Name: Eliaan Voerman
Student number: S1634968
Faculty: Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB)
Supervisor one: Ir. H. de Vries
Supervisor two: Dr. X. Zhu
Organization: HEINEKEN N.V.
External supervisor: Belinda de Winter, Manager Technology and Quality HEINEKEN N.V.
July 4 2014
Preface
This research presents the results of my master graduation project for the Mcs Technology
Management at the University of Groningen. This research is based on a case-study performed at
the packaging department of the HEINEKEN Brewery in Zoeterwoude. HEINEKEN is facing
problems concerning exhausting labor resources to control quality at their packaging lines. By
analyzing the current way of quality control, opportunities for improvement have been identified.
The process improvement approach of HEINEKEN, Total Productive Management (TPM), has
been scrutinized for its contribution to identify improvements to decrease the required labor
resources to control quality. This research showed some valuable findings for quality control
literature and the employment of TPM. Furthermore, based on the findings of the case-study,
HEINEKEN has been able to implement improvement actions to decrease labor resources
required to assure high quality.
This research gave me the opportunity to combine the informative insights and scientific
literature of my study Technology Management with a practical real-life situation. The
integration of literature and practical insights was a great learning experience to me.
I would like to take the opportunity of thanking a few people, since they supported me with a lot
of understanding and dedication during my graduation period.
Especially Ir. H. de Vries (first supervisor) gave me a lot of informative insights and feedback to
finally complete my master thesis. I perceived the collaboration with Ir. H. de Vries as very
pleasant and motivating. I really appreciate his patience and commitment for encouraging me to
finish my thesis. I would also like to thank Dr. X. Zhu (second supervisor) for his valuable
insights and feedback.
Next, I would like to thank all the employees at HEINEKEN for gathering useful information,
for showing their helpful attitude and dedication. In particular I would like to thank Belinda de
Winter (Manager Technology and Quality at HEINEKEN) for her helpful and informative
insights for conducting my case-study at HEINEKEN. Besides that, I would like to thank Jan
Boot (Process Technologist at HEINEKEN) for his criticism and advice during the execution of
my case-study at HEINEKEN.
Finally, I would like to thank my parents and social environment for their open-ended support,
dedication, commitment and understanding during my graduation period.
E.E.R.M. Voerman
Management summary
This master thesis concentrates on the improvement of quality control in manufacturing
organizations. In order to minimize the amount of labor resources that are required to control
quality in production processes, quality control need to be organized in an efficient way. Since
the process improvement approach Total Productive Management (TPM) is a derivative of lean
principles, substituted with special principles for maintenance procedures to achieve zero defects
and zero breakdowns (Kaur, Singh & Ahuja, 2013), it is analyzed for its contribution to
effectively and economically organized quality control. This research is based on a case-study at
the HEINEKEN brewery located in Zoeterwoude. Because quality inspections on the packaging
lines are consuming a lot of operator time, the quality control practices of HEINEKEN need to
be improved in order to increase labor productivity. HEINEKEN employs TPM in the same way
as discussed in literature, hence the findings of the case-study can be generalized towards
scientific TPM literature.
Most theoretical quality assurance approaches assume increased productivity. However, in
practice, optimizing product quality while minimizing labor, turned out to be very challenging.
Based on extensive analysis of the quality control practices at HEINEKEN, it turned out that a
grounded quality assurance approach that provides a guideline for the required frequencies of
inspections, is a prerequisite for efficient quality control. Because the company's inspections are
based on gut feeling and experience, they 'play' with the frequencies of inspections to solve
quality problems. As such, labor is increased by increased frequencies. The choice of
countermeasures to solve quality problems, seems to be important for efficient quality control.
To create a grounded quality assurance approach, the knowledge within the Progressive Quality
(PQ) pillar of HEINEKEN is employed. The PQ-based quality assurance approach Condition-
Based Quality Control (CBQC) is a quality assurance approach that concentrates on replacing
product inspections for controlling machine conditions that are the sources of defects. CBQC
provides guidelines for the frequencies and type of inspections. The type of inspections are based
on the sources of defects and the frequencies of inspections are based on failure patterns of
machines and error patterns of frequently occurred errors. In that way, arbitrary choices of
countermeasures to solve quality problems, by which labor is increased, are not allowed
anymore. In addition, by combining the checks of machine conditions with maintenance
activities labor resources can be reduced even further. Besides, extensive product measurements
are replaced by fail-safe systems and inspections of machines, by which labor is decreased. In
this way, labor productivity is increased by the improvement of quality control practices.
Based on the case-study, it turned out that in order to execute efficient quality assurance, effective
use of other quality control practices is required. Improvements in the current use of quality
control practices at HEINEKEN have been addressed to support the quality assurance plan. The
most fundamental improvements concerns the effective exploitation of quality information.
Systematic problem-solving techniques are required to exploit quality information and
implement effective countermeasures to solve quality problems. Moreover, shared consistent
quality-focused organizational values are required to implement quality control improvements
and increase labor productivity. Finally, operator involvement and autonomy is required to
enlarge process knowledge and increase operator motivation. In its turn, increased operator
motivation results in increased labor productivity and hence efficient quality control.
This case-study adds new knowledge to existing literature about quality control and TPM. First
of all, the case-study showed the importance of the choice of preventative measures to solve
quality problems to establish a positive relation between quality control and productivity. This
criteria for efficient quality control can be used in other organization as well regardless the type
of organization, the type of quality assurance approach or the type of process improvement
approach. Besides that, this case-study provided an innovative quality assurance approach that
minimizes labor resources while assuring high quality. Since the approach can only be applied in
machine-intensive industries with relatively low rework costs the application is limited.
This case- study showed that the process improvement approach TPM is build on the basic
guidelines in order to execute efficient quality control. Finally, based on this case-study, the
interaction and collaboration between different pillars seemed to be highly beneficial for
successful implementation of TPM process improvement initiatives.
