Avebe's Binding & Building 2.0 strategy is clear and ambitious. Teams are taking up the challenge at various places in the organisation. From large-scale renovation in Dallmin (Germany) to the structured work process optimisation with the WCOM programme at Stadex in Malmö (Sweden).
MAJOR INVESTMENTS
AND SMALL STEPS
Avebe's long-term strategy starts out from responsible growth, based on the following spearheads.
BINDING & BUILDING 2.0
Efficient, safe and customer-oriented working
Growth in high-quality ingredients for good food
Market-oriented and sustainable potato cultivation
Reducing the ecological footprint
Creating more value, with the aim of a performance price for the growers of 95 euros
in 2023.
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GREATER VALUE
The Dallmin production site is reaching the limits of its production capacity. Water is the limiting factor. The plant in the German federal state of Brandenburg is allowed to use a maximum of 10,000 m3 of water a week and is close to that limit. “This limits our production volume and also our flexibility”, says Production Manager Frank Wilck. “We can't easily make changes to our product mix because we need more water for certain products.”
Water requirement 40 percent lower
The solution is new technology that's more economical with water. This summer the heart of the factory, the refining line, will therefore be replaced. As a result, the water requirement will be reduced by 40 percent. Based on the production in the last campaign, Dallmin would therefore only need an average of 6,000 m3 a week. This offers room for more flexibility. The factory can more easily respond to the demand for high-grade starch products, even if it has an impact on the water demand. An expansion with an extra production line for protein production is now also possible.
Annual savings of 350,000 euros
Together with his team, Wilck is taking a number of steps in the strategy: more room for products with added value and a smaller ecological footprint. Wilck: “Modern technology is not only more economical with water. Energy consumption is also significantly reduced and we're reducing production losses.” The total annual savings are estimated at 350,000 euros. This way, Avebe earns back the investment of 1.2 million euros in 3 to 4 years.
With the new harvest in the autumn of this year, Dallmin's renewed production line should be up and running. “So far, it's going according to plan”, says Wilck. “We hope that the new production line will be delivered by 1 August at the latest, in time for the new campaign. We want to be ready by week 33.”
WCOM in Malmö
Achieving the strategic goals in Binding & Building 2.0 not only depends on
large-scale renovations. Every change in the workplace can make a contribution.
For targeted improvements, Avebe uses the WCOM method throughout the company. WCOM stands for World Class Operations Management. The method is ideal for translating strategic goals into concrete improvements and KPIs, says Camilla Thall, Supply Chain Manager at Stadex.
The strength of the method lies in the involvement of employees from all levels of the organisation, from the shop floor to management. They work together for 12 weeks in a specific project called ‘waves’. In April Stadex started its second wave within the WCOM program, aimed at optimising production switches (changeovers) in the factory and at improvements in logistics.
Roger Riesbeck is the Team Leader of both waves in Malmö. “We start each wave by mapping out all the parts of the process that can influence it”, he explains. “For each component, we think about how we can make improvements. Then we determine the priorities and select a number of components we can focus on.”
Shorter mixing
WCOM offers structure. The method invites the participants to look at work processes together, to identify potential problems from their own experience and
to come up with solutions that focus on measurable goals. Team Leader Riesbeck gives as an example the time that a certain mixer has to run. “Experience shows
that 60 minutes of mixing gets a good result. Shorter running saves time and money, but this should not be at the expense of quality. Within our wave we're going to investigate what happens when we mix for 50, 45 and 30 minutes.”
The outcome of a wave is always a concrete action. This can be a different setting for the installations, but also training for employees to learn a different way of working.
Why are we doing it like this?
In Thall's view, the structured approach is ideally suited to challenging ingrained habits. “We're already very good at measuring, recording and sending data. But to further improve ourselves, we also have to ask ourselves the occasional question: why do we do it this way? That's the added value of WCOM.”
With separate improvements to parts of the processes, each wave contributes to Avebe's strategy, says Thall. “The corporate strategy is about value creation and sustainability and is aimed at a performance price of 95 euros for our farmers. These are big goals, which seem to be far away from the daily work in production or logistics. That's why you have to translate those big changes into small steps. That way, every employee can see that his or her daily work also contributes to the overall strategy. That's what we do with WCOM. And it works!”
