Bottling

Understanding Bottling Business Challenges

Consider this: Your operating costs are the same, regardless of fluctuations in throughput (and therefore your profits). So every minute of production lost due to a true constraint is equal to the cost of a minute of running the entire line or plant. And every minute gained is a true contribution to your bottom line.

"We have experienced around a 7% reduction in manufacturing costs, which is a lot of dollars for an old plant that really helps the business. So rather than build a new plant, because of capacity constraints, we are just making these old lines turn out more product better than they ever have before."

- Corporate Production Manager
North American Beverage Bottler

"By making product quicker and better than we ever have before, we are freeing up time in our schedule, to the tune of something like 1/2 million extra cases of available production per year."

- Continuous Improvement Manager
Beverage Bottling Company

A Stiff Drink of Reality: Did you know that the average OEE for manufacturers is 60%?

Throughput Analyzer™ can put those lost minutes of production back into your shift. What would a 5% improvement equaling an extra 21 minutes mean to your facility? In a continuous low bottling operation, that can mean thousands of more units equaling millions of dollars.

"Collected correctly, data turned into information aids us in our 'Genchi Gembutsu' or Go and See activity to grasp the situation. Grasping the Situation is one of the first things that we are taught to do at Toyota, as it is part of the Toyota Way. The Activplant Performance Management System enables our Go and See Process."

- Parker Shannon
Project Manager

While bottling companies range from small local operations to multinational companies with facilities and distribution across the globe, their challenges remain the same. How do you lower unit costs to remain competitive when consumer expectations demand that you offer a wide variety of products with varying sizes and packaging? How do you handle massive seasonal swings in demand and rising forecasts with the same or less resources - ultimately do more with less?

Many manufacturers are told by software companies that the answers to improving your operations are better OEE metrics and downtime reports. This thinking does not go far enough to make a significant impact on your bottom line. Activplant has the only solution that can identify your chronic constraints and increase the overall throughput for your entire system. We understand the bottling industry, and we can help you turn these challenges into a competitive advantage. With Throughput Analyzer's clear focus on improving your business, you could expect to experience an increase of 5% - 25% in production throughput like other Activplant customers. In an average size bottling facility, a 5% increase in production throughput could result in over a $1.2 million annual savings. Now that's a result you can take to the bank. But don't wait to make your deposit, with Throughput Analyzer's rapid and repeatable deployment of less than 14 weeks, you could be cashing in savings in about 3 months.

Delivering the Solution

The challenge has always been how to isolate and identify the most inefficient area on the line that impedes or chronically disrupts product low. The problem is that when one machine goes down on the line, it can simultaneously shutdown multiple other machines on that line making it more difficult to understand the root cause. Further complicating this process is the fact that constraints move from hour to hour and shift to shift making it nearly impossible to identify the chronic constraint in the line.

Activplant's Throughput Analyzer is a proven performance management application that simplifies the complexities of high volume continuous low bottling. By identifying and prioritizing the chronic disruptors to product low, otherwise known as the constraints, Throughput Analyzer empowers plant personnel to focus on the issues that will result in the largest gains in throughput – and enables management to make informed decisions that will positively impact the bottom line.

Now, bottlers have a solution to respond to the everyday challenges faced in this industry. By eliminating the waste caused by constraints, getting more units/cases out the door with fewer resources is no longer a challenge but a reality. Whether the constraint is on a 12 oz. can or a 2-liter bottle of soda, the Throughput Analyzer will account for every second of production and identify with the touch of a button whether the root cause is a changeover issue, speed loss or downtime loss, for example. Throughput Analyzer drives unit and case cost down by enabling the correction of the #1 problem limiting throughput and overall line velocity. Now you can spend your day fixing the problems, not trying to figure out where they are.

It's About Time

At Activplant, it's about time. Our Throughput Analyzer application is defined by its ability to identify lost minutes of production within a line, plant or enterprise and then provides you with the knowledge to put those minutes back into your day. Identifying and regaining those lost minutes of production may mean 100% delivery rate on your customer's orders, unlocking hidden capacity during times of high seasonal demand or reducing unit/case cost to the lowest possible level.

See what Throughput Analyzer can do for you