Table of Contents
1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ - 1 -
2.2 Quality control ......................................................................................................................... - 5 -
3 Research framework ....................................................................................... - 9 -
3.1 Research problem ................................................................................................................... - 9 -
3.2 Research objective .................................................................................................................. - 9 -
3.3 Research question ............................................................................................................... - 10 -
3.4 Research method ................................................................................................................. - 10 -
3.5.1 Limited steps performed by an extern problem-solver .................................................... - 13 -
3.6 Scope of research ................................................................................................................. - 13 -
3.6.1 Terminology quality control .......................................................................................................... - 13 -
3.6.2 Terminology and operationalizing labor productivity ...................................................... - 14 -
4 Fundamental quality control practices .................................................. - 17 -
4.1 Future trends for quality control procedures .......................................................... - 17 -
4.2 Fundamental quality control practices ...................................................................... - 18 -
5 HEINEKEN’s quality control ........................................................................ - 21 -
5.1 HEINEKEN NV ..................................................................................................................... - 21 -
5.3 Management problem of HEINEKEN .......................................................................... - 24 -
5.3.1 Influence of the management problem on performance indicators .............................. - 25 -
5.4 Conceptual causal model .................................................................................................. - 26 -
5.5 Quality control of packaging line 8 .............................................................................. - 28 -
5.5.1 Process control/Quality assurance ............................................................................................. - 28 -
5.5.2 Quality information and feedback ............................................................................................... - 34 -
5.5.3 Quality responsibilities and roles ................................................................................................ - 36 -
5.5.4 Measurement systems ...................................................................................................................... - 37 -
5.5.5 Statistical tools ..................................................................................................................................... - 38 -
5.5.6 Poke-yoke's and source inspection ............................................................................................. - 39 -
6 The use of TPM for quality control at HEINEKEN ................................ - 41 -
6.1 The difference between TPM in literature and TPM at HEINEKEN ................ - 41 -
6.2 TPM at HEINEKEN .............................................................................................................. - 43 -
6.3 Systematic problem-solving methods .......................................................................... - 46 -
6.4 Quality-focused organizational culture ..................................................................... - 48 -
6.5 Involvement of operators ................................................................................................. - 50 -
7 The Problem diagnosis ................................................................................ - 52 -
7.1 Current quality control system ...................................................................................... - 52 -
7.2 Quality-focused organizational culture ..................................................................... - 53 -
7.3 Process control ..................................................................................................................... - 55 -
7.5 The value of quality information................................................................................... - 56 -
7.7 Current quality assurance plan ambiguous and unclear .................................... - 59 -
7.8 Ishikawa diagrams ............................................................................................................. - 61 -
8 Design solutions ................................................................................................ - 64 -
8.1 Two solutions ........................................................................................................................ - 64 -
8.2.1 Developing a route to achieve productive quality assurance .......................................... - 65 -
8.2.2 The route to productive quality assurance .............................................................................. - 68 -
8.2.3 Difficulties in reorganizing quality assurance and overcoming these difficulties ... - 70 -
8.2.4 Execution of the route to productive quality assurance..................................................... - 71 -
8.2.5 Influence on performance indicators of HEINEKEN ............................................................ - 84 -
8.3 Solution 2 Implementing an innovative quality assurance plan ...................... - 85 -
8.3.1 Grounded knowledge for effective and efficient quality assurance .............................. - 85 -
8.3.2 The new quality assurance plan: CBQC ..................................................................................... - 85 -
8.3.3 Replacement of product quality control for CBQC: O2 filler sample ............................. - 90 -
8.3.4 Application of CBQC for the other inspections ....................................................................... - 94 -
8.4 The improvement of every quality control practices ............................................ - 95 -
8.5 Importance of perceived market-quality ................................................................. - 107 -
8.6 Root causes attacked of first Ishikawa diagram: design solution 1 .............. - 108 -
8.7 Root causes attacked of both Ishikawa diagrams: design solution 2 ........... - 108 -
8.8 Influence on performance indicators of HEINEKEN ........................................... - 110 -
8.9 Conclusions .......................................................................................................................... - 112 -
9.1 The barriers during TPM implementation .............................................................. - 114 -
9.1 The deployment of TPM for the improvement of quality control ................ - 117 -
9.2 An innovative approach for effective quality control: CBQC............................ - 117 -
9.3 Furture trends in quality control ................................................................................ - 118 -
9.4 Importance of preventative measures for productive quality control ........ - 120 -
10 Conclusion and discussion ..................................................................... - 123 -
10.1 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ - 123 -
10.3 Recommendations for HEINEKEN .......................................................................... - 127 -
11 References ................................................................................................... - 128 -
Appendix 2 Operations at a packaging line of HEINEKEN .................... - 141 -
Appendix 3 Functional lay-out of packaging lines ................................. - 143 -
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1 Introduction
The introduction discusses the main subjects of this research. Besides that, the topic of every
chapter will be shortly addressed here.
This research is based on a practical case executed at the Packaging department of the
HEINEKEN Brewery in Zoeterwoude, the Netherlands. This brewery is the largest brewery of
Europe and the third largest brewery in the world. The packaging department covers the entire
process from obtaining beer from the brewing department to delivering packed units to the
logistics department. Divided in 5 packaging areas (rayons), the packaging department consists
of 12 packaging lines. Together with the brewery located in Den Bosch HEINEKEN Netherlands
produces over 15,5 million hectoliter beer (in 2011), of which 72 % was transported to 150
countries all over the world. The breweries in Zoeterwoude and Den Bosch are one of the most
advanced breweries in the world and are therefore set as an example for the entire HEINEKEN
organization. The packaging department in Zoeterwoude aims to continually improve its
production processes and search for the most efficient solutions to deal with wasteful activities or
process steps in its packaging processes. The activities within the packaging department are
shown in the figure below.
Figure 1: The processes within a packaging line of HEINEKEN Zoeterwoude
To control its processes and assure high product quality HEINEKEN makes use of time-based
inspections on its packaging lines. These inspections involve checking the operations of its
machines, checking its inspection equipment, checking the quality of products on the line and
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checking the quality of finished goods. In this way HEINEKEN tries to control their processes
and in doing so ensuring the right product quality for its immense market. Over the past 10 years
HEINEKEN made use of the same quality control plan consisting of all inspections required to
control operations per process step. Based on the HEINEKEN vision 2015, HEINEKEN aims to
be the number one in minimizing operational costs, be the number one in delivery reliability,
produce at world quality while employing its management approach Total Productive
Management (HEINEKEN Netherlands Supply, 2010). Furthermore, the focus is on working more
efficient and effective while using less operators in order to increase productivity of the
packaging department. Since a lot of time is spent on the execution of quality inspections, these
activities need to be reorganized in a more efficient way. HEINEKEN wants to know which
inspections on the floor can be identified as non-value adding activities towards the quality of
finished products. Besides that, the organization wants to know which inspections can be
reduced in frequency or which inspections can be reorganized to increase productivity of the
packaging lines. Since the organization aims to eliminate waste regarding operator activities and
as such decrease the required amount of labor resources, HEINEKEN needs to be focused on
increasing labor productivity. Therefore, the subjects, quality control, labor productivity and
their interrelations, are the main topics of this research. The principles of the management
approach of HEINEKEN, Total Productive Management (TPM), will be scrutinized for its
contribution to positively influence the relation of quality control and labor productivity. The
principles and tools anchored in this management approach will be discussed and analyzed for its
adding value for achieving productive quality control.
Before the research question will be explained in detail, it is important to introduce the main
subjects of this research and its interrelations based on academic sources. Therefore, chapter 2
reviews the most important academic insights about the main topics and its interrelations.
Subsequently, chapter 3, discusses the main research question and associated sub-questions.
Chapter 4 evaluates the methodology and the scope of this research. The subsequent chapters
will be organized in the sequence of the sub-questions.
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2.1 World Class Manufacturing (WCM) and quality Worldwide, manufacturing firms are pushed to produce as efficient and productive as possible
with extremely high throughput rates and totally defect-free production processes. Stocks are not
permitted anymore, process control needs to be highly automated and every wasteful process
step or activity needs to be identified and removed (Hopp & Spearmann, 2008). Firms competing
in increasingly turbulent and technologically complex markets rely on concepts and means that
could render consistent enhancement of performance in terms of productivity, quality and
delivery (Abdul-Kader, Ganjavi & Solaiman, 2010 ). They must aspire to develop a portfolio of
core competences, struggling to become a more well-balanced organization in every activity,
routine and policy executed by their business. For these reasons, manufacturing firms are not
able to stay competitive without process management methods or process improvement
approaches. Since manufacturing operations are one of the prime strategic functions of any
business in the world, literature discusses a lot of effective tools and management paradigms to
achieve a so-called world class status. Nowadays these tools, World Class Manufacturing(WMC)
tools are widely used in organizations to contribute to best practice in manufacturing. The term
was first coined by Hayes and Kim in 1985 to describe organizations, which achieved a global
competitive advantage through the use of their manufacturing capabilities as a strategic weapon
(Nachiappan, Anatharaman & Muthukumar, 2009). In the era of globalization, with major
players from all over the world, the term world class is easily understood and recognized as a
strategic tool that leads the business of every organization to a world-class status. During the
evolution of WCM, many researchers started to develop different specific WCM models that
could guide an organization to gain WCM characteristics. These models are not scientifically
build though are tailored to every individual business. Following Nachiappan, Anatharaman,
Muthukumar (2009), the most widely used World Class Manufacturing Performance Tools
(WCMPT's) are Total Productive Maintenance (TPM), Lean Manufacturing (LM), Six Sigma
(SS), Benchmarking(BM), Total Quality Management (TQM), Manufacturing Strategy(MS),
Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) and Cellular Flow Manufacturing(CFM). Which tool
is used for which organization depends on the working scenario, industry nature, country nature,
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people nature, the problems faced by the organization and the goals the individual organization
wants to achieve. For example, TPM is focused on proactive innovative planning to optimize
equipment effectiveness, eliminate breakdowns and promote autonomous maintenance by
operators through day-to-day activities involving the total workforce (Nakajima, 1989). SS is a
process which helps create and deliver high quality products, ensuring total customer satisfaction
by decreasing the variability in manufacturing processes and minimizing costs of poor quality
(Sumer, 2011). Many organizations use an integrated tool model to standardize and systemize
the way to achieve and maintain world class status. This is highly required since every approach
is focused on different aspects of the manufacturing system and oriented towards different goals
and objectives (Nachiappan, Anatharaman & Muthukumar, 2009). However, numerous world
class organizations are still using one program, since they believe an integrated model will make
the manufacturing system more complicated and inconvenient because of the absence of a
uniform goal (Schonberger, 1986; Ross, 1991). Nevertheless, a lot of researchers advise an
integrated approach, since integration of different tools has the power to address all the basic
components of a manufacturing system and all nine performance elements, so-called World
Class Manufacturing Performance Elements; productivity, quality, cost, delivery, safety, morale,
environment, flexibility and innovation (Nachiappan & Anantharaman, 2006; Nachiappan,
Anatharaman & Muthukumar, 2009). One of the most widely discussed performance measures is
quality, because every manufacturing firm strives for making products that fit consumer needs or
even exceed consumer needs. In the past decennia competitiveness is grown among
manufacturing firms in striving for the best quality products for the lowest price. These
developments force manufacturing firms to redesign and improve their manufacturing processes
repeatedly (Khirsnamoorthi & Khrisnamoorthi, 2012). By using the tools and paradigms
mentioned above manufacturing firms will be able to optimize their product quality to stay
competitive. It is important to note the enormous influence of the quality of manufacturing
processes to accomplish the best quality for finished goods. The process of ensuring high quality
within production processes is executed by an all-embracing concept named quality control (QC)
(Feigenbaum, 1956; Khrisnamoorthi & Khrisnamoorthi, 2012; Montgomery, 1997). In every
paradigm mentioned above quality control tools are considered, however elaborated in different
degree.
