you investigate the cause and schedule an intervention before a breakdown. The value of analysing that data lies in being able to act in time and protect production.
That information has to reach the people who can act on it. I would define who reviews each indicator, who responds to an alarm and who authorises a change. Routine controls can be automated within established limits; agronomic interpretation and quality decisions require qualified people with decision-making authority. Management has to make the team's daily work easier.
In the investment, I would factor in operating costs from the outset: energy, staff, lab testing, consumables, maintenance and licences. Also the working capital needed during start-up and until sales revenue comes in. I would build future expansions into the design, with a sequence tied to demand and to the capacity actually used.
That way, the project would define from the start how production, quality and costs are connected. A good management system should make it possible to obtain a product that meets specifications, know its real cost and repeat that result consistently.