Customer Story - Process Optimization
A cheese manufacturer was looking to find ways to increase revenue and perform more efficiently. Based on market information, customer demand was there. Increasing production capacity by optimizing the factory’s overall cheese throughput, would allow them to sell more cheese.
Call for Help:
- The organization needed experienced process analysis and skilled process optimization professionals to review current state and propose future state.
Farwell Advisor Support:
- The advisor performed a process evaluation, discovering two ways to speed up cheese production time to meet demand without adding cost.
- The team reviewed all the available information, considered different options, and developed hypotheses around solutions.
- Two promising solutions were brought to the table:
- Solution 1: Reduce production down time while the milk vats were filled.
- Solution 2: Reduce the time it took to clean the lines everyday.
- The team systematically tested flow rates and measured results.
- The current cleaning process was evaluated to understand how long and often the plant was shut down.
Results:
An additional $800,000 per year in incremental revenue without investment in additional machines or staff would be generated.
- Costs held steady. Production and revenue increased.
- A faster flow with vat fillings allowed for a 6 – 7% net increase resulting in an additional six vats per day.
- The modified cleaning strategy also increased daily cheese production.