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2.2 Quality control The theory of quality control is shaped by numerous quality gurus and many different theories or
models. Edwards Deming, Joseph Juran, Armand Feigenbaum, Walter Stewhart and Koaru
Ishikawa all try to support organizations to improve the quality of their products. Detailed
theories and management approaches, considering quality management, quality in design, quality
in procurement and quality in production processes just to name a few are widely discussed to
structure the process every firm has to deal with to ensure high-quality, high performance
products that meet and exceed the consumer's expectations (Khirsnamoorthi & Khrisnamoorthi,
2012; Montgomery, 1997; Evans & Lindsay, 1999). Individual consultants, quality gurus and
organizations address their unique approaches to quality control, a few of these have ended up in
widespread use. The most commonly known are Statistical Quality Control (1930), Total Quality
Control (1956), Statistical Process Control (1960), Zero Quality Control (1970), Total Quality
Management (1985) and Six Sigma (1986) (Khrisnamoorthi & Khrisnamoorthi, 2012). These
approaches are focused on assuring quality within manufacturing processes. Some of these
approaches involve the whole organization to achieve this, others are more directed towards
quality control in manufacturing.
2.3 Quality control and productivity Every approach mentioned in the previous paragraph claims to positively influence productivity
as a relevant consequence of improved quality. Nevertheless, quality improvement and quality
control are traditionally seen as discarded for productivity, as seen in figure 2.
Figure 2: Traditional view of the relationship between quality improvement and productivity.
Source: Al-Dujaili, 2013
- 6 -
Following this view, productivity will decrease as a consequence of quality improvement, since
quality improvement was accomplished by rejecting more products, which resulted in a decrease
in saleable units. Besides that more rework has to be done when quality is improved, which can
be seen as waste and a loss in productivity. Nowadays quality improvement and quality control
are seen as a drive and boost in productivity, as seen in the figure below.
Figure 3: Modern view of the relationship between quality improvement and productivity.
Source: Al-Dujaili, 2013
Following this modern view quality improvement methods will prevent the production of
unacceptable products, thus making products ''right the first time'', which results in every product
produced is a saleable unit. This way of quality improvement will require the same amount of
available resources or less resources, while producing more saleable units. (Al-Dujaili, 2013;
Khrisnamoorthi & Khrisnamoorthi, 2012; Iyer, Saranga & Seshadri, 2013) . The difference with
the traditional view is the way of controlling quality within the production process. The old view
is directed towards control procedures at the end of the production process. The modern view is
focused on preventive measures in order to avoid defects will occur at the end of the production
process. Theory discusses the influence of quality improvement in general and its influence on
productivity. However, there is no comparison study on the difference of impact different quality
improvement approaches and quality control tools have on productivity, though every single tool
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or approach confirms the increase in productivity. It is important to acknowledge that quality
control and quality improvement methods will only increase productivity given certain
conditions (Ali & Zakria Abas, 2001). If quality control is executed adequately and with success,
that is; errors in processes are reduced on a continue basis and less defects occur at inspection,
quality in processes is improved, rework is reduced and productivity will increase. These
interconnections seem simple and different quality control methods definitely do increase
productivity as an important effect of quality improvement, though the increase in productivity
as a consequence of quality control is a lot more complex. Since processes need to be
continuously monitored, quality information has to be available, used and interpreted correctly,
maintenance activities need to be well-aligned with process conditions, inspection policies need
to be optimized as well as sample techniques just to name a few, the effective implementation of
quality control principles can be very challenging (Van der Wiele, Williams & Dale, 2000).
Moreover, the overreliance on statistics of most quality control methods causes the need for a lot
of training, understanding, motivation, commitment, redesign of processes and new measurement
systems in order to reap off the benefits of these tools (Antony & Taner, 2003). Hence, a lot of
difficulties in using quality control methods are faced in practice. Nevertheless, theory often
neglects the impact of these conditions on the effectiveness of quality control methods. Besides
that, the overemphasis on quality improvement embedded in quality control can result in using
too many resources to reach the desired level of product quality (Ali & Zakria Abas, 2001). For
example, reducing variability in a process by eliminating causes of this variability can result in
more quality-related activities or inspections upstream of the process concerned. Hence, in
reducing variability, the countermeasures to eliminate causes of defects can absorb resources
where not expected. To be clear, effective quality control methods really do increase
productivity, although the execution of these methods and tools have to be organized in an
economic way. To achieve this it is worthwhile to employ an integrated approach with another
lean-based process improvement philosophy. Since TPM is a derivative of lean principles,
substituted with special principles for maintenance procedures to achieve zero defects and zero
breakdowns (Kaur, Singh & Ahuja, 2013), it has the potential to contribute to effective and
economically organized quality control. Especially the focus on maintenance, which is highly
related to quality and the strong emphasis on employee involvement, which is in its turn
- 8 -
extremely important for quality control, can be beneficial to effective and efficient quality
control. That is; quality control executed in the most economic way using minimal resources
while guaranteeing high product quality. Furthermore, the benefits from integrating TPM with
quality-related management approaches like TQM , QFD and TQC are already confirmed in
articles of Kaur, Singh and Ahuja (2013), McAdam and Duffner (1996), Jostes and Helms
(1994), Miyake and Enkawa (1999) and Pramod, Devadasan, Muthu, Jagathyraj and Moorthy
(2006). Hence, the contribution of TPM to reorganize quality control in order to increase labor
productivity seems interesting to investigate.
Productivity measures, discussed in relation to quality, are often expressed in formulas consisting
of rework costs, manufacturing costs and defective units (Al-Dujaili, 2013; Iyer, Saranga &
Seshadri, 2013; Al-Dujaili, M. (2002). There is no productivity measure available which takes
labor resources, required to assure quality, into account. This type of productivity, which uses the
amount of labor as input to measure productivity, is called labor productivity (Schreyer, 2001).
Since literature does not investigate the influence of quality-related labor to the effect of quality
control, it will be interesting to examine this relation.
