BACKGROUND
The Food Manufacturing industry is a global and highly competitive industry that is driven by a few core factors, one of which is price.
Consumers are often looking for the best deal when it comes to food products. Manufacturers need to offer competitive prices while maintaining a profit margin to stay in business.
Our Client is a global company that connects farmers with markets, customers with ingredients, and people with the food they need. It is a trusted partner for food, agriculture, financial, and industrial customers in more than 100 countries.
THE CHALLENGE
To achieve better performance across its internal supply chain, the company needed to improve its plant in Brazil. Poor equipment reliability and resulting downtime were impacting profitability. The target was to improve an overall increase in Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE).
ANALYSIS
The Client commissioned Renoir to analyse the underlying issues, identify areas for improvement and implement a Transformation Programme.
The analysis identified five areas:
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5
The current effectiveness of the maintenance organization, processes, and practices were benchmarked against the maintenance pyramid world-class standard to provide additional clarification on how processes and tools could be improved.
PROJECT APPROACH
As a result, a transformation program of 22 weeks was agreed to develop and implement improvements in a sustainable way, operate the company as efficiently as possible, generate rapid improvements in plant reliability, and reduce costs and increase availability. The target was a 3.7% increase in OEE while maintaining operational continuity.
“The project helped us to implement the best market practices for maintenance processes, considering aspects of management and reliability, in a structured way, and thereby improving our processes, procedures, roles and responsibilities.”
The transformation program was structured so that sustainable improvements to maintenance processes and systems could be delivered through two Management Action Teams (MATs): Reliability Management and Maintenance Management.
The MATs consisted of a broad range of multi-disciplinary personnel who contributed enormously to the successful development and implementation of the management system elements. The Transformation Programme started with the Renoir Focus Process®, which fostered ownership and sustainability.
RESULTS
As a result of the program, new performance indicators were agreed, and the entire execution team was trained in how to successfully implement performance improvements. The 22-week implementation phase saw the installation of sustainable changes that became standard operating practices, such as a Maintenance Management Process that integrates maintenance management, reliability, supervision, planning and scheduling, and execution.
Results:
51% to 85%
Increase in labor productivity
83% to 92%
Increase in baseline plant availability
81% to 90%
Increase in baseline OEE
2.8 : 1
Baseline return on investment annualised
Better use of key maintenance methodologies (such as critical and chronic analysis for MTBF and MTTR) led to the improvement in OEE.
Because of the improvements on both lagging and leading maintenance KPIs, the project succeeded in raising plant availability to 92%. The program was underpinned by 70 hours of training for maintenance technicians focusing on the gaps identified in the Skills Flexibility Matrix.
In addition to the financial benefits, staff involved in the MATs acquired key skills in change management, a culture of continuous improvement was established and a commitment to excellence was fostered.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, the Client and Renoir collaboration improved processes, procedures, roles, and responsibilities of the maintenance function, and achieved the targets of the program.
The successful transformation program enabled the Client to implement the best market practices for maintenance processes in a structured way, thereby achieving sustainable improvements with full adoption.
Within 22 weeks, the substantial increase in operational excellence made a major contribution in supporting the company’s competitiveness in a price-sensitive industry.
