How to maximise value across your production line

Food manufacturers are under immense pressure to keep costs in check while maximising productivity and meeting the exacting standards of supermarkets and regulators.

Sometimes it must feel like being stuck between a hard place and a rock.

But you’ll be relieved to hear that there are some practical steps you can take to maximise value across your production line, without compromising on quality.

In this blog we set out 6 easy steps that will help you increase your return on investment (ROI) while getting the most out of your food factory product line.

1. Invest in reliable equipment

Remember the lager that advertised itself as being “reassuringly expensive”? It immediately resonated with consumers, and Stella Artois had a unique selling point in the lager market that would prove hard to beat for years to come.

That was in the 1990s, but it holds today that you get what you pay for. Investing in branded equipment, with a reputation for being well made and reliable is a must. Reputable manufacturers of food processing equipment will get to know your unique needs before making any recommendations. They will have a wide selection of equipment to choose from, at varying prices and offering different specifications.

The best of those suppliers will want to understand what you need to achieve to meet your customers’ varying demands while achieving value across your production line and they will make recommendations based on what will work best for you. It needn’t be the most expensive, but it must be genuine. There has been a surge in the availability of pirate equipment and spare parts in recent years, and while you may be offered deals that seem too good to be true – the likelihood is that they almost certainly are. Opting for cheap up-front costs, and poorer quality equipment when investing in production line machinery rarely deliver the ROI that your finance department will be looking for.

2. Efficiency

Before making any firm purchasing decisions, it is vital to assess the efficiency of the equipment you plan to invest in.

This may be to do with speed or accuracy or multi-functionality – and it will vary according to the type of applications you need your equipment to process.

The starting point is to assess the ‘now’. A thorough investigation of the efficiency of your existing equipment is crucial. One way to save costs and improve ROI is to research any energy-efficient machinery you could install that could save on expensive energy bills.

Efficiency is not just about energy consumption; it is also about ensuring that every piece of equipment on the production line is compatible with other parts so that they can all operate together at optimum efficiency.

3. Maintenance

Even the best quality machinery needs regular maintenance to ensure that it is operating at maximum efficiency—this is where the importance of having an Equipment Maintenance Plan (EMP) comes in.

EMPs are critical for any food processing facility that wants to maximise value across its production lines so that your facility can keep running smoothly and efficiently even in the most challenging of times.

Creating an effective and truly valuable EMP, that will help you maximise value, efficiency and ROI is not an easy task. But we have written a step-by-step guide to help you understand and manage the process.

Once you have your EMP in place, it’s essential to carry out regular routine maintenance.

4. Cleanliness

Cleanliness in food manufacturing is of paramount importance. This is why equipment suppliers such as Yamato place so much emphasis on the high levels of hygiene their machines can offer.

Unhygienic conditions affect everyone from your staff to your customers and ultimately, the end consumer. No business wants to be called out by the Food Standards Agency for poor hygiene or contamination. For example, the FSA website publicised that Lactalis Nestlé Chilled Dairy UK had to recall a batch of Nescafé Shakissimo Espresso Latte 190ml because of contamination with residues of a cleaning solution.

The irony can hardly be lost: in addition to carrying out thorough and effective cleaning, manufacturers must ensure that every last drop of cleaning residue is washed away.

To ensure you get it right, be sure to follow the manufacturer’s recommendations on how to clean each element of your machinery. This will include advice about the correct cleaning products, the process to follow and the recommended cleaning frequency.

Whatever the requirement, make sure it is documented in your EMP so that it is never overlooked. Failure to do so could result in breakdowns or even a reduction in the lifespan of crucial, costly equipment – and this will result in a dent on your company’s finances by requiring avoidable expenditure on replacements or, worse still, a temporary shut-down.

5. Ageing equipment and wear and tear

Even with the very best EMP in place, there’s no avoiding wear and tear.

Investing in the best equipment at the outset may reduce the total cost of ownership, but at some point, you will have to confront the inevitable wear and tear that affects all hard-working machinery.

That’s why it is essential to visually inspect every element of your machinery on an ongoing basis to monitor wear and prevent equipment failure. It is worth bearing in mind that components that need changing ahead of schedule may signal a larger problem that needs to be diagnosed to ward off any potential future disaster.

Food manufacturing is complicated, uses a lot of machinery, often supplied by a multitude of suppliers, and this is why it is so important to check every part. There are specific components that need very regular inspection to reduce wastage, and potential contamination and these include conveyor belts that can stretch, pulleys and chains to ensure correct alignment. Gears and sprockets need to be checked for broken teeth, cracks and misalignment. These checks should be made regularly as part of your servicing schedule. Make sure you check lubricant levels at the same time.

6. Regular training

To maximise value across your production line, it is vital that your employees have a thorough understanding of how to operate the machinery so that it is running at optimum capacity, at safe levels.

A good training schedule should include regular updates on emergency planning and safety precautions. Business owners often provide their employees with training when they start operating a particular machine. Still, with increasingly frequent software or hardware updates, you should inspect and update operators’ knowledge base and skills regularly.

Investing in your employees in this way also improves staff morale, which engenders loyalty and encourages people to do their best for you. It also reduces staff churn, reduces bad habits and the need to invest in new training programmes.

It is not all about the machinery – investing in the best workers, communicating with them so that they do not feel lost in a vacuum, and providing positive feedback will all go a long way towards maximising value across your production line.

Parting words

To maximise ROI, efficiency and value across your production line requires a lot of planning, from investing in the correct equipment, maintaining it appropriately and ensuring your employees understand how important they are to achieving the overall goals of your business.

Management should take feedback from the machinery operators extremely seriously because no one is better qualified to alert you to potential issues than those on the factory floor. Only by collaboration between management, equipment suppliers, maintenance contractors, project managers and workers will you ever achieve the maximum value across your production line.