Orchestrating lean within the food industry

28.11.2022

No department of a business is completely independent from another. Business processes cross over from one department to another often creating duplication and delays, meaning lean practises are almost non-existent and inefficiencies are rife.

The concept of all departments within in the ONE SYSTEM to facilitate their core operations, streamlines individual department’s business processes and access to real-time information empowers individuals to carry out their procedures correctly.

The Lean approach

The food and beverage industry is evolving at a rapid pace. Evolution within the sector is leading the way for new business challenges and increasing competition.  No matter what type of food or beverage you’re producing, manufacturing, processing or delivering, your operations are complex, intricate and may involve a lot of wastage if you are not using a ‘lean’ approach within your business.

‘What is a lean approach?’, you may find yourself asking. The ‘lean methodology’ was developed with the ultimate goal of reducing costs and increasing efficiency by identifying and eliminating activities in a given process (service or manufacturing) that fail to add value and yet consume resources. In the lean terminology, value is defined as ‘what the customer is willing to pay’. As a result, lean is heavily oriented not only to efficiency and cost reduction but also to creating value to ensure customer satisfaction.

The aim of a Lean Approach in food manufacturing

Lean production methods aim to keep waste to an absolute minimum and increase the speed of the product reaching the customer. The food industry is the perfect industry for lean methods as food products are perishable and must be delivered on time by nature.

With inconsistent production processes that are tough to control when attempting to eliminate variation in final products, food production companies should always be seeking ways to reduce process variation as well as the resulting defect rate from inconsistent processes.

Possibly more than any other industry, companies in the food industry are challenged with keeping up with recent and rapidly changing trends, such as gluten-free or organic products. At the same time, products need to be fresh as well as free from defects and contamination. But, because of high turnover rates associated with raw materials and their limited time of use, food manufacturing companies often need to deal with high amounts of waste. This has led the food industry to embrace lean manufacturing to not only cater to the needs of consumers but also to improve quality and efficiency while reducing waste throughout the manufacturing process. Increasing profits while improving customer satisfaction is a win-win.

Benefits of lean manufacturing

Lean manufacturing improves efficiency, reduces waste, and increases productivity. The benefits, therefore, are manifold:

• Increased product quality: Improved efficiency frees up employees and resources for innovation and quality control that would have previously been wasted.
• Improved lead times: As manufacturing processes are streamlined, businesses can better respond to fluctuations in demand and other market variables, resulting in fewer delays and better lead times.
• Sustainability: Less waste and better adaptability makes for a business that’s better equipped to thrive well into the future.
• Employee satisfaction: Workers know when their daily routine is packed with unnecessary work, and it negatively affects morale. Lean manufacturing boosts not only productivity, but employee satisfaction.
• Increased profits: And, of course, more productivity with less waste and better quality ultimately makes for a more profitable company.

How Herbst can help you become a lean business

At Herbst, we have hundreds of food manufacturing clients currently using our customised solutions with specialised capabilities and functionalities for all business needs.

Some key features from Herbst that can help make your business processes lean:

• Bi-directional ingredient tracking and allergen management
• Expiration tracking, catch weight management and food waste reduction
• Lot tracing, ingredient-level tracking and product origin management
• Visibility into production activities through a collaborative forecasting and planning module
• Deep lot profitability features that show detailed costs for haulage, labour, machinery, duty, rework and more
• Supply chain management that supports a wide range of product variations including breed, cut, age, variety, region of origin and packaging

Food for thought

Whether you are general food manufacturing, private label or produce your own line of prepared food or speciality items, our food manufacturing software will support your ‘lean’ requirements by removing waste in the areas of product development, production, inventory, quality, costing, ISO standards of traceability and compliance, scheduling, and warehousing.

At Herbst Software, we know we are a cut above the rest when it comes to future proofing your food and beverage manufacturing company. With our off the shelf customisable solutions, we make implementing lean practises within the workplace easy and will act as the bedrock upon which you can build a better version of your business.

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Joanne Wilson

28.11.2022

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