Consumer
Case Study
Achieving Operating Cost Reductions
at a Leading Biscuit Producer
Overview
Customer Challenge
Productivity
and Manning
Improvements
Increase productivity in order to be
competitive in an increasingly
challenging marketplace
Location
Sweden
Sector
Consumer
Function
Business Challenge
The Solution
A major Nordic snack and confectionary
producer, which started operations in
the late 1800’s, is the leader in the biscuit
market in Sweden. The company enjoys
a 50% market share and supplies around
50 products, including many well-known
brands.
■■ Reduce operating costs
A more challenging market place with
increased competition had put pressure on
the company to increase productivity and
cut costs in order to sustain their current
market share.
A six week analysis was conducted and the
findings showed a complex group structure
at each production line at the factory with
no defined operator break patterns. This,
along with an inefficient manning structure
and lack of Standard Operating Procedures
(SOPs), together with unclear roles and
responsibilities had led to an over-sized
production organization.
The utilization of internal logistics operators
was low and the department was being held
back due to disagreements on roles and
responsibilities.
The maintenance department was working
in a constant “fire-fighting” mode, which
prevented a systematic effort to find and
eliminate the root cause of problems.
Inefficiencies in maintenance planning and
reporting meant that necessary data was
not collected, preventing the client from
creating a focused and reliable preventative
maintenance plan. The existing
maintenance work order process was not
only incomplete but also not being followed
properly.
(FTEs) in production.
■■ Reduce operating costs (FTEs)
in internal logistics.
■■ Improve the outdated maintenance work
order process as a first step to reduce
firefighting and enable more time to be
spent on preventative maintenance.
Hitachi Consulting designed the project
covering five work streams - three in
production, one in internal logistics and one
in maintenance. The project was delivered
during the course of 14 weeks, closely
collaborating with the client taskforce.
In order to increase flexibility and ease
training of operators, SOPs were created
and installed at each critical work station in
production. This allowed a more
standardised way of working and enabled
production with a leaner workforce.
The capabilities at each work station as well
as the operator’s skills had to be mapped in
order to create a training plan. This was
crucial in enabling the manning reduction
where fewer operators needed to be able to
rotate to man more stations.
Roles and responsibilities were clarified for
the test run procedure, which involved the
complex interface between the production,
product development and planning
departments. Personnel from all concerned
departments were involved in mapping out
and clarifying the different roles and
responsibilities for the main and
sub-processes.
Maintenance, Production,
Internal Logistics
Service Lines
Management Consulting,
Organizational Effectiveness
Production and
Internal Logistics
Performance
Improvements
in just 14 weeks
Euro 1.3m in
annual savings
expected
Results
About Hitachi Consulting
■■ The project enabled a total
Creating a new break pattern schedule for
all three shifts enabled a more lean manning
structure and allowed supervisors to gain
control.
■■ The new manning structure with an
Hitachi Consulting is the global
management consulting and IT services
business of Hitachi Ltd., a global technology
leader and a catalyst of sustainable societal
change. In that same spirit—and building
on its technology heritage—Hitachi
Consulting is a catalyst of positive business
change, propelling companies ahead by
enabling superior operational performance.
Working within their existing processes and
focusing on targeted functional challenges,
we help our clients respond to dynamic
global change with insight and agility. Our
unique approach delivers measurable,
sustainable business results and a better
consulting experience.
Internal logistics SOPs were created in close
collaboration with operators thus gaining a
greater understanding of the day to day
activities. This eliminated the
disagreements between operators and
clarified the possibility of an FTE reduction.
An updated maintenance work order
process was created including additional
critical sub processes such as a gate keeping,
escalation and handover processes. A new
reporting routine was set up, requiring
reporting on a daily basis to collect the
necessary data in order continuously get
reliable data for the preventative
maintenance plan.
manning reduction of 26 FTEs, both
production operators and operators
in internal logistics, and anticipated
annual savings of 1.3m Euro.
installed break pattern schedule and a
new manning pattern with a reduced
workforce was successfully tested at the
factory. It was made possible thanks to
the new SOPs, clarification of roles and
responsibilities and training of operators.
■■ The updated maintenance work
order process enabled reduction
of firefighting and increased
collaboration between production
and maintenance and has laid the
foundation for getting real and useful
data to make the transition to a more
fact based preventative maintenance.
For more information please visit
www.hitachiconsulting.com
Email: [email protected]
Hitachi Consulting is the global management consulting and IT services business of Hitachi Ltd., a global technology leader and a catalyst of sustainable societal change. In that same spirit - and building on its technology
heritage - Hitachi Consulting is a catalyst of positive business change, propelling companies ahead by enabling superior operational performance. Working within their existing processes and focusing on targeted functional
challenges, we help our clients respond to dynamic global change with insight and agility. Our unique approach delivers measurable, sustainable business results and a better consulting experience.
www.hitachiconsulting.com