Situation
This client is a multinational food, beverage, and confectionary conglomerate that employs over 107,000 people globally. This is the world’s pre-eminent maker of snacks and manages to hold the top market share globally for biscuits, chocolate and candy, gum, beverages, and cheese and grocery. This company has over $35 billion in annual sales, operates in 80 countries, and has sales in over 165 countries worldwide.
A rapid improvement strategy needed to be put in place to improve the Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) in throughput and reduction of scrap.
Challenge
The client had GP Strategies® perform a reliability assessment where it was determined that a large number of abnormalities and defects existed on the production line. These issues were directly impacting the Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), so it was clear that there was a need to increase the throughput of the production line and reduce scrap. The equipment reliability issues that were identified were related to variations in the way that the operators performed their tasks. Documentation and procedures were out of date for operations, startup, shutdown, and changeover procedures, which was leading to a lack of standard work being done and poor defect identification and elimination.
Solution
GP Strategies developed and implemented five rapid improvement operator care workshops by partnering with the maintenance and production teams. These workshops covered:
- Visual management
- Five S and problem solving
- Operator equipment inspections
- Front line reliability
In addition to the operator care rapid improvement workshops, GP Strategies also designed, developed, and executed a comprehensive operator training program for a new production line being assembled.
Customized Training Deliverables
- Equipment – specific training modules
- Safety and Operator Care Overview
- Equipment Overview
- Components, Functions, and Operation
- Evidence of Good Operation
- Controls and Sensors
- Operating Procedures
- Inspection and Front Line Maintenance
- Troubleshooting
- Training Within Industry (TWI) and job breakdown sheets application to standard operating
procedures (SOPs) and front line maintenance - Videos
- Accelerated learning principles
- Quizzes and learning games
- Structured qualification process
- Final testing and qualification
- Coaching
Hands-On Training
- Learning trips to vendors and existing sites
- Structured on-the-job requirements
- TWI application to job tasks
- Qualification sign-offs
Toolkit
- Operator Care and Total Productive Maintenance (TPM)
- SOPs
- One point lessons
- Defect identification process
- Visual controls and aids
- Workplace organization and Five S
- Operator inspection checklists
- Sensor maps
- Front line maintenance
Train the Trainer
GP Strategies trained and coached end user in-house trainers to administer the program, sustain gains, and identify improvement opportunities.
Results
During the project, numerous gains were made in terms of improved safety, earlier problem identification and resolution, and increased efficiencies. Although hard to quantify, there were also noticeable, positive changes to the workforce, including reduced stress, better morale, and a more involved and proactive staff.
Quantifiable data included the following:
- Over 350 production line defects were identified and resolved.
- OEE increased from 86.2% to 98.8% in a six-month time span.
- Yield increased from 93.6% to 96.4%.
