FOOD Processing

Canned and Frozen Food Manufacturing
One of Australia’s largest canned and frozen foods companies had installed a new manufacturing line for its flagship frozen pie product. Despite the best efforts of the plant engineers and the commissioning team, the new line was losing $4 million per annum.
Working with Hagen True Opportunity software and support services over a 6-month period, a team of managers, engineers, and operators applied these tools and the Hagen Improvement Process to determine the true potential of the line and eliminate the causes of non-performance. The project resulted in savings of $5 million per annum, turning the new production line’s financial performance from a loss to a profit.  Application of the Hagen software and services across the other 5 sites in the division resulted in total savings of $10 million in 18 months, doubling the division’s profits.

Breakfast Cereal Manufacturing

A leading global breakfast cereal supplier plant was ranked second from last of the company’s 17 production facilities in terms of cost of scrap. Unable to empower plant personnel to reduce the scrap levels, the management team turned to True Opportunity™ software and the Hagen Improvement Process.  Working over a 4-month period, a team of managers, engineers, and operators applied the Hagen tools and services to reduce the cost of scrap by $2 million per annum. The results were achieved by engaging the plant personnel in identifying the true potential of their processes and systematically eliminating the largest causes of scrap.  The plant boosted its position by nine places in the worldwide plant rankings and received the most improved award for the year.

Biscuit Manufacturing
A leading Australian food manufacturer was having problems with ‘flakey biscuits’ in its flagship product line. All attempts by the site team to eliminate the problem had failed. But it was believed that a $2 million capital proposal would eliminate the problem.
Working with Hagen software, services, and methodology over a 3-month period, a site team of managers, engineers, and operators solved the flakey biscuit problem and subsequently increased the output of the line by 100%. This resulted in the elimination of the $2 million capital expenditure request.  In addition, the line reduced operations from 7 days a week to 5 days a week, saving another $800,000 per annum.

Sugar Refining
In the flagship refinery of one of Europe's largest sugar companies, a recognized profit driver is season length. This metric is determined by the factory’s throughput. Shortening the season reduces the payments made to farmers, while increasing sugar yield and bringing forward European Union subsidy payments. Reducing the 4½-month season by one week produces a saving of $750,000. After a one week Hagen study of the flagship refinery, the factory management team agreed there was an opportunity to reduce the season by 20%, or 27 days. This presented a total opportunity of $2,800,000 per annum.

Yeast Manufacturing

With the growth of bread consumption in Asia, an international yeast manufacturer had become constrained by its ability to produce transportable dry yeast. Its state-of-the-art dryer had been “pushed to its limit” and “pushing it beyond a 4 million pound per annum production rate will only produce quality problems.”  Within 6 months - including 3 months of support from Hagen - the dryer was running at over 8 million pounds per annum -- a 100% plus increase in output. This improvement generated $1,200,000 in additional profit without any capital expenditure.