Success Stories / Start-Up Support Helps Client Hit Launch Date for Largest Customer

Start-Up Support Helps Client Hit Launch Date for Largest Customer

$100mn Frozen Food Manufacturer

2024

BACKGROUND

The company had recently purchased a high-speed packaging machine to produce a new product for its largest customer. The project was proceeding slower than planned, and with weeks remaining until the scheduled launch date, additional problems emerged:

Couldn’t hit oxygen targets
Bag sealing issues
Missing parts

The company’s senior management and Director of Operations determined they needed additional support from a firm with strong equipment startup experience.

SERVICES

Project Execution

ASSESSMENT

Saphineia found that the company lacked a proper launch plan with adequate structure for managing the project. Items missing:

An action tracker for monitoring progress with owners assigned and due dates
A daily meeting structure to review the previous day’s activity, problems encountered, current day’s plan and action tracker
Standard operating procedures and one-point-lessons for machine operators
Bilingual training documentation
Daily work routines for starting and operating the lines

RESULTS

We established daily work processes, including the creation of action lists to track progress.

We served as a point of contact with OEMs and service providers.

We wrote the SOPs in English and Spanish.

And we successfully addressed the specific equipment constraints:

Redesigned lance system to facilitate gas injection while reducing nozzle clogging
Developed backup bottle-gas solution to address insufficient plant air supply
Identified and ordered missing parts (gas mixer, simplex parts)
Adjusted bag handling process through gas phase

As a result, the company:

Reached 70% of ‘steady-state’ in 3 weeks, well above the 50% ramp-up commitment to customer
Reached 95% of ‘steady-state’ in 4 weeks, well above the 80% ramp-up commitment to customer

CLIENT BENEFITS

Went from being behind schedule to exceeding ramp curve
Successful product launch for their largest customer
Valuable leave behind: client’s employees learned ‘what good looks like’ for managing equipment start-ups