P09713 Kate Gleason Process Improvement Analysis February 13, 2009 Introduction & Objective
The process for scaling dry ingredients for the bread and roll products in the Wegmans Bake Shop is currently very inefficient. After observing the process, it was determined that a feasible solution is to reduce the amount of walking time of the scaling worker by combining the short- term storage area and the scaling area. Eliminating this walking time will save at least 42 minutes per day. In order to do this, a long-term storage area will be implemented along with a new inventory management strategy.
The process improvements will aim to optimize this new inventory management strategy by determining how the ingredients will be stored, how much of each ingredient will be stored in long-term storage, how often each ingredient will have to be restocked in the short-term storage area, and any new labor requirements. The new inventory management strategy will be used to develop the new process flow diagram.
Methodology
To reach this objective, the ingredient usage data provided by Wegmans was used. It was determined that it will be best to store all ingredients as pallets so forklifts can continue to transport whole pallets without having to transport partial pallets or single bags from the long- term storage area. From the calculations previously performed to determine the daily usage of each ingredient it was possible to determine the number of pallets that will need to be transported form long-term storage to short-term storage on a daily basis.
It was concluded that storing each ingredient on a pallet will require the capacity of the short- term storage area to ideally be 45 pallets. Through coordination with the layout analysis, it was determined that the short-term storage area will be able to meet this capacity.
The daily ingredient usage data was used to determine the frequency with which bags are removed from the pallets in short-term storage. These results were then used to determine the frequency with which pallets of each ingredient would have to be transported from long-term storage to replenish short-term storage. The independent replenishment schedules for each ingredient were combined to level the daily requirements for transporting materials form long- term to short-term storage. A daily short-term storage restocking time was then calculated using the number of pallets requiring transport each day and the speed at which the forklift can travel.
1 P09713 Kate Gleason Process Improvement Analysis February 13, 2009
Results
These are the calculations used to determine spacing requirements and the restocking schedules. Bags per day # Pallets per % Stockage Ingredient Rounded Up # Bags per Pallet Day Rounded Up Used in 1 Day
Stoneground 118 50 2.36 3 0.786666667 Specialty Stoneground 47 35 1.342857143 2 0.671428571 Ultra Grain 45 50 0.9 1 0.9 Vital Wheat Gluten 40 50 0.8 1 0.8 Salt Superior 31 49 0.632653061 1 0.632653061 Yeast 27 44 0.613636364 1 0.613636364 DOH Conditn AA 21 48 0.4375 1 0.4375 Gran Sugar 17 50 0.34 1 0.34 EZ Potato Base 16 50 0.32 1 0.32 Watson Honey Bran Base 12 40 0.3 1 0.3 DM 11 48 0.229166667 1 0.229166667 Watson Lite Wheat Base 11 40 0.275 1 0.275 Stay Soft W 10 48 0.208333333 1 0.208333333 Hearty Bread Base 11 35 0.314285714 1 0.314285714 Watson Lite White Base 10 40 0.25 1 0.25 NF 7 50 0.14 1 0.14 White Rye Flour 8 50 0.16 1 0.16 EZ Kaiser Base 7 50 0.14 1 0.14 Dry Dimalt/Non Diastatic 7 50 0.14 1 0.14 Non-Fat Dry Pro (Promix) 6 40 0.15 1 0.15 Buttermilk Blend 5 40 0.125 1 0.125 12 Grain Blend 5 35 0.142857143 1 0.142857143 Canadian Oat Base 5 35 0.142857143 1 0.142857143 Med Granulated Sugar 5 50 0.1 1 0.1 Potato Base (Vandenburgh) 5 50 0.1 1 0.1 Watson Oat Bran Base 4 40 0.1 1 0.1 Brown Sugar 3 50 0.06 1 0.06 Course Cracked Wheat 3 50 0.06 1 0.06 Dakota Specialty 1 35 0.028571429 1 0.028571429 Breadmate 3 4 0.75 1 0.75 Dry Molasses 2 40 0.05 1 0.05 Odessa Pump Base 3 48 0.0625 1 0.0625 Omega 3 Powder 1 40 0.025 1 0.025 EZ Sour 2 50 0.04 1 0.04 Corn Sugar Solids 2 20 0.1 1 0.1 Soy Flour 1 20 0.05 1 0.05 Caravan Rye 12 Base 2 36 0.055555556 1 0.055555556 Seasoning (For seasoned stuffing bread) 1 0 Cinnamon 1 40 0.025 1 0.025 Ground Caraway 1 50 0.02 1 0.02 Whole Caraway Seeds 1 40 0.025 1 0.025 Double Spice 1 0 B&V Flavor 1 50 0.02 1 0.02
2 P09713 Kate Gleason Process Improvement Analysis February 13, 2009 These are the individual ingredient restocking requirements.
