The client is a multinational food manufacturing company.  Due to production demand increases at their Ohio canning facility, the staffing had shifted from third shift (sanitation) to first and second shifts (production).  One of their canning lines was at capacity.

Reason for Project:

• The client needed to reduce the sanitation time on the lines to increase available production time and increase their capacity.

Project Deliverables:

• Evaluated the current Standard Operating Procedures for Sanitation Operations and prepared a report comparing the SOPs to what operators were actually doing.
• Compiled a list of recommendations to reduce cleaning times including: potential CIP locations, changes in the order of operations to increase efficiency, and best practices to reduce unnecessary additional cleaning.
• Identified and reported personnel issues that contributed to long cleaning times.
• Updated SOPs with changes as approved by the client.

Project Results/Benefits:

• Productivity increased: Estimated sanitation cycle time reduction of 50%.
• Capacity increased: Estimated increasing production hours from 18 to 23 each day for each production line.
• Cost Reduction: By increasing production hours (income) and reducing downtime for cleaning (cost), the client is able to increase saleable goods production without increasing fixed overhead costs.