Royal FrieslandCampina Cheese CPC:

efficiency beyond the original targets…

Royal FrieslandCampina, the world's largest dairy cooperative with an estimated annual turnover of € 9 billion, exports milk products, cheese, butter and ingredients to more than 100 countries. Within the international sector Cheese (2007 turnover: €2.5 billion), the CPC plant in Tilburg (NL) has 10 separate packaging lines for different cheese products, making it one of the concern's biggest packaging operations in the Netherlands.

It was Production Director Frank Termote who contacted ARV Group to talk about how the sector could turn around what was perceived as a trend towards high maintenance costs. Fixed costs are an important indicator for FrieslandCampina, and the management pressure was on.

Extra savings

ARV carried out an assessment. Conclusions were that not only could maintenance costs be reduced by 10%, but also that productivity (OEE) on the cheese-packaging lines could be improved by a further 20%. This would result in savings of €1 million annually… much more than the original € 80,000 obtainable from streamlining maintenance costs.

The value-based business plan included improving the maintenance package according to the RCM (Reliability Centered Maintenance) method, directed at optimizing OEE while minimizing maintenance costs. This was to be carried out by means of an effective, proactive maintenance plan: each week, systematic upkeep would be performed on one line at a time. Within this framework, operators were to be involved in the maintenance work, thereby increasing involvement and understanding. An E-learning program was also set up for operators to raise competence levels and thereby prevent loss of OEE and avoid costly operational errors. All supported by an effective performance management system.

Better overview

By the end of implementation, a Performance Management System was well in place and OEE had risen from 58% to 69%, making this a showcase for the FrieslandCampina concern.

"The introduction of performance management has given Campina a much better overview of what the results are based on,” says ARV consultant Ted Abrahamsen. “Differences between shifts, for example, become visible. Managing working processes brings factors - and therefore costs as well - under control."

Production Director Cheese Frank Termote: "The results were in on time, and the OEE improvements in particular exceeded our original expectations. Now we have a solid foundation for building further results."

Production Manager Marc Falger: "The enormous boost in OEE was the result of effective cohesion between the three improved operational methods. ARV not only helped us to set up and follow these methodologies, but in the course of the projected implementation period also succeeded in making itself completely ‘dispensable’. We have learned how to move ahead in the process of continuous improvement."