Product: Stoneground Alternating 3 bags per day/2 bags per day Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 3 2 3 2 3 2
Product: Specialty Stoneground Alternating 2 bags per day/1 bag per day Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 2 1 3 2 1 2 1 2 1
Product: Ultragrain No restock needed every 11th day Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 1
Product: Vital Wheat Gluten No restock needed every 6th day Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 3 1 1 1 1 1
Product: Breadmate No restock needed every 5th day Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 3 1 1 1 1 1
Product: Salt Superior No restock needed every 4th day Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 3 1 1 1 1 1
Product: Yeast Alternating every day/every other day Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 3 1 1 1
Product: DOH Conditn AA Every other day Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 3 1 1 1
Product: Gran Sugar Alternating every 2 days/every 3 days Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 3 1 1 1
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Product: EZ Potato Base Every 3 days Watson Honey Bran Base Hearty Bread Base Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 1 1 2 1 1 3 1 1
Product: Watson Lite Wheat Base Alternating every 3 days/every 4 days Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 1 1 2 1 1 3 1 1
Product: DM Every 4 days Watson Lite White Base Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 1 1 2 1 3 1 1
Product: Stay Soft W Every 5 days Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 1 1 2 1 3 1
Product: White Rye Flour Every 6 days 12 Grain Blend Canadian Oat Base Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 1 2 1 3 1
Product: NF Every 7 days EZ Kaiser Base Dry Dimalt/Non Diastatic Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 1 2 1 3 1
Product: Buttermilk Blend Every 8 days Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 1 2 1 3 1
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Product: Med Granulated Sugar Every 10 days Potato Base (Vandenburgh) Watson Oat Bran Base Corn Sugar Solids Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 1 2 1 3
Product: Brown Sugar Every 16 days Course Cracked Wheat Odessa Pump Base Dry Molasses Caravan Rye 12 Base Soy Flour Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 1 2 3 1
Product: EZ Sour Every 25 days
Product: Dakota Specialty Every 35 days
Product: Cinnamon Every 40 days Whole Caraway Seeds Omega 3 Powder
Product: Seasoning Every 50 days Ground Caraway Double Spice B&V Flavor
Avg Max Min Leveled # Pallets to Move 12.47458 16 10 Original # Pallets to Move 11.59322 24 5
# Pallets a forklift can transport at a time 1 Amount of time in seconds it takes a forklift to travel between storage areas 52
# Trips Restocking Time (min) Minimum 10 21.44 Maximum 16 35.73333
5 P09713 Kate Gleason Process Improvement Analysis February 13, 2009 Discussion
The major changes in the process involve the new layout and the new inventory management strategy. The new layout will cut down on the amount of walking done by the scaling worker, but will require daily restocking of the short term storage by a forklift before 2pm. The new layout will save the scaling worker 35 to 45 minutes of walking time per shift. The daily restocking will take between 30 and 45 minutes everyday and will have to be done by 2pm, when the scaling operation begins.
The change in the process flow diagram comes from the fact that the scaling worker will start working at 2pm and be done with preparation shortly after the batch cards arrive. There will be no dead time between preparation and the arrival of the batch cards as there was before.
Moving the bin area into the short-term storage area will eliminate the need for the shelves used to transport scaling buckets filled with dry ingredients. The scaling worker can simply place the scaling buckets onto the staging cart. This eliminates the ergonomic concern associated with lifting heavy buckets to the top shelves of the transport unit.
The short-term storage area will have the capacity to handle the leveling requirements. The maximum pallets to be stored in short-term storage due to leveling is 10 more than the 45 pallets indicated previously, making the minimum short-term storage capacity 55. The top (third) shelves of the pallet racks in the short-term storage area have the capacity to hold these extra pallets.
The implementation of the sifting and screening equipment in the new process will be done considered in the later portion of the Analysis phase..
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