Lactalis is the world’s leading dairy company. Headquartered in France, it has 83,000 employees in 94 countries and 250 plants in 47 countries. Its turnover in 2019 was EUR 20 billion.
The high level of production was resulting in a great deal of waste, particularly in the form of plastic bags for mozzarella cheese. Time and resources spent dealing with waste were reducing productivity and adding to costs. Lactalis called on SGS for help with managing this problem. SGS was chosen because of our reputation as an international market leader with expertise in technical consulting.
SGS Designs and Develops the Project
We started out by diagnosing the problem and estimating the potential for improvement within a single production line. We then developed and presented a customized pilot project, based on Lean Methodology, which Lactalis accepted.
The project, which took place in one of Lactalis’ plants in Italy during the 20 weeks between October 2020 and March 2021, included:
- Implementing Lean Manufacturing, Lean Management and the use of Lean Tools
- Increasing employee satisfaction to create an innovation-friendly working environment
What Lactalis Achieved
- Waste reduction from 3.5% to less than 1.5%, equivalent to about 4,000 plastic envelopes per day, more than 1,100,000 plastic envelopes each year
- An estimated savings of more than EUR 400,000 on a single line
- Increase in average daily production from 17 Mtons to 20 Mtons
- Reduction in setup time from 52 to 20 minutes
- Increased workforce participation
- Better understanding of common issues as a result of root cause analysis
Lactalis was so pleased with the results of the pilot project that it implemented Lean projects in three other plants in Italy. Similar outcomes were achieved for each.
Learn more about the project >
For further information, please contact:
Andrea Chevallard
SGS Productivity Manager
Knowledge
t: +393387178361
About SGS
We are SGS – the world’s leading testing, inspection and certification company. We are recognized as the global benchmark for quality and integrity. Our 93,000 employees operate a network of 2,600 offices and laboratories, working together to enable a better, safer and more interconnected world.