Meat + Poultry - June 2010 - 90

Attack overproduction
Overproduction is the worst of all
waste because it is evidence of other
wastes and may even cause wasteful
practices. I am currently working
with a client that has quite a lot of
sausage in the freezer. Some of the
frozen product is smart storage, particularly if a picnic or cookout-style
holiday is several months off and the
product can fetch a handsome price
above one's purchase price and cost.
That smart storage is planned over
production.
However, in some organizations
overproduction is not seen as waste
but stored inventory. Consequently, sausages go in the freezer every
day. In the freezer, it will be moved
more than once. Some product will
be damaged. Energy costs to maintain a freezing temperature subtract
from the bottom line. The enterprise
leadership wants to sell the sausage
but alas, they do not. Balance must
be maintained between wise speculation and overproduction.
Waiting for anything is waste.
Waiting is idle time that hinders
workflow. Determine what other tasks
can be completed during this waiting
time. Other solutions for minimizing
waiting is staggering start times and
the careful use of buffer stock. The
most common way sausage makers
reduce waiting is having boxes made
several steps ahead of the sausage.
Non-use of worker knowledge or
skill is also a waste. In one sausage
processing plant an employee was
particularly adept at cleaning and
maintaining the labeling equipment.
Unfortunately, the supervisor usually
placed him in other areas of sausage
packaging. The tip here is to exploit
the skills of your workers.

Transporting equipment such as
housings and augers found in most
sausage processing equipment can be
difficult and time consuming. Seek
to minimize transport by locating
sequential steps as close together as
possible. Also, ensure that equipment
and parts have a place near where
they will be used. Also, mark parts
such as an auger so machine parts
stay with one machine.

Inventory issues
Obviously, plants must have inventory. However, inventory can be wasteful. The trick is not to have too much.
Inventory takes up space, gets in the
way and contributes to energy costs
and overhead. Labels and packaging
can become obsolete, so refrain from
getting a good deal on a large run of
labels or packaging when there is the
chance that you may not use all that
is purchased. Consider minimizing
this waste by throwing out old labels
and old packaging materials taking
up valuable storage space.
Motion can also be wasteful. Do
workers have to search for tools, equipment or raw material? Are workers
walking across the plant to get supplies? Can body movement at any task
be reduced? This is often the most
overt and obvious waste detected when
auditing plant operations.
Operations managers must ensure
smooth start ups or change-overs.
Casings for the next run can be
staged before change-over. Efficient
scheduling can help minimize walking and other motion when changing
sausage recipes, packaging or labels.
The less needed to change the better.
However, when change is required,
then staging equipment and product
before change-over reduces wasteful motion.
Extra processing is similar to
overproduction. In extra processing, the worker may add extra spice
or other flavoring. Extra packaging
can occur with additional paper or
wrapping. Sometimes production
workers weigh precisely when there

(Photo courtesy of F.B. Purnell Sausage, Inc.)

up on a table instead of going in a
box, take the time to figure out why.
In short, determine the root cause,
attempt a fi x and measure the outcome. If defects go down, look for
more ways to reduce rework and
again, attempt a fi x.

"Balance must be
maintained between
wise speculation and
overproduction."
is substantial tolerance in the specification. In short, more effort is put
into a product than is required. To
identify extra processing, review customers' requirements and specifications. If you know the specifications,
do your supervisors and QA people?

Delete downtime
Currently, the cost of raw material
is escalating. Given the economics,
it is important to cut costs in production. It is one effective way to
stabilize pricing and remain competitive. Making sausage may be
straight-forward and basic. Lowering
the costs of making sausage on the
other hand, requires the persistent
commitment to reducing waste and
eliminating downtime. ■
Dr. Glen Miller is Senior Lean Consultant for Performance Essentials, Inc. More information can
be obtained regarding Lean Manufacturing at
www.performanceessentials.com .
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