Two weeks of looking
Food and beverage manufacturer, Chicago
The bottleneck was the changeover, not the line
+18%
+18%
output from the same equipment, no capital spend
output from the same equipment, no capital spend
$4.6M
$4.6M
capital expenditure that was not needed
capital expenditure that was not needed
Sector
Food and beverage
Food and beverage
Size
$140M revenue, one plant
$140M revenue, one plant
Service
Plant throughput
Plant throughput
Year
2024
2024
Where it started
Where it started
The plant ran at 68 percent of nameplate capacity and the capital plan had a new line in it. The line itself was rarely the constraint; it waited, on average, forty minutes between products.
The plant ran at 68 percent of nameplate capacity and the capital plan had a new line in it. The line itself was rarely the constraint; it waited, on average, forty minutes between products.
What we did
What we did
We stood at the line with a stopwatch for two weeks and timed every changeover. The sequence of products was rebuilt so that similar ones followed each other, and the tooling for the six most common changes was staged before the line stopped.
We stood at the line with a stopwatch for two weeks and timed every changeover. The sequence of products was rebuilt so that similar ones followed each other, and the tooling for the six most common changes was staged before the line stopped.
What came out of it
What came out of it
Output rose 18 percent from the same equipment. The new line came out of the capital plan. The stopwatch is still in the production office.
Output rose 18 percent from the same equipment. The new line came out of the capital plan. The stopwatch is still in the production office.
We were about to spend four and a half million on a problem that cost forty minutes a day to look at.
We were about to spend four and a half million on a problem that cost forty minutes a day to look at.
Plant manager
Plant manager