Meat + Poultry - April 2009 - 71

can handle.
andle. Slow
down the fastest
machine.
ne. Obser ve if other equipment
pment
and workers
orkers
c a n more
efficientntly keep
p
up the
pace.
Most i mportantly,
ntly, measure output
utput and rework
for thatt line. Output and rework should
hould demonstrate an inverse
relationship
nship if the slowdown is effective. Less rework and more output in the same time frame should
prove the old adage "slow and steady
win the race".

Ground-beef example
An example of this phenomenon occurred in several lines of a recently
audited ground-beef plant. The most
significant gains came on two lines
that made 4 oz. hamburger patties

All principles of Lean
thinking contribute to
efﬁcient and effective
production.
for a fast-food chain. These were
fresh patties produced by machine
five at a time. The pace was set by
the forming machine. The next step
downstream from the patty former
was a worker who had to stack the
patties 10-high, reform the row of five
down to four and then slide the 40
patties into a bag. The worker downstream from the patty former worked
at a frantic and constant pace. More
often than necessary, the paper inserts would become misaligned,
pieces of hamburger would retard
the slide motion and other things
would go wrong. Paper was trashed.

First in
Sanitary
Design,
Reliability
and Value

Patties were held on a side
table hoping for reentry into the flow.
The workT
er could
not have
n
been more
be
diligent
di
l
in
his work,
w
but
output was sigoutpu
nificantly comnifican
promised by the
promise
amount of rework.
The mos
most obvious
constraint wa
was the operator's manua
manual actions
needed to get the
th size of
the five formed-patty row down to
four. It was a difficult maneuver and
sometimes the stack would fall or
spill onto the floor. The clear engineering fix was for the former equipment to make the same number of
patties that were needed for bagging.
This is a possibility, but it is costly
and takes equipment out of service.
What worked was slowing the patty
forming machine down.

Multivac Tray
Sealing Systems

Finding rhythm
This example illustrates flow. The
line can only go as fast as the slowest work action. The pace has to be
in rhythm with the full-line operations. It might seem intuitively obvious that faster means more output,
but remember that output should also
be compared to rework and other
wastes. On the wall in my workshop
I have a quote posted. The quote
says "the hurrier I go, the behinder
I get". A true measure of productivity includes all factors, output and
waste. The better measure therefore,
is net pounds per hour of meat in
the box.

* World Class Engineering
from the Leader in Packaging
Machinery
* Full Range of Systems from
Semi- to Fully Automatic
* Low, Mid-Range and High
Output Units for all Budgets
* 24/7 Service and Support
Nationwide
Call us at 800-800-8552 or
e-mail muinc@multivac.com

Dr. Glen Miller is Senior Lean Consultant for Performance Essentials, Inc. More information can be obtained regarding Lean Manufacturing at www.performanceessentials.com.
We would like to hear from you - to comment on
this story or to request reprints, contact us by
e-mail at: meatpoultry@sosland.com.
www.MEATPOULTRY.com

April 2009

MEAT&POULTRY

www.multivac.com

http://www.perfor http://www.manceessentials.com http://www.MEATPOULTRY.com http://www.multivac.com

Meat + Poultry - April 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Meat + Poultry - April 2009