Based on discussions in literature, the potential of TPM principles to contribute to effective
quality control in order to increase labor productivity seems worth elaborating.
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3 Research framework
This chapter defines and explains the research problem, research objective and research question.
Besides that the methodology that is employed in this research will be explained. A schematic
model will highlight the different phases of the research. Furthermore, the end of this chapter
elucidates the scope of research to outline the research field under consideration.
3.1 Research problem
Based on literature research as stated in chapter 2, there seems to be a lack of discussion that
deals with the difficulties of quality control and especially its influence on labor productivity. It
is very important for every organization to structure the way quality control is executed within
production processes to ensure labor resources will not become exhausted. Hence the problem of
this research can be defined as:
Quality control that is not structured in an economic way, can be detrimental to labor
productivity.
3.2 Research objective
The problem just stated is the central matter of concern. There is a need for every organization to
organize the way quality control within production processes is executed in order to minimize
the amount of labor resources required to guarantee optimal quality of finished products. Based
on the discussion in chapter 2 and the process improvement philosophy used at HEINEKEN,
TPM principles will be used to contribute to improvements for quality control. As indicated in
the previous paragraphs, this process improvement philosophy has the potential to contribute to
the positive relation between quality control and labor productivity. The objective of this
research is as follows:
Identifying opportunities and actions to improve the way quality control is carried out in order
to decrease the amount of labor resources that is required to control quality. This objective need
to be achieved based on TPM principles and tools.
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3.3 Research question Based on the problem and objective identified in the previous paragraphs, the main research
question can be determined. This question is the cornerstone of this research. The main research
question is as follows:
’’How to improve quality control on a production line, using TPM principles, in order to
increase labor productivity?’’
Sub-questions have been formulated to answer this question step by step and finally reach the
research objective.
1. Which quality control practices need to be scrutinized for its contribution to increase
labor productivity?
2. In which way is quality control organized within the packaging department of
HEINEKEN?
3. Which tools within TPM are used to support the way quality control is executed within
the Packaging department of HEINEKEN?
4. Why does the present quality control system at HEINEKEN negatively affect labor
productivity?
5. How can HEINEKEN employ TPM more effectively and revise quality control in order
to increase labor productivity?
6. Can the findings from the case-study be generalized towards the scientific knowledge
concerning quality control, TPM and their relation with labor productivity?
3.4 Research method To structure the different steps of this report with corresponding sub-questions, a suitable
research methodology is required to solve the research problem. The research methodology used
for this research is a design-oriented, theory-informed field problem solving approach by Van
Aken et al. (2012). The ‘design-oriented’ part of this approach concentrates on the design of the
solution for a field problem in reality and on the design of the change process needed to realize
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that solution in new or adapted rules and procedures. ‘Theory-informed’ in field problem solving
concerns the comprehensive, critical and creative use of literature. Following Van Aken et al.
(2012) the comprehensive use of literature comprises that the problem under consideration is
based on a systematic review of existing literature on the main subjects. The critical use of
literature entails the process of screening literature for limitations and judging its value. At last,
Van Aken et al.(2012) mention the requirement of creative use of literature. Problem solvers
need to be careful to not simply use theory but to build on it, play with it and add it in order to
produce an academic framework to solve the problem concerned. In the figure below the
problem-solving cycle for this research is shown.
Figure 4: The problem-solving cycle. Source: Van Strien 1997
- Problem mess: In general companies face a problem mess of interrelated problems.
Identifying this mess is the first step in the problem-solving cycle.
- Problem definition: Structuring this mess and defining the real problem is step two
- Analysis and diagnosis: In this step the problem and its most important causes are
identified and validated. Consequently based on the problem definition, analysis and
diagnosis the next step will be followed:
- Plan of action: A solution is designed that tackles the most important causes. In the form
of a plan of action, the solution is designed to get implemented.
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- Intervention: During this step the solution is implemented in the organization on the basis
of the actions conceived in the plan of action step.
- Evaluation: During this last step the effects of the implemented solution are assessed.
This may lead to the definition of a new problem and can restart the cycle.
3.5 Application of the research method
The ‘theory informed’ part of the used methodology is already performed in chapter 2 where
literature of the main subjects is reviewed and scrutinized for its limitations. However during
every step in this research it is important to use literature in three ways just explained to finally
accomplish the research objective and enlarge the contribution for academic knowledge.
The ‘analysis and diagnosis’ part of the used methodology will provide Ishikawa diagrams to
schematically outline the most important causes to the problem.
The 'design-oriented' part of the methodology assesses a solution including improvement actions
and implementations actions to improve quality control practices and as such increase labor
productivity. In the table below the different sub-questions are grouped into different steps of the
problem-solving cycle.
Sub-questions Process steps of problem-solving cycle
2. In which way is quality control organized within the Packaging
department of HEINEKEN?
3. Which tools within TPM are used to support the way quality
control is executed within the Packaging department of
HEINEKEN?
4. Why does the present quality control system negatively affect
labor productivity?
5. How can HEINEKEN employ TPM more effectively and revise
quality control in order to increase labor productivity?
Plan of action
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3.5.1 Limited steps performed by an extern problem-solver
First of all, as seen in the figure above, only the first three steps of the problem-solving cycle are
outlined in the scheme. As mentioned by Aken et al. (2012) the methodology used by problem
solvers from outside the business system, as in this case, will leave the cycle after the design part
of the plan of action. In this way as far as possible conditions are created for a successful
outcome of the two subsequent steps, intervention and evaluation. However during this research
an attempt will be done to find possibilities to even implement the designed plan of action and
evaluate its contribution to increased labor productivity as a result of improving quality control.
3.6 Scope of research
Since quality control is a very broad concept including different facets within the same research
field, it is useful to clarify which facets of quality control will be investigated in this study.
Besides that, since different definitions of labor productivity are used by different literature
sources and among different organizations, a clear definition of labor productivity that is
employed in this study will by exemplified in this paragraph as well.
3.6.1 Terminology quality control
There is a clear distinction in different views of quality. The first view is concerning the
perception of the customer. Quality is determined by how well the customer preferences are
satisfied, thus, it is seen as a function of whatever the customer values. Here, quality control is
seen as the whole system to ensure the product will meet the requirements, necessities or desires
of the customer. The other view is based on manufacturing specifications (Hopp & Spearmann,
2008). Since the quality of the product as seen by the customer is ultimately determined by a
number of process-oriented factors, these factors need to be controlled at their source to ensure
the product will meet customer requirements. This is called the manufacturing based view of
quality.
Other literature sources discuss the term quality assurance. Quality assurance focuses on the set
of procedures to ensure a product in process meets specific requirements (Juran & Gryna, 1993).
These specifications are translated from product quality attributes, which are based on
requirements of the manufacturing firm and requirements of the consumer. The procedures to
meet the specifications should be considered as control practices during manufacturing on the
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shopfloor to ensure a stable continuous flow of high quality products. Other literature sources
refer to these procedures as process control, since key variables of the process are controlled to
guarantee the product will meet predefined specifications (Khrisnamoorthi & Krisnamoorthi,
2012; Evans & Lindsay, 1999; Nicholas, 1998). However, some quality attributes of products are
difficult to control by controlling process variables. Simply because the variables in the process
corresponding to the quality attributes of the product are hard to identify or to monitor (Hopp &
Spearmann, 2008; Montgomery, 1997). In this case, the product has to be checked between or
after operation steps and if the product meets its specifications, the product can be moved to the
station downstream for further operation.
Process control and quality assurance are cornerstones of quality control. Literature refers to the
term quality control as a comprehensive all-embracing concept that can be considered as all
practices required to achieve that a product will meet predefined product specifications taking
into account every element that interacts with the shop floor to ensure a continuous flow of high
quality products (Khrisnamoorthi & Krisnamoorthi, 2012; Hopp & Spearmann, 2008). The term
quality control will cover all practices that are focused on controlling quality during production
processes including quality assurance and process control however including skills, knowledge,
personnel, organizational culture, training and team initiatives as well (Nicholas, 1998). Hence,
the inspections at the packaging line of HEINEKEN belong to quality assurance activities, which
are part of the all-embracing term quality control.
