Clover SA, one of SA`s leading dairy product companies, has a long and respected history. Clover SA`s products are a household name in SA and its product range includes milk, juice, butter and cheese.
One of the Clover SA plants, Queensburgh in Durban, had a specific need to improve the production function of its factory. It needed to train personnel in proper production practices as well as give them the proper tools and systems to support these new practices.
The main reasons for theses concerns are evident in most industries today, ie globalisation and increased competition. The plant therefore needed to work smarter and in doing so improve its availability and performance.
PRAGMA provided the Queensburgh plant with these capabilities through the implementation of PRAGMA`s ON KEY Monitor software. The ON KEY Monitor software is a tool utilised predominately in the manufacturing industry to measure, report and analyse the performance of production lines. The measurements take the form of five main variables:
. availability
. performance rate
. quality
. overall equipment effectiveness
. overall plant performance
Based on an initial maintenance audit, conducted by PRAGMA, it was decided to implement the ON KEY Monitor software in the STERI department as it was felt that this was the bottleneck area in the plant.
The staff members in the STERI department were trained in the OEE methodology, downtime reasons were identified by Production & Maintenance teams and a log sheet was developed for the capturing of data.
The data sheets are reviewed each day at the Production/Maintenance meeting and the data is then logged into the ON KEY Monitor software where reports and trends are easily accessible. Repetitive failures can be identified at the push of a button and the system can be accessed by multiple users on the network (LAN or WAN).
The Clover SA Management Team and the staff in the STERI department committed themselves to the new challenge facing them and as a result the project has been a resounding success.
The results have far surpassed expectations. There has been a 5% increase in OEE (44% to 49%), a ROI (return on investment) of 300% and a payback period of three months.
Steve Leech, PRAGMA Regional Manager - Coastal, adds: The main benefits achieved by the Queensburgh plant thus far also include:
. Reduction in labour costs (overtime and production demands).
. Reduction in production cost/unit.
. Motivated and committed staff.
. Production and Maintenance share the same vision and work towards a common goal.
. Management decisions are made on sound and accurate information and supported at all levels.
. Clover SA will soon implement PRAGMA`s online version of the software for real-time monitoring.
. Continuous improvement is measurable, attainable and sustainable.
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