Treating root causes instead of symptoms

Mondelēz Ireland, the manufacturer of Cadbury chocolate,

wanted to increase the operation effectiveness of its automatic

packaging line for Cadbury Flake bars. Together with

Bosch Packaging Services, Mondelēz Ireland implemented a

very successful OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) concept,

which resulted in an improved performance.

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Mondelēz Ireland is a market-leading producer of chocolate, biscuits, gum, candy, coffee and powdered beverages. The vast portfolio includes popular brands such as Cadbury, Côte d’Or, Milka, Toblerone, Jacobs coffee and Halls. The factory in Coolock, Ireland, produces several key brands including the popular Cadbury Flake bar. With a tight production schedule, the site de-pends on smooth processes and a con-tinuous flow of production. In 2010 the packaging line for its Cadbury Flake bars was not achieving the required output. “At that time, performance was not con-sistent across all machines,” explains Da-vid Lindsay, production engineering man-ager at the Coolock site. “We worked on the Bosch packaging line ourselves but productivity was still not meeting our ex-pectations. That’s when we decided to enter into a partnership with the Bosch team to address the issues.”

Continuous approach for sustainable improvementMondelēz Ireland invited Bosch senior management and the colleagues from the customer service hub in Derby, UK, to define a continuous improvement

plan. Bosch decided to take their OEE specialist along. “Our expert explained how the Bosch OEE approach could be used to help work through the issues of the Cadbury Flake bar packaging line,” says Martin Orgill, head of service sales at Bosch Packaging Services. David Lindsay from Mondelēz Ireland adds, “Since the project required a structured method over a certain period of time, a trustful and open partnership with Bosch was very important for us. We knew of the OEE idea in principle, but we were keen to learn more.”The calculation of OEE considers three of the most common reasons for produc-tivity losses: availability, performance and quality. These factors are expressed in percentages as comparative values and form the basis of Bosch’s OEE im-provement project. They are collected with a measuring system over a period of approximately four weeks and docu-mented in a chart, showing which indica-tor has a negative impact on OEE. Based on the causes of those three factors, the Bosch OEE experts can implement a continuous approach for sustainable equipment improvements and increased effectiveness. This concept matched per-

fectly with the packaging equipment issues Mondelēz Ireland was experienc-ing in Coolock.

Specialized project teamMondelēz Ireland and Bosch selected the flow wrappers for primary packaging and top loaders for a first assessment, as they were causing most production stops and delays. The customer service team from the UK hub conducted a close audit of the situation during actual pro-duction. On 23 consecutive days, they monitored the selected machines, col-lected production data from the three key areas and statistically evaluated these figures. The results revealed that the availability factor was responsible for most OEE losses. The evaluated produc-tion data provided a first indication of possible causes and showed the fre-quency of machine downtime notifica-tions, which are responsible for availabil-ity loss. Mondelēz Ireland and Bosch set up a specialized project team, consisting of machinery and product experts from Mondelēz Ireland as well as engineering specialists and an OEE expert from Bosch, to systematically work through the OEE improvement steps.

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“During our first OEE workshop in August 2011, we presented an overview of the findings of our machine analysis,” Martin Orgill says. David Lindsay adds, “It was a very open and honest ex-change. We shared our goals and de-fined clear and measurable objectives.” This included a proposal of how to match the process knowledge of Mondelēz Ireland’s engineers best with the know-how of the Bosch machine specialists. “Detecting the symptoms is one thing, but getting to the root causes is the actual aim”, Martin Orgill and David Lindsay agree. In the second OEE workshop, the Bosch team evaluated the impact of the defined causes in a Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA). Answers to questions like ‘How severe is the effect?’ or ‘How often does this issue occur?’ helped to prioritize potential failure effects, for instance ‘no product at infeed’, ‘balance the speed of the line’, and ‘auto restart proce-dures’. The team then determined mea-sures of improvement, such as creating

new settings for the different multipack formats.

Making the most of plant and peopleAfter implementing the defined mea-sures, the project team carried out a more intense equipment performance analysis, based on 90 days of measure-ments on the flow wrappers and top loaders, and presented the findings in the third and last OEE workshop in June 2012. “This meeting was very in depth and specific to key machine areas based on the fault types and frequencies,” Martin Orgill explains. “We reviewed the results of the machine performance with utmost care to ensure that the correct conclusions were extracted.” The OEE improvement project from Bosch not only made it possible for Mondelēz Ireland to analyze and prioritize the machinery issues. It also led to an im-provement of equipment effectiveness in terms of reduced machine downtime and both increased and consistent perfor-mance standards.

According to the latest statistics, David Lindsay confirms that “performance has improved significantly”. More impor-tantly, Mondelēz Ireland has been able to sustain this improvement. “This success is based on clear data that we collected with Bosch and the shared know-how regarding our machines and production cycles. The stages of the OEE approach were clearly set and well communi-cated,” David Lindsay says. “Our employ-ees were also great in supporting us. After familiarizing with the OEE concept, they saw the need for change and we achieved those positive results together. Treating the root causes instead of only the symptoms, together with a reliable and professional partner, supported us in making the most of our plant and people in Coolock.”

For more information please contact:

Martin Orgill

Phone: +44 1332 626267

E-mail: martin.orgill@bosch.com

22 | packazine Customers & Markets Food and Confectionery