Another important difference in quality control terminology should be mentioned here. In this
report effective quality control is used to refer to quality control that succeeds in ensuring high
quality output. Efficient quality control is used to refer to quality that is structured in an
economic way using minimal resources while ensuring high quality. The focus of this report is
concerning efficient quality control.
3.6.2 Terminology and operationalizing labor productivity
Productivity as a general measure and important performance indicator for the analysis of
business performance and performance growth, is commonly defined as a ratio of a volume
measure of output to a volume measure of input use (Al-Dujaili, 2002). As discussed in the
literature review chapter, productivity measures are developed including quality-related
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concepts. An example is given below and is called the quality-productivity ratio QPR (Al-
Dujaili, 2013):
Processing cost + ( Defective units * Rework costs)
As can be seen in the formula, the numerator defines a measure of input and the denominator a
measure of output. Quality-related input is taken into account using rework costs and quality-
related output is taken into account removing defective units from production. The QPR ratio
reports to what extent a manufacturing firm converts the invested resources into good output,
that is: products that conform specifications.
However, there are a lot of different productivity measures. The choice between them depends
on the objective of the measurement and in many instances, on the availability of data (Schreyer,
2001). The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECOD) distinguishes
two different productivity measures. This distinction is of particular relevance at the industry or
organization level. The first one relates some measure of gross output to one or several inputs.
The other one uses a value-added concept to capture movements in output and defines the
elimination of waste. Besides that, they make a distinction in capital productivity and labor
productivity, as seen in the figure below.
Figure 5: Productivity measures. Source: Schreyer, 2001
- 16 -
In this report the measure of labor productivity, based on the value added variant will be used
(Schreyer, 2001).
Quantitative index of labor input
As seen in this formula, labor resources as an input measure are taken into account compared to
the input used in the quality-related productivity measure discussed above. Labor resources
required to control quality during production processes will be inserted in the formula, rather
than costs associated with reworking defects. In the quality-productivity ratio (QPR) labor input
towards inspections and control procedures during production are not taken into account. This
type of labor input is the matter of concern. In its turn, the 'value added' as output measure of
labor productivity, is focused on the value added to the quality of a product as a consequence of
the corresponding input; that is labor input to control quality during production. During the
execution of quality inspections the focus is on the assurance that the product will fall within
specifications. In this report the quantitative index of 'value adding' will be formulated as the
amount of products that are conform specification. When the amount of labor resources to
control quality has been reduced without a decrease in the amount of products that are conform
specifications, labor productivity has been increased. Furthermore, when labor resources for
assuring quality are allocated effectively and efficiently, the amount of products that are conform
specifications can be raised and labor productivity will be increased even more. This formula
will be taken into account during the solution for the problem under consideration. As such, the
quality of products will not suffer from the decrease in labor resources to control quality.
Otherwise, an increase in labor productivity cannot be validated.
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4 Fundamental quality control practices
To make the acquaintance of recent and current quality control movements, Appendix 1
discusses the developments of quality control throughout the history. Some of these quality
control practices will be recurred in the continuation of this research. In the first part of this
chapter some future developments concerning quality control will be evaluated. Some of these
developments will be included in the preceding chapters as well. In the second part of this
chapter, the most fundamental quality control practices based on recent, current and future
quality control movements will be discussed. In the continuation of this research the use of these
practices will be elaborated for its contribution to increase labor productivity.
4.1 Future trends for quality control procedures The work of Dahlgaard-Park, Chen, Jang and Dahlgaard (2013) and Dahlgaard-Park (2011)
studied trends in quality control movements along the last decades to predict important trends for
the future. The conclusion of their work elucidated some distinctive future developments which
every organization need to be concentrated on to keep ahead of the competition.
Organizations find out that the time and cost required to continue to support Six Sigma
will be more than the value produced for process improvement and quality control
initiatives. Lean manufacturing is less expensive, easier to implement and delivers
immediate, measurable improvement. As such, organizations will use rather lean tools to
upgrade their quality control procedures than statistical based methods.
Standards for quality control procedures and tools are already widely used in every
organization. However, standards for quality-related jobs need to be extensively
reviewed, since the roles and responsibilities in quality management and operational
quality tasks are often perceived as ambiguous.
Measures to evaluate a job function involved in achieving high quality should be
developed to integrate in work performance reviews. Therefore, initiatives towards
improving quality and controlling quality would become measurable and quantifiable to
integrate in comparing job reviews. As such, quality-focused behavior will be rewarded.
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As a consequence, which is definitely a rising acknowledged topic, efforts will be made
to change the organizational culture to become quality-focused and achieve advanced
quality improvements. This is the result of the study concerning the difficulties of recent
quality initiatives and Six Sigma or SPC implementations. Due to the persistent
organizational culture and loyalty towards present quality procedures, the
implementations fail in increasing organizational performance.
Every quality initiative must be tied to key business process performance indicators in
order to have any real impact on productivity of operations.
4.2 Fundamental quality control practices In Appendix 1 and the recent paragraph a lot of theory is discussed regarding past, current and
future quality control related movements. Since quality control practices are mainly discussed for
their contribution to improving and assuring quality, this report will consider quality control
from a different perspective. This report will investigate the use of quality control practices for
their potential to increase labor productivity. Based on the quality movements in Appendix 1 the
use of statistics, the involvement of operators, the use of source-inspection and poke--yoke's, the
establishment of a quality-focused organizational culture, the employment of clear quality roles
and responsibilities, the use of structured quality assurance policies and the use of systematic
problem-solving methods got a lot of attention in the quality improvement and quality control
research area. A lot of quality control practices discussed in Appendix 1 are still widely used in
organizations around the world. Kafetzopoulos, Gotzamani & Psomas (2013), Flynn, Schroeder
and Sakakibara (2007), Phan, Abdallah and Matsui (2011), Jostes and Helms (1994) and
Ebrahimi and Sadhegi (2013) analyzed these aspects for its influence on organizational
performance and competitive advantage. Based on their work, the following quality control
practices seem to be fundamental when analyzing quality control in manufacturing organizations
for any other objective possible. This report will analyze these practices as well.
Quality control practices analyzed for this research
Quality assurance/ Process control
Figure 6 Quality control practices analyzed in this report
The practices in the figure will be examined for their use to increase labor productivity. The
principles and methods of TPM will be discussed to establish or enlarge the positive relation
between the practices and labor productivity.
It is important to make a distinction in perceived quality market outcomes and manufacturing
quality outcomes. The last one is perceived as the amount of products that pass final inspection
without rework and the former as the performance on important quality attributes as perceived by
the market. Flynn et al. (2007), Phan et al. (2011) and Ebrahimi et al. (2013) investigated the
relationship between quality control practices and the both outcomes of quality. Some are more
positively linked to manufacturing quality, others to perceived quality and some to both. This
report focuses on the manufacturing quality outcome during the analysis of quality control
practices. However, it is definitely reasonable to take perceived market quality into account,
since not continually fulfilling or exceeding consumer needs can be harmful for every
organization. As the term 'society costs' of Genechi Ohno (Appendix 1) implies, the costs of not
delivering high quality products can result in extreme losses in terms of reputation of the
organization, warranty, overhead and customer service costs (Duffuaa, Khursheed & Noman,
2004). Hence, when improving the use of quality control practices in order to increase labor
productivity the influence on perceived market quality needs to be taken into account. The
figure below shows the relation between the fundamental quality control practices and the two
different quality perceptions.
