Food & Drinks Case Study

UK gin manufacturer

Improved maintenance process and procedures...

Reduced downtime and increased output

The UK's leading manufacturer and supplier of gin

Following a catastrophic fire, the company had re-invested in key plant and machinery
Key machines were still experiencing high levels of unplanned downtime and loss of production
The skills levels on site were mixed and not aligned to the new plant and equipment
Need to strengthen engineering and maintenance systems as part of an initial strategy to improve overall site performance

Initial project ‘scoping’ exercise carried out to understand the technical, process and ‘cultural’ issues on site
Established internal team to work jointly to construct improved engineering and maintenance processes and procedures
Detailed analysis of current maintenance procedures and practices, focusing on Autonomous Maintenance (AM) and Planned Maintenance (PM)
Detailed analysis and re-categorisation of downtime to establish root cause of problems
Developed and implemented improved AM and PM maintenance procedures with clear roles and responsibilities between operating and maintenance staff for key items of plant
Provided the template to enable improved procedures to be rolled out across the rest of the site
Implemented strong ‘5S’ visual management techniques to emphasise key learning points and make maintenance performance more visible
Developed improved KPI collation, reviews and action planning

Strong levels of buy-in to proposed systems
Following implementation on pilot machines, the procedures were subsequently rolled out across the site by internal team members and other staff with high levels of ownership
Significant improvements to line downtime. This translated into additional capacity / opportunity to produce around 250,000 cases per annum and gain associated additional margin