Our Client is a large national producer of limited shelf life products controlling the majority of the market in the United States. Headquartered in Colorado, they are a leader in sustainable business practices, manufacturing innovation, and premium food and beverage brands including organic and naturally sourced ingredients.
This wholly-owned subsidiary accounts for approximately $1.3 billion in annual sales and employs some 1,350 people across the United States.
Projects were completed in 4 individual Plants to develop and implement a uniform Management Operating System (MOS) with common metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) in all Plants, including a comprehensive problem resolution process to drive a culture of continuous improvement.
Objectives
Installation of a uniform Management Operating System (MOS) across all Plants, including a comprehensive problem resolution mechanism.
Increased overall plant efficiency by increasing each line’s efficiency allowing for increased throughput and equipment utilization.
Installation of an annual Plant Capacity Planner to maximize the utilization of equipment and resources.
Enhanced daily production schedules providing detailed information for each product run.
To change the behaviors on-the-floor and increase the amount of proactive supervision.
Assessment Findings
Dairy Producer Assessment Findings
Work Time
Line Set-up Time
Non-effective Time
Inefficient line changeovers due to a lack of information and preparation.
Loss of capacity due to no set standard rates for the lines and machines when running.
Action plans for issues and problems were not clearly defined and/or documented and variances were not documented, identified or communicated to the Supervisors.
No follow-up by the Supervisors regarding line downtime or if the lines were running at capacity.
Line Operators were are not assigned back-up work such as cleaning whenever there was a stop in production.
Preventive Maintenance of the lines and equipment was not well structured or based on frequency and compliance to the program.
Inefficient line activities (i.e. re-packing) were not addressed and there was no action plan in place to improve those activities.
Very little engagement by the Supervisors with their employees during the shift (although the Supervisors were on-the-floor in the production areas, they were either walking around the production floor or observing activities with no interaction with the employees).
The Supervisors perception was that their employees know what to do and would ask for help if they needed it.
PVA's Response
PVA’s process and activities involved and engaged the employees during the project key milestones which focused on the employee’s work habits and routines.
Establishment of realistic yet challenging targets and communication of results.
Installed a problem resolution mechanism which allowed for employees to contribute to the continuous improvement efforts.
Restructured the departments to establish proper crew sizes, reporting structures and communication vehicles.
Identified the bottlenecks of the lines when running different product mixes.
Improved the planning and scheduling process to maximize line efficiencies and equipment utilization.
Enhanced the understanding and utilization of the KPI’s by the Supervisors on-the-floor.
Reorganized the management structure and reporting requirements to allow for better definition of accountability and expectations at all levels within the organization.
Installed an “Accountability Stream” process, defining the various approaches to employ when dealing with employees.
The Results
Hover over graphs for more information
Some significant results obtained by our Client in their different plants included:
Overall plant efficiency has been improved between 15 to 23% in the Plants due to a combination of cost reduction in both direct and indirect labor categories, and a throughput volume increase by better equipment utilization.
There has been a reduction of overtime of between 50% and 72% across the Plants.
Gallons Per Man Hour
There was a 30% improvement in gallons per man hour.
Efficiency Analysis
There was a 23% improvement in efficiency.
Improvement in Supervisory Activities
Dairy Supervisory Activities
PRE-PROJECT
3%0%35%0%62%
POST-PROJECT
40%4%26%0%30%
Active Supervision
Training
Administration
Manual Work
Available
Long Term Work Continuation
A Client Coordinator was trained and certified during the PVA engagement
A quarterly audit program of the new Management Operating System was developed and implemented with the Coordinator
PVA conducted audits over 18 months to ensure compliance to the continued utilization of the Management Operating Systems
These Audits resulted in recommendations and action plans to further identify additional opportunities for improving operations
PVA has demonstrated a commitment to us that ensures the sustainability of our success at the plant level. Working with the Director of Continuous Improvement they have developed enhanced tools to drive improved processes and attain the needed behavior modification at the Plant Manager, Department Manager, First Line Supervisor and hourly level. This partnership has yielded drastic improvements in productivity, waste reduction and employee engagement that will drive our improvement on-going.
The PVA team has been a business partner since day one, ensuring the involvement of the Plant Management Team. They have worked to develop a positive working relationship at each of our facilities and varied the approach as needed to adjust to the culture at individual sites. The delivery of improvement tools and the reinforcement of needed behaviors have paid off in dollars and the sustaining behavior needed for “continuous improvement”.
PVA's team partnered closely with our plant and adapted quickly to our individual facility's opportunities, while maintaining overall uniformity across installations at our other facilities. The PVA team worked "hands-on" with our staff throughout the Management Operating System development process. The installation and development of formalized Master Scheduling and Opportunity Identification processes has positioned our facility for sustainable continuous improvement going forward.