Figure 7 Relations between quality control practices, manufacturing quality and perceived
market quality. Based on Flynn et al. (2007), Phan et al. (2011), Ebrahimi et al. (2013) and
Jostes and Helms (1994)
As seen in the figure, quality assurance and process control are seen as important determinants
for effective quality control. Based on Embrahimi et al. (2013) effective quality control can be
seen as high customer satisfaction (perceived market value) and high manufacturing quality
(amounts of products that pass final inspection without rework). Quality assurance is the
cornerstone of effective quality control, since it directly determines the way quality is controlled
during every process step or operation and as such directly influences the quality of finished
goods (Flynn et al., 2007; Embrahimi et al., 2013; Phan et al., 2007). Jostes and Helms (1994)
pinpointed the importance of poke--yoke's and source inspections and systematic problem
solving methods for its direct influence on customer satisfaction. The above figure is a
combination of the various literature sources that investigated the relation between quality
control practices, market quality and manufacturing quality.
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5 HEINEKEN’s quality control
As mentioned in the introduction of this report, a case-study is performed at the HEINEKEN
Packaging department in Zoeterwoude. Based on the knowledge gathered during the case-study
the research question will be answered. Since the objective of this report is to revise quality
control practices in order to increase labor productivity, it is important to discuss the current use
of different quality control practices at HEINEKEN. This chapter discusses the way quality
control is organized within the packaging department at HEINEKEN. Because the research
question is based on the problem mess at HEINEKEN, this chapter also provides a clear
definition of the problem faced at HEINEKEN. Subsequently, the causal conceptual model is
presented to schematically outline the relations between quality control practices and labor
productivity. Before focusing on the quality control practices at HEINEKEN, the first paragraph
discusses some interesting facts and general information about the huge beer brewer HEINEKEN
to give an insight in the context of this research.
5.1 HEINEKEN NV
The success of HEINEKEN started with one brewery located in Amsterdam, called ‘De
Hooiberg’. Gerard Adriaan HEINEKEN bought this brewery in 1864 and focused on high
quality beer that can distinguish itself from other beers in the market. In 1886 HEINEKEN
developed a special recipe based on bottom-fermenting yeast. Other breweries were using top-
fermenting yeast and in this way HEINEKEN was able to become competitive because of its
distinctive flavour. Today, the recipe based on top-fermenting yeast is still used in the present
brewery processes. Hence, the key quality attribute, the special taste of HEINEKEN’s beer, by
which HEINEKEN owns enormous market share, is originated in 1886. At the end of the 19 th
century HEINEKEN received a golden medal and the ‘Grand Prix’ as award for the growing
supply of high quality beer. After the government in the US ended its alcohol prohibition in
1933, HEINEKEN immediately started to export its beer to the US markets. After a lot of years
of growing success domestically and internationally the crisis in the ‘30s puts pressure on
HEINEKEN and the prices dropped. The high quality and distinctive taste of HEINEKEN beer
was no longer enough to ensure their great market position. In 1964 Alfred HEINEKEN
developed an own face for HEINEKEN which is still part of the great success today. The
- 22 -
organization shifted its focus from product oriented to market oriented and launched a great
campaign promoting HEINEKEN as being a ‘premium gentleman’s beer’. The e’s of the brand
HEINEKEN were pushed backwards to create a friendly and accessible brand look and the star
was displayed more often at the labels to emphasize the special receipt. The figure below shows
the logo developed by Alfred HEINEKEN in 1964.
Figure 8 HEINEKEN logo as developed by Alfred HEINEKEN in 1964
These developments shifted the attention to another important quality characteristic by which the
succes of HEINEKEN was driven on. The appearance of a bottle, can or glass of HEINEKEN
was becoming just as important as the distinctive taste. Due to the succes emerging from the
huge marketing campaigns, HEINEKEN was able to expand its market to buy breweries all over
the world. It is important to note that key quality attributes of HEINEKEN are of aestetic nature.
The taste and its appearance seemed to cause the enormous succes. Therefore, when evaluating
perceived market quality, these two characteristics need to be considered in the first place. To
continue the story, in 1975 HEINEKEN merged with Amstel, which was its main domestic
competitor. Shortly after this merger, the breweries scattered over the Netherlands were replaced
by a large brewery in Zoeterwoude. In 1980 the brewery in Zoeterwoude was fully operational.
In 1989 HEINEKEN merged with Brand, which was one of the first breweries in the Netherlands
using bottom-fermenting yeast. Meanwhile HEINEKEN owns 165 breweries in 71 countries and
is available in more than 170 countries around the world. HEINEKEN brews around 164 million
hectolitres of beer annually and its greatest markets are the US and Western Europe. The
- 23 -
brewery in Zoeterwoude is the biggest brewery of Europe and the third largest brewery in the
world and produces 14 % of the entire volume produces globally.
5.2 Organizational structure of the Zoeterwoude brewery The brewery in Zoeterwoude is part of HEINEKEN Netherlands Supply (HNS) and is
responsible for producing, packaging and distributing HEINEKEN products for the domestic
market and foreign markets. The Zoeterwoude brewery consists of three main departments, the
brew house, the packaging department and the logistics department. The brew house produces
beer from the ingredients malt, hops and yeast. This beer is transported by enormous pipelines to
the filling machines of the packaging department. In the packaging department the beer is
packaged in bottles, cans or kegs, using labels, boxes and multipacks. The logistics department
controls the supply of raw materials and the transport and distribution of finished products. The
other departments are called the technical department, which is responsible for the technical
services and the safety, environment and health department which is responsible for sustainable
production in a safe environment. The quality department, as seen in the organization chart,
controls the quality of incoming material. The packaging department in Zoeterwoude packages
HEINEKEN, Amstel, HEINEKEN Light and Amstel Light in cans, kegs and bottles. The
packaging department consists of 5 rayons with 12 packaging lines, a quality control department
to regulate the inspections during the process and a TPM office to implement TPM activities on
the lines. Line 8 will be the research area of this research. Line 8 consists of line 81 and 82. Line
81 includes one filling machine, one pasteurizer, two labelers and one packing machines. Line 82
is almost the same, but consists of other packing machines. During one shift of 8 hours one
packaging line requires 5 operators. The packaging process of the packaging lines is a capital-
intensive process. The immense machines ensure extremely fast throughput of products. Labor
on the line is needed for the supply of raw materials, for controlling quality of products, for
cleaning the shop floor and the machines, for solving breakdowns and assisting the machines to
assure continuous flow of products. In the figure below the organizational structure of HNS is
shown.
- 24 -
Brewery Zoeterwoude
Manager Rayon 3 Quality Control
Manager Rayon 2 TPM
Figure 9 The organizational structure of HNS
Line 8 of Rayon 5 is the most advanced packaging line with the newest equipment. The line is
installed in 2008. New process improvement initiatives will be introduced on this line, called
''the line of the future''. Actions towards waste eliminations, cost reductions and productivity
boosts based on the HEINEKEN vision 2015, as discussed in the introduction, will be firstly
implemented on line 8. For these reasons, the research of this report will be executed on this line
in the first place. However, if the changes towards quality control on line 8 will succeed, that is
without decreased product quality and with increased labor productivity, the changes will be
expanded towards the other lines.
