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In 2007 senior management at Frucor Beverages Limited developed a strategy to take staff on a journey through the Competitive Manufacturing process as it became evident that a formal improvement programme would lead to enhanced performance in all aspects of the business.
Philip Penhale, Frucor's Optimisation Manager said his management team recognised the need to improve the culture at Frucor and in order to achieve this they needed engagement and executive support.
Philip, supported by Competenz Account Manager Dylan Patchett and Bob Carter of The Improve Group developed and implemented a programme that would meet Frucor's overall goal of achieving Stepchange.
"We started our journey in August 2007 and it continues every day," said Philip.
To kick start the journey, the Frucor team undertook a Competitive Manufacturing review which indicated opportunities in Visual Management, 5S, Quick Change-over and Continuous Improvement.
"From the start we all knew we were going to try to achieve Level 2 or 4 qualifications," explained Philip. "We were looking for a behaviour change through applying Best Practice Methods, but it was a great start. We worked together to achieve the qualifications which for many staff was a personal achievement. It added to their Tool Kit of transferable skills."
The training took place in a lecture room for about 30 minutes at the commencement of every new project when the CM coaches gave practical explanations on how to use the new tools from a selected group of unit standards. This was followed by staff ‘discovering' how this new knowledge could be applied in their workplace
Typically coaches spent about half a day each fortnight for six to 12 sessions per year on site throughout the two-year period starting with the production team to apply the tools and techniques. Using a staggered approach, the supply, batching and Tetrapak line teams repeated the theme of 5S and visual management, taking all the lessons learnt from the Bottling/Canning areas and customising it for their own use.
In the second year, the theme was ‘quick changeovers', followed by continuous improvement mistake proofing in year three.
As a result continuous improvement became the norm of thinking for all employees said Philip.
Tangible results and visible change can now be seen in most areas of the plant and stores with new and clear instructions for traffic flow, new signage and storage racks for light tools and materials. Motion maps, cause and effect diagrams, graph charts indicating production levels and progress achieved, and Visual Workplace charts, whereby a floor layout is duplicated in print and hung on the wall are also in place.
The CM journey has engaged 156 employees with 81 National Certificates achieved with a target completion rate of 100% by December 2009.
The commitment by staff is the largest investment required - to date a total of 21,381 hours and $500,000 has been committed - but is seen as beneficial to all when results show an improvement in business measures and staff development made over the two-year period.
Of the journey Philip says, "The key to a new approach was harnessing every staff member's insights, energy and talent to eliminate ‘non-value activities' from the workplace as well as giving teams the opportunity to take ownership of their work.
"We wanted a programme that would challenge us, develop us and help us to see new possibilities we had not been able to see for ourselves," he said.
"We knew the programme had to be workplace based, deliver team and individual development, be fun and have a visual impact on the workplace and conditions of employees.
"For us, good isn't good enough - we want to be the best."
Chris Kane, Factor Manager agrees. "We have seen huge gains in efficiency . . . we are creating a culture of Continuous Improvement," he says.
Of her CM experience Ngametua John, Procomac Line 1 operator feels the biggest part of learning was ‘think positive'. "As a person who was learning for the first time since leaving school, the opportunity to learn and have a CM qualification Level 2 is great. I like the PDCA cycle and use it at home too. This is a journey of self-discipline - it will not work if you cannot apply self discipline."
Other tangible improvements gained since the journey began include: organisation in the workplace; simplification of more difficult tasks; work station improvements; work flow improvements; building improvements; change over reduction and visual management systems.
The success of this journey is reflected in the CMI case study currently being written by Greg Ellis of Spirals Resultants and co-authored by Dylan Patchett which gives a snapshot of the Frucor project. This will be available on the CMI website on www.cmi.org.nz
If you would like more information on Competitive Manufacturing, contact Competenz on 0800 526 1800.
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