What comes to your mind when I say TOSHIBA? Laptops, Televisions, or Air Conditioners. How about Green Leafy Vegetables. Shocked? Toshiba, the Japanese Electronics Manufacturer, had been struggling with their disused factories that were once actively churning out floppy disks. When floppy disks lost their charm, the factories remained shut for a decade. After applying design thinking,
Toshiba converted these factories into vegetable farms, growing lettuce, spinach, and other green leafy vegetables.
Wait… this is not some ordinary lettuce, it grows in climate controlled rooms and on a special formulation of nutrients and fertilizers. No bugs, no pesticides, no dust, no microbes, the vegetables from Toshiba farms are clean and healthy to consume. Toshiba is growing over 3 million units of vegetables annually since 2015. In the future, they are also planning to introduce robots that pick vegetables. Wait Toshiba is not alone… Sharp is growing Japanese strawberries, while Panasonic is busy making Popeye’s favorite Spinach in abandoned factories.