5.3 Management problem of HEINEKEN Since the vision of HEINEKEN 2015 implies increasing productivity in every element of the
packaging lines, they are searching for eliminating waste in every process step. Within 'time-
efficiency teams' they are analyzing the effective working time of operators in order to eliminate
wasteful operator activities. As a consequence, operator activities can be organized more
efficiently using less operator time while executing the same operations. The activities
HEINEKEN did not analyzed up till now, are the activities regarding quality assurance. Since
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HEINEKEN's key competence is a constant deliverance of high product quality all over the
world, they are reluctant to eliminate or change quality-related operator activities. Recently, they
found out that operators need a lot of time for taking samples or inspecting their products and
equipment. These inspections are planned by the quality control department and are displayed
every shift on control screens on the packaging lines. HEINEKEN admitted that they are
frightened to lose grip on the quality of their products. However, the increased focus on
productivity forces HEINEKEN to reorganize their quality control practices and to reduce the
time spent on quality inspections. In that way HEINEKEN will be able to increase labor
productivity: using fewer labor resources while assuring the same level of quality. Therefore,
HEINEKEN needs to find out which inspections really add value to the quality of their products
and which inspections should be considered as wasteful activities. Since wasteful activities
consume a lot of resources that otherwise can be allocated to other useful activities, costs will
increase when quality control is not improved. Furthermore, the HEINEKEN vision 2015
supposes a reduction in operator occupation for each packaging line. This means that operator
activities need to be efficiently reorganized in order to execute the same operations with fewer
operators. Therefore, the management problem HEINEKEN is facing, can be summarized as
follows:
Since quality inspections on the packaging lines are consuming a lot of operator time, quality
control practices of HEINEKEN need to be reorganized in order to increase labor productivity
5.3.1 Influence of the management problem on performance indicators
A management problem is valuable if the problem influences important performance indicators
of the organization (Van Aken et al., 2012). In this problem mess, the performance indicators
productivity and costs are negatively influenced. Following Hopp and Spearmann (2008) the
most effective way to reduce costs while keeping up with the competition is by reducing and
preferably eliminating wasteful activities. Since the quality control plan of HEINEKEN has
never been shortened for over 10 years and it is uncertain if every inspection is adding value, the
reorganization of quality control will reduce or eliminate waste and hence reduce costs. Besides
that, the packaging department is the most costly area of the total brewery, mainly due to the
relatively high labor costs. Furthermore, since a lot of operator time is consumed by quality
inspections, labor resources are allocated ineffectively and effective re-allocation will imply
- 26 -
increased productivity. Next, as seen in figure 14 below, the HEINEKEN vision 2015 is focused
on increasing the amount of hectolitres per one FullTimeEquivalent (one working employee)
among others. Reorganizing quality control activities will result in fewer operator time spend on
quality inspections. This time can be used to assure a continuous and stable flow of products and
to execute process improvement tasks, that will increase the amount of hectolitres per FTE. In
that way, labor costs per hectolitre will decrease and the overall cost per hectolitre will drop as
well. In this sense, the objective of this report will significantly contribute to the HEINEKEN
vision 2015 that is focused on the most important performance indicators of HEINEKEN.
Number 1 in productivity
FTR 95 %
Figure 10 HEINEKEN vision 2015, Brewery Zoeterwoude
5.4 Conceptual causal model In the conceptual causal model in figure 11 as shown below the quality control practices, its
relations and the link with labor productivity at shop floor level, productivity at brewery level
and costs at brewery level are shown. Since HEINEKEN indicated that the objective of the
research needs to be focused on the reduction of time operators spend on quality inspections, the
core of this research concentrates on the quality control practice quality assurance and process
control activities. The model of paragraph 4.2 illustrates the direct and indirect relation of other
quality control practices with quality assurance and process control activities. According to
- 27 -
Kafetzopulos et al. (2013) a quality control system consists of different quality control
procedures that interact with each other and as such influence the effectiveness and efficiency of
quality control. Hence, the efficient execution of quality assurance and process control activities
is depended on the effective execution of other quality control practices. Therefore, these
practices need to be analyzed and improved in order to increase labor productivity. These
practices, their mutual relations and their influence on labor productivity will be discussed in this
report.
- 28 -
5.5 Quality control of packaging line 8
To identify the problem mess, it is required to analyze the current use of quality control practices
on packaging line 8. Some of these practices are carried out based on TPM principles. These
practices are discussed in the next chapter, since that chapter covers the employment of TPM
within the packaging department of HEINEKEN. Since every quality control practice is already
discussed in literature terms in the previous chapter and in Appendix 1, literature will hardly be
used in this chapter. By means of an explorative field research, quality control at HEINEKEN
has been studied and evaluated. Observations of quality assurance activities of operators,
interviews with operators and quality improvement employees, attending operator and quality
improvement meetings have given an insight in their current quality control practices. To better
understand the employment of quality control practices of HEINEKEN, Appendix 2 and 3
provide a detailed description of the operations of every machine. Appendix 2 discusses the
different operations on every machine. Appendix 3 shows an overview of the lay-out of
packaging line 8.
5.5.1 Process control/Quality assurance
To control their operations and processes on the packaging line, HEINEKEN makes use of:
> 100% inspecting devices
> testing inspecting devices
> monitoring process variables
In the figure below a process flow diagram of packaging line 8 is shown including the quality
inspection of products, of processes and of machines, monitoring process variables, testing of
inspecting devices and the 100% inspecting devices. The 100 % inspecting devices are depicted
- 29 -
in the green boxes. The other inspections, executed by operators, are depicted in yellow boxes.
Figure 12 Packaging line 8 including quality inspections
- 30 -
Tarra-weighing of empty bottles and the E-weighing
Line 8 is an export bottling line producing products to the USA and Asia. Since bottles do not
return from the market, new empty bottles coming from external suppliers will be inserted onto
the conveyer belt of the line. Pallets from the logistic department are unwrapped and placed in an
automatic device aligned with the conveyer belt. Behind this automatic device, the depalletiser,
operators pick 5 empty bottles from the conveyer belt and transport it to their weighing scale at
the end of the line. The empty bottles are weighted for calibration of the E-weighing. During the
E-weighing 24 finished products, bottles with beer inside, are weighted. The difference between
the E-weighing and the Tarra-weighing is the weight of the beer inside the bottle. The Tarra-
weighing is performed on a daily basis and the E-weighing every 4 hours. Since one day consist
of three shifts and one shift is taking 8 hours, the E-weighing is done twice a shift.
Testing the remaining liquid detector
The remaining liquid detector is a 100% inspection device and checks every bottle on remaining
liquid that could have fallen in the bottle during transport. If the bottle doesn't comply with this
check, it is automatically removed from the conveyer to a special scrapping belt. To test the
detector operators use test bottles with remaining liquid to check if the inspection device detects
the liquid and removes the bottle from the conveyer belt. Every shift they test the detector once.
Inspecting the rinsernozzles
The rinser cleans the bottles with pressurized water to ensure dust within the bottles is eliminated
in order to guarantee the bottle is totally clean before the bottle is filled with beer. The
rinsernozzles that inject water into the bottles are checked by the operators for their position,
beam and performance. Every shift they execute this inspection once.
Inspecting broken glass
Right after the rinser, the bottles are filled with beer by the filling machine. The filling machine
of line 8 consists of 156 filling heads and produces 65.000 bottles per hour. Since this process is
performed extremely fast, bottles can break when they touch the filling heads or touch each
other. For this reason, the operators check the filling machine on broken glass inside the machine
and under the machine. They repeat this procedure every two hours.
- 31 -
Simulating the broken bottle procedure
An automated system within the filler checks if the bottles are not broken. If a broken bottle is
detected, the filler automatically removes the bottle right after the filler. Furthermore three
bottles before and after the broken bottle are removed as well, since broken glass splinters may
have gotten into the nearest bottles. The filling machine is a carrousel consisting of 165 cups in
which the bottles are automatically inserted. During the three next rounds of the filling machine,
the bottle on the cup where the bottle was broken in the previous round is also removed. The
bottles on the three cups before and after the cup where the bottle was broken are removed as
well. To check this automated system operators push a button next to the filling machine that
automatically starts the procedure and a broken bottle is simulated. Every shift, they check the
scrapping belt on 3 x 7 bottles as well as the cups and filling heads in the vicinity of the broken
bottle.
Inspection of the filling heads
The 165 filling heads are inspected by the operators for their position and the presence of glass
particles. They stop the machine once a shift and turn around the filling carrousel to inspect
every filling head.
Inspection of the HPI
A high pressure water injection (HPI) is installed right after the filler before the shutter. The HPI
injects high pressured water into the bottle to let the beer foam. Besides this, the function of the
HPI is to eliminate unwanted gasses in the headspace of the bottle (area between beer and top of
the bottle). Operators need to inspect this injector for its right position, pressure and beam
characteristics. Operators will perform this inspection once a shift.
