Manufacturers prove they are very keen to be lean

Dairy Crest, for example, has spent the last two years on a Manufacturing Improvement Programme (MIP) with the assistance of the Smallpeice Enterprises to raise the skills and knowledge of its workforce and change the culture within its operations.

Elsewhere, Engineering Maintenance Systems (EMS), a small consultancy based in Bristol, has been working with companies such as Northern Foods and United Biscuits to improve their efficiency as measured by overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) measures.

Recently EMS began working at McVities in Manchester to improve the efficiency of its Jaffa Cakes line and reduce unacceptable downtime and waste.

Across the board, UK companies are failing to get the most out of their equipment because of skills deficiencies. Chris Dewhurst, a senior trainer at Smallpeice Enterprises says: "When looking around businesses the under utilisation of capacity is often very apparent, and confirmed by initial OEE metrics that are well below, and sometimes even half, the world class level of 85%."

The typical problem, says Dewhurst, is that potentially efficient production lines are constantly being affected by a lack of workforce awareness and workplace discipline and poorly organised sub-processes, as well as badly managed changeovers and cleaning, and breakdowns. It is these, he claims, that ultimately result in numerous and often lengthy process stoppages, considerable process waste and low OEE, even for brand new equipment.

Dewhurst adds: "There are a growing number of companies in the food industry that are starting to recognise that even in environments with highly automated processes, the core principles and tools of lean - ie a focus on waste elimination - have much to offer, especially when it comes to raising OEE."

Dairy Crest employs around 7,000 people at 21 sites (17 manufacturing) across the country. Two sites that are starting to see big benefits from the work include Davidstow, Dairy Crest's largest cheesemaking creamery, and Severnside. At Severnside savings from improved efficiency and reduced write off in just one area involved with the packaging and handling of a milkshake base have been calculated at £23,400 a year.

The improvement programme, which has seen the development of internal 'experts' who are now introducing and driving through the adoption of lean and continuous improvement principles at their own sites, is now said to be starting to deliver significant financial and cultural gains.

To deliver the MIP, Dairy Crest is working with Birmingham University and putting 15 people a year through an MSc in food production management, under the banner of Operational Excellence.

However, the main thrust of the programme has been aimed at rapidly creating a critical mass of trained people from across the group, who could immediately start to make a difference within their manufacturing operations, both in terms of management approach and introducing core lean principles.

Since initiating the programme just two years ago, over 60 experts have been trained through four streams of the main 10-day training course. Aimed at technical, operation, line and shift managers, each stream of this training has been spread over a four to five month period and conducted at various Dairy Crest sites.

To support the experts in their improvement activities, and help spread the thinking, a similar number of engineers, supervisors and operators have attended a three-day MIP essentials course. A fifth expert training stream has already commenced, and two more courses are pencilled in.

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