Cargill realizes rapid results through operational excellence

Approach

Hitachi Consulting’s experts conducted a robust analysis which revealed that production output, energy usage, logistics costs, maintenance efficiency and procurement spend could all be improved. So operational excellence and performance management were designated as the key workstreams, with a robust project management structure aligning both plants on approach and best practice sharing.

Following Hitachi Consulting’s Closework® approach, a multidisciplined Cargill-Hitachi Consulting team focused the project’s first phase on designing processes and developing a performance structure. The first benefits, including a 25% time reduction in production bottlenecks, appeared rapidly, engaging all team members.

Hitachi Consulting also worked with the production and maintenance departments to implement a sustainable management approach on plant production performance, aligned with the supply chain function.

Connecting customer demand to weekly and daily production performance enabled the supply chain function to optimize product switches and manage inventory. Hitachi Consulting also guided the restructuring of the purchasing spend, so that improved procurement processes were implemented with a robust vendor management system.

Results

Operational savings worth millions of Euros per year have been achieved from solid yield improvements, energy efficiencies and improved productivity in all operational departments.

A genuine drive for continuous improvement has been installed, driven by clear roles and responsibilities and agreed KPIs from operator level right up to plant management.