MAJOR INVESTMENTS
AND SMALL STEPS
Avebe's Binding & Building 2.0 strategy is clear and ambitious. Teams are taking up the challenge at various places in the organisation. From large-scale renovation in Dallmin (Germany) to the structured work process optimisation with the WCOM programme at Stadex in Malmö (Sweden).
The Dallmin production site is reaching the limits of its production capacity. Water is the limiting factor. The plant in the German federal state of Brandenburg is allowed to use a maximum of 10,000 m3 of water a week and is close to that limit. “This limits our production volume and also our flexibility”, says Production Manager Frank Wilck. “We can't easily make changes to our product mix because we need more water for certain products.”
Water requirement 40 percent lower
The solution is new technology that's more economical with water. This summer the heart of the factory, the refining line, will therefore be replaced. As a result, the water requirement will be reduced by 40 percent. Based on the production in the last campaign, Dallmin would therefore only need an average of 6,000 m3 a week. This offers room for more flexibility. The factory can more easily respond to the demand for high-grade starch products, even if it has an impact on the water demand. An expansion with an extra production line for protein production is now also possible.
Annual savings of 350,000 euros
Together with his team, Wilck is taking a number of steps in the strategy: more room for products with added value and a smaller ecological footprint. Wilck: “Modern technology is not only more economical with water. Energy consumption is also significantly reduced and we're reducing production losses.” The total annual savings are estimated at 350,000 euros. This way, Avebe earns back the investment of 1.2 million euros in 3 to 4 years.
With the new harvest in the autumn of this year, Dallmin's renewed production line should be up and running. “So far, it's going according to plan”, says Wilck. “We hope that the new production line will be delivered by 1 August at the latest, in time for the new campaign. We want to be ready by week 33.”
BINDING & BUILDING 2.0
Avebe's long-term strategy starts out from responsible growth, based on the following spearheads.
Efficient, safe and customer-oriented working
Growth in high-quality ingredients for good food
Market-oriented and sustainable potato cultivation
Reducing the ecological footprint
Creating more value, with the aim of a performance price for the growers of 95 euros
in 2023.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
WCOM in Malmö
Achieving the strategic goals in Binding & Building 2.0 not only depends on
large-scale renovations. Every change in the workplace can make a contribution.
For targeted improvements, Avebe uses the WCOM method throughout the company. WCOM stands for World Class Operations Management. The method is ideal for translating strategic goals into concrete improvements and KPIs, says Camilla Thall, Supply Chain Manager at Stadex.
The strength of the method lies in the involvement of employees from all levels of the organisation, from the shop floor to management. They work together for 12 weeks in a specific project called ‘waves’. In April Stadex started its second wave within the WCOM program, aimed at optimising production switches (changeovers) in the factory and at improvements in logistics.
Roger Riesbeck is the Team Leader of both waves in Malmö. “We start each wave by mapping out all the parts of the process that can influence it”, he explains. “For each component, we think about how we can make improvements. Then we determine the priorities and select a number of components we can focus on.”
Shorter mixing
WCOM offers structure. The method invites the participants to look at work processes together, to identify potential problems from their own experience and
to come up with solutions that focus on measurable goals. Team Leader Riesbeck gives as an example the time that a certain mixer has to run. “Experience shows
that 60 minutes of mixing gets a good result. Shorter running saves time and money, but this should not be at the expense of quality. Within our wave we're going to investigate what happens when we mix for 50, 45 and 30 minutes.”
The outcome of a wave is always a concrete action. This can be a different setting for the installations, but also training for employees to learn a different way of working.
Why are we doing it like this?
In Thall's view, the structured approach is ideally suited to challenging ingrained habits. “We're already very good at measuring, recording and sending data. But to further improve ourselves, we also have to ask ourselves the occasional question: why do we do it this way? That's the added value of WCOM.”
With separate improvements to parts of the processes, each wave contributes to Avebe's strategy, says Thall. “The corporate strategy is about value creation and sustainability and is aimed at a performance price of 95 euros for our farmers. These are big goals, which seem to be far away from the daily work in production or logistics. That's why you have to translate those big changes into small steps. That way, every employee can see that his or her daily work also contributes to the overall strategy. That's what we do with WCOM. And it works!”
GREATER VALUE