Lean Kaizen in FMCG - Food & Beverages

Flour mills and cereal plants operate high-capacity lines with multiple grades (bread, confectionery, industrial flours, maize products) and tight extraction and moisture targets. Common challenges include low extraction, high regrind, dust and spillages, frequent sifter and roll issues, and chronic breakdowns in conveying and packing.

Lean Kaizen in milling focuses on:

• Improving extraction and yield while maintaining or improving quality (colour, granulation, specks, moisture)
• Minimizing Equipment downtime and speed losses using TPM, AM Step-1/2, tagging and checklists on sifters, rolls, elevators, conveyors and packing lines.
• Reducing OEE losses and changeover times with SMED on packing and bagging lines and improved mill settings.
• Reduction of Material losses such as give aways, reworks and inventory variance losses such as silo variances, FG stock variance

Salt plants deal with corrosive environments, bulk handling, bagging operations and large outdoor logistics, with issues around housekeeping, safety, dead stock and long procurement cycles. Lean Kaizen in salt operations emphasises:

• Reduce end-to-end throughput time from intake to dispatch by eliminating non–value-added steps, running critical activities in parallel and simplifying approval flows across the salt value chain.
• Improve OEE in refinery and packing by deploying root cause analysis, Autonomous Maintenance and Planned Maintenance, training operators on daily CLITA checks, and standardising PM routines, checklists and control ledgers.
• Increase first-grade output and reduce salt losses by attacking sources of 2nd grade product and process loss using Pareto and Why–Why analysis, and by tightening standards on sieving, sealing, rework handling and moisture control.
• Strengthen spares management and uptime through critical spares classification, min–max level setting and clear reorder triggers, minimising avoidable downtime without locking excess capital in parts.
• Optimise inventory, logistics and cash flow by shifting from push to pull replenishment, cutting finished goods stock, freeing warehouse space, reducing transport and handling costs, improving on-time dispatch and accelerating cash conversion.

Sugar plants face huge seasonal pressure with limited crushing days, high dependence on equipment reliability and material handling of cane, bagasse and syrup. Major losses arise from stoppages on single-line equipment, process variability and energy inefficiencies.

Lean & TPM in sugar deliver:

• Root-cause based reduction of plant stoppages due to single-line equipment (chutes, carriers, choppers, soot blowers etc.), shortage of raw  materials, reduction in downtime through validated high-impact countermeasures. 
• Autonomous Maintenance, Planned maintenance to identify and eliminate the abnormalities resulting in frequent breakdowns and reduced crush loss
• Better maintenance planning and prioritisation using critical equipment ranking, action plans and MTBF / MTTR tracking.

Lean Kaizen in meat processing (e.g. poultry plants and further processing) focuses on:

• Total productive maintenance to prevent breakdowns in chillers, freezers, conveyors and packing machines and utility equipment  such as boilers
• Flow improvement, line balancing and cellular lines in packing operations of value add products such as cutups retail packs, sausages and whole birds
• Improvement of material yield in high value products such as breasts, thighs using Standard work and operator skill improvement using TWI
• Pull system based inventory levels for finished goods to optimise inventory levels and eliminate stock outs resulting in sales loss
• Truck turnaround and dispatch flow improvements, shifting from batch to one-customer flow with E-tally sheets, kitting zones, standard trolley loads and SOPs for dispatch and security; to achieve reductions in internal truck TAT and step-change improvements in crates per man-hour.

Lean Kaizen in milk and dairy processing focuses on:

• Improve yield and reduce losses (spillage, cream losses, under/over-filling) using data-driven problem solving, standard work at critical control points and tighter control of filling and separation parameters.
• Reduce downtimes, changeovers, cleaning times and speed losses using Total productive maintenance tools such as Autonomous maintenance, planned maintenance and Root cause analysis
• Optimise planning and inventory for milk, cream, powder and value-added products so that expiries and write-offs are minimised while OTIF and product availability remain high.

Lean Kaizen in snacks & bakery typically delivers:

• OEE and capacity improvement on frying, baking and packing lines through TPM, SMED and flow improvements, supported by detailed downtime analysis and loss trees. 
• Material loss reduction (oil, flavours, dough, rework and packaging) using TQM tools, cause-and-effect analysis and line trials.
• 5S and ergonomic workplace design for sub-stores and production areas, improving retrieval and safety while reducing search and motion waste.

Lean Kaizen in spices focuses on:

• OTIF improvement and lost sales reduction, using deviation vs demand data to quantify under-supply and define capacity and planning improvement
• Inventory optimization by category (runner / repeater / stranger) and stock-days, reducing excess and freeing working capital while maintaining service. 
• Process quality and yield improvement through weighment controls, standard batching procedures and training, reducing reblends and scrap.
• Manpower productivity improvement in grinding, mixing and packaging lines through flow layout, line balancing and standard work
• Equipment OEE improvement through reduction of breakdowns using Autonomous maintenance and Root cause analysis

Lean Kaizen in edible oils focuses on:

• OEE and reliability of critical equipment Improve uptime and speed on seed preparation, expander, extractor, refinery and filling/packing lines using TPM pillars – Autonomous Maintenance, Planned Maintenance and focused root cause analysis on chronic breakdowns and speed losses.
• Material loss, yield and solvent loss reduction: Reduce losses from seed cleaning, extraction and refining by stabilising process parameters, improving seed cleaning systems, tightening operating standards and eliminating sources of leaks, spillages and off-grade oil.
• Packing line productivity and changeovers: Increase line speed and reduce minor stoppages, start-up losses and changeover time through 5S, SMED, ergonomic workplace design, standard work and clear checks for CLITA (Cleaning, Lubrication, Inspection, Tightening, Adjustments) on packing lines.
• Inventory reduction using Pull system based inventory management system for finished goods, packaging material and raw material. 

Carbonated soft drink plants run very high-speed lines, complex syrup and carbonation processes, and frequent SKU changeovers for different flavours and pack sizes. Lean Kaizen in beverages focuses on stabilising line performance, reducing losses and building robust routines for hygiene and food safety.

• Boost line OEE and reliability: Improve uptime and speed on syrup preparation, carbonation, bottling/canning and packaging lines by applying TPM pillars – Autonomous Maintenance, Planned Maintenance and focused RCA on chronic breakdowns, micro-stoppages and speed losses.
• Cut changeover time and minor stoppages: Use SMED, standard work and visual checklists to reduce changeover time between flavours and pack sizes; streamline cap/preform/label changeovers; and tackle micro-stoppages at fillers, labellers, packers and palletisers.
• Improve yield, quality and consistency: Reduce product loss, rework and complaints by tightening control of Brix, CO₂, fill volume and temperature using SPC, standard settings and clear reaction plans at critical control points; minimise start-up, flushing and drain losses.
• Optimise packaging and warehouse flow: Apply flow and pull principles in packaging-material stores and finished-goods warehouses to cut searching and handling time, reduce stock damage, improve FIFO, and support on-time delivery to distributors.