Productivity


Production methods A food processing and packaging plant saw an 18% reduction in labour costs by implementing recommended improvements to their batch production methods. Opportunities to reduce waste, address material shortages and create better product flow were also identified.


“Have you ever stopped to consider the implications of promotional offers on the industry?”


Product variations There were problems at a bottling plant with line capacity and how to cope with the increased variation of caps and labels as well as bottle size, type and contents. Specialist investigation identified an array of causes of downtime and the need to more closely specify the


variation of line speed to cope with equipment sensitivity. To accommodate regular changes in the types of product, bottle, or cap, much quicker changeovers were effected – and significant material costs saved by slightly moderating filling volumes still within acceptable tolerances.


Variances


An increasingly large range of plant and packaging variants with smaller batch sizes was causing significant labour variances. The overall picture was clearly adverse, but there was inadequate information for targets and costs for each specific product, so it wasn’t evident which products were causing the variance. Building


Management Services Winter 2012


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time data and a better batch monitoring procedure highlighted the problem areas. Actions and decisions impacted on charge costs, increasing minimum batch sizes and in two very significant cases, reducing customer charges for some large batches. The result – a more competitive offering and increased business for the manufacturer. Food and drink


manufacturers are increasingly turning to specialists in structuring and applying time standards because this very specialist expertise can make a huge improvement to how lean and streamlined their business actually is. And that is at the heart of this and every business sector.


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