The Customer
A plant based food company dedicated to creating alternatives for meat products. As the manufacturer embarked on a new phase with increased funding and a heightened focus on manufacturing and production, they needed standardized training to ensure high quality, safety and volume.
Challenge:
Enhancing Operational Efficiency
"30% efficiency is unacceptable, and we needed Dozuki to help fix it."
– Training Manager
The customer was facing challenges around overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), and needed a solution to help improve.
A key concern was the incorporation of an expensive active protein in their products. This called for stringent measures to prevent waste and identify potential quality issues early on. But their need for preventive maintenance planning and efficient reporting mechanisms (to stay ahead of operational issues) added complexity.
The active protein was critical to the production process, and came at a costly price per liter. The stakes were high—achieving an extra 3% yield from a bulk quantity of 20,000 kilograms could lead to substantial cost savings. As long as quality didn’t suffer.
Challenge:
Quality and Safety Training at Scale
"When you start to scale, it's unrealistic for everyone to know everything. It's crucial to ensure working knowledge across teams for a culture of continuous improvement."
–Safety Manager
What set the customer apart was its streamlined operation housed in a single location, fostering a cohesive team of both full-time and temporary employees.
The emphasis on specific safety and quality training was a cornerstone to their operations. The objective was clear — ensure safe procedures and minimize quality issues with the end product.
The practice of cross-training played a pivotal role. Supervisors and managers sought the ability to swiftly identify capable and certified individuals, facilitating seamless pivots when necessary.
The foundation of safety and quality content at the company was critical for onboarding new employees and reinforcing established standards. They needed a tool to streamline the training process, offer specialized courses tailored to individual roles or specific lines of production. This approach contributed to swift and thorough onboarding, particularly for temporary staff during peak operational periods.
The Results
Using Dozuki to document standard processes and prioritize employee training. The initiative boosted production efficiency and reduced quality issues.
The Solution:
Paving the Way for Standardization
“Standardization is vital to avoid recalls and customer complaints.”
–Quality Compliance Leader
In the search for a comprehensive solution, the customer acknowledged their success in addressing challenges related to temporary employees' onboarding and retention.
Almost two years had passed without a significant operational event. But managing a workforce mix of full-time and temporary employees posed its own set of challenges. The customer aimed to foster a culture where every team member critically engaged with their tasks.
Describing the production environment as predominantly machine-focused, the challenge emerged from the hands-on nature of the work on the production floor, where access to computers and mobile devices was restricted due to the cold food safety requirements.
Despite the difficult working conditions, the focus was on streamlining and centralizing existing processes, which were scattered across various locations. The objective was to consolidate all relevant materials into one centralized digital platform to ensure consistency in the training program.
The Implementation:
Enhanced Training and an Agile Production Workforce
With a primary focus on safety and product quality, the training initiative aimed to boost production efficiency and foster a culture of continuous improvement.
The impact of this initiative extended beyond conventional training paradigms. Employees, now equipped with a comprehensive understanding of processes, began to consider their tasks not just in the moment of execution, but throughout their movement within the facility. This shift in mindset laid the groundwork for innovation and constructive feedback loops, significantly enhancing productivity from a cognitive perspective.
The Dozuki implementation not only addressed immediate training needs but also set the stage for continuous improvement, aligning with the manufacturer's vision for a dynamic and agile workforce.