Inspection of the crownsizes
The shutter is installed right after the filler. By means of a star wheel the bottles are transported
from the filler to the shutter. The shutter consists of 18 shutting heads. These heads holding the
crowns using a magnet. To ensure the crowns are placed on the right place on the bottles, 18
bottles (of every shutting head one bottle) are removed from the conveyer belt when an operator
pushes a button next to the shutter. Once a shift, operators will check every bottle, using a
template with the right shutting sizes, if the crowns are placed at the right position of the neck.
- 32 -
Testing the filling height detector
After the shutter a filling height detector will check every bottle if the required filling height is
achieved. Underfilled bottles will be removed from the conveyer belt. To check if the detector is
working, operators use underfilled test bottles. Once a shift, they check at the scrapping belt, if
these test bottles are removed by the detector.
Checking the amount of oxygen in the headspace and in beer
During the filling process, oxygen can enter the bottle in several different ways. It is required to
minimize the concentration of oxygen in the bottle, since a high concentration will shorten the
shelf life of the beer. Once a shift, they pick 10 bottles of beer of the conveyer belt right after the
filler and transport them to a lab on the packaging line. 5 bottles are used to measure the oxygen
content in beer and 5 bottles are used to measure the oxygen content in the headspace. By using a
special device the oxygen content in beer is measured for every bottle. By using a piercer and a
burette, the content of the headspace is transported to the burette by plastic tubes. After piercing
every bottle, the sum of 5 bottles can be read on the burette. The averages of the oxygen in beer
and headspace of 5 measurements each and the sum of these averages are entered on the special
screens on the floor.
Checking the filling height
5 bottles will be used for checking the filling height manually using a filling height template.
Once a shift the operators pick the bottles right after the filling machine and wait 5 minutes till
the foam is felt in the beer. They check the filling height with a template consisting of a ruler in
order to verify the right filling height of the bottles. The 5 results are entered on the special
screens on the floor.
The pasteurizer clock
After the shutter the bottles are transported to the pasteurizer. This machine can be considered as
a enormous shower that drops hot water onto the bottles in order to kill micro-organism. In this
way the bottles are sterilized before packaging. To ensure the pasteurizer is working and every
micro-organism has been killed, they monitor the PasteurizerUnits (PU's) on a screen next to the
pasteurizer. One unit corresponds to a one minute exposure to a temperature of 60°C. To
guarantee the monitoring system is working, they use a special device, a pasteurizer clock. This
- 33 -
device is fastened onto one bottle. When this particular bottle leaves the pasteurizer, the device
will show the PU's the bottle has been exposed to. These amount of PU's is compared to the
monitoring system once a shift.
Pasteurizer chemicals
To assure the pasteurizer will operate under the right conditions, it is required to add chlorine in
the pasteurizer. In this way, the pasteurizer is kept clean and the nozzles of the pasteurizer don't
get cogged. The operators measure the concentration of chlorine with a special device and add
chlorine balls in the bins when the results of the measurement are below specification. They
perform this procedure every 4 hours.
Testing labeller quality
After the pasteurizer the bottles will be dried to make sure the labels will be stuck on to the
bottles. The labelling machine consists of camera's that makes pictures of the labels. When the
camera's detect the absence of labels, the particular bottle is removed from the conveyer belt
after the labeller. After the labeller the operators pick a bottle every hour to check the
characteristics of the labellers. They check if the stars of HEINEKEN are right under each other,
if the labels are on the right position on the bottle, if the code (date, time, line, machines) is right
and on the right position.
Inspecting label position K2 bottle
The K2 bottle is a new green bottle of HEINEKEN launched in 2012, of which the position of
the label should be placed right under the embossing of the bottle. When the line is producing
K2 bottles, every hour, an operators picks a bottle and checks the right position of the K2 label.
Testing the detector after the labeller
The detector after the labeller checks several aspects. First of all, the filling height is checked,
slightly more secure than the detector after the filling machines. Besides that, a pressure
difference is checked. After the filler, the crown saves a code using magnetic radiation
containing the pressure in the bottle. This code is compared to the pressure after the labeller. If
there is a significant pressure difference, the bottle will be removed from the conveyer belt. The
pressure difference can be raised by leakage of the bottle caused by a crown that is becoming
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loosed. Besides that, bottles with missing labels will be automatically removed as well. Using
test bottles the performance of the 100 percent inspection detector is checked once a shift.
Manco rejection
After the labeller, the bottles are transported to the 'boxes-street' including the packing machines.
Here, bottles are packed in 12 or 18 formations using multipacks and paperboard boxes. An inlay
is inserted between the bottles to prevent the bottles will be damaged during transport. To ensure
a box of 18 will consist 18 bottles, the box is weighted. If the weight is insufficient, the box is
removed from the conveyer belt after the packer. To check this automatic device, once a shift an
operator picks one bottle out of the box and checks if the box is removed. This procedure is
called manco rejection.
Glue inspection
To check if the flaps of the bottom and top of the boxes are strongly attached together with glue,
an operator picks a box of the conveyer belt after the packer every hour. They pull apart the flaps
to check if the glue nozzles sprayed enough glue and also sprayed it on the right position.
Sales Quality index
This is the inspection of the finished product. The finished product is a box with 12 or 18 bottles
inside. Two boxes are pulled open and the bottles are placed in a chimney cupboard with special
light to investigate every detail of the bottles and labels. The bottles are checked on label quality
using a special frame that is covered with the right distances. This includes label folds, bubbles
under the labels, position of labels and HEINEKEN stars, the presence of double labels or
damaged labels. They check the position of the crownsize and the code of the bottle to ensure the
bottles are ready to be sold in the market. Furthermore, they check the quality and the code on
the boxes. Every two hours this procedure is repeated.
5.5.2 Quality information and feedback
The operators enter the results of every inspection in the Manufacturing Execution System(MES)
screen on the line. This screen will display a sign if the inspection needs to be carried out.
HEINEKEN makes use of out of specification measures and out of tolerance measures. For the
checks of the E-weighing, broken glass inspection, O2 measurement, filling height inspection,
pasteurizer chemicals, labeler quality inspection and the sales quality index, specifications and
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tolerances are used both. For the other inspections only tolerance limits are used. For these
inspections the results can be either insufficient or sufficient. When a result is out of
specifications, the process is adjusted in order to make sure the re-measurement will be conform
specifications. This re-measurement has to be created in MES by the operators themselves. If the
re-measurement is inside specifications they continue operations. Otherwise they will adjust the
process again until the re-measurement is conform specifications. When a result of an inspection
or measurement on a certain aspect is out of tolerance, a blockade is created. This means that the
line is stopped and the products are checked up till the previous inspection when the result of the
same aspect was sufficient. Hence, when an inspection is carried out more frequently the
blockade consists of less products. Of the population of products that may consist of defective
products a sample is taken to determine if the blockade can be released back into the process or
should be reworked or scrapped from the line. This decision is done by the quality control
department including technologists and quality controllers. In the figure below the process is
shown.
Packaging line
Result of
inspection outside
Adjusting process Repeat inspection
blockade
Scrap
Reworking
products
Release
Figure 13 Quality control activities within the packaging department of HEINEKEN
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When a blockade is created, the operators need to fill in a quality breakdown analysis. Since this
is a TPM procedure, it will be discussed in the next chapter where the employment of TPM
within HEINEKEN's quality control is analyzed. In collaboration with the quality control
department a countermeasure is implemented to ensure the error that caused the defect will be
solved and preferably eliminated. For example, last year the measurements of O2 on line 8 were
out of tolerance. A sample of the blockade has been taken and tested on the concentration of O2.
If this sample was consisting of too many bottles with high O2 concentrations, the bottles would
be scrapped. In this case, the products can not be reworked. Fortunately, the sample was
consisting of O2 concentrations below the tolerance level and the products were released back on
to the line. However, during one month the results of O2 concentrations were a bit higher than
the specification limit and the operators, technologists and