Improving Productivity in Chicken Bouillon Production Lines Using Lean Manufacturing Techniques

Abstract

Nestlé is a multinational food and beverages corporation, originated from Switzerland. Nestlé has around 450 factories, operates in 189 countries, and employs around 339,000 people. Nestlé has multiple factories in Egypt, located in different governorates. This project focuses on the Maggi production line in Nestlé’s Dry Goods Factory which is in 6th of October Industrial zone, Giza, Egypt. Maggi is a culinary brand specialized in Chicken Bouillon, Soups and Seasoning. After observing the Maggi Soft bouillon production lines, several problems were noticed. The most prominent problems were the over filling of the cubes done by the workers and the jamming occurring at the nozzle, which is a source of unplanned stoppages. The lead time between the mixes’ production time and packaging time was also a contributing factor as the mix temperature cools down and cause stoppages in the machine. This project aims at improving the productivity of the production line, by applying the techniques learnt in Lean manufacturing, mainly the DMAIC approach and the fishbone technique to eliminate the major cause of unplanned stoppages; in addition, a new handover system will also be implemented to reduce the lead time between the production of the mixes and the time they are received on the packaging production lines which causes time waste and changes in the specifications of the mix. Furthermore, there was a significant improvement in productivity, increasing from 86.88% achievement of the planned production quantity to 98.32% in a period of 10 weeks of implementation. Results proved that the product machinability stoppage time was reduced by 94.5%, while the overfilling was reduced by 86.3% and the subsequent revenue lost reduced by approximately 85%. The waiting time between trollies was also reduced by 17 minutes, which meant the temperature of the mix no longer cooled down and cause changes in the specifications of the mix.