Pound cake filling automation PDF

Preview

Summary

Case study...

Description

363636

Contents Executive summary.........................................................................................................................2 The critical issues............................................................................................................................3 Proposed solution.............................................................................................................................4 Recommendation of material handling equipment..........................................................................5 Basic handling considerations.........................................................................................................6 Works Cited.....................................................................................................................................7

1

Executive summary Pound cake filling automation The company’s background Talerico-Martin bakery is a bakery that specializes in baking of pound cakes. The company is facing an increase in product demand. They have option increase production up to 24 hours a day. Another option is to find an automated machine that can increase productivity with less imperfections. The problem that they are facing Talerico-Martin is struggling to keep up with demand. Their supply is affected by human errors such as unsprayed pans, or unevenly filled pans. The imperfections of the output products Solutions They opted Mallet& Company to install sprayer along the production line. They contracted Reiser to create batter deposition equipment. They Approached Shuttleworth to create a conveyor system that connected all processes together. Automated system was eventually created to avoid human errors and increase productivity within their normal production costs.

2

The critical issues The critical issues that the company is facing is to meet increase in the demand and increase in human error that has led to poor quality product. The filling process for pound cakes at the bakery was daunting, time consuming, and had many imperfections and errors because it was done by people rather than a machine. The bakery management increased the duration of the shift but still they could not meet the demand of the pound cakes because, the pound cakes were becoming popular all over Chicago. Since the whole process was done by hands, especially pan filling, the increase of demand put too much pressure on bakery workers. The whole process was hand based. First, an employee would put the pan on the line and spray each of the four loaf areas of the pan by hand. Then, the pan would get pushed manually down the line and be filled, also by hands. Finally, the pan would be lifted to the racks that would go into the oven to bake. Humans are prone to errors, some of the pans were left unsprayed resulting int some cakes sticking at the bottom of trays. the pound cakes that got stuck at the bottom of the pan were left unsold and some were returned. Bakery workers would do their best to keep each pan uniformly filled, but there were times where pans wound up somewhat short or somewhat over the standard weight, leaving an imperfect product as the result[ CITATION Jim16 \l 1033 ]. The results of this imperfections affected the supply. They were struggling with high demand and the product that they produced were not so sold as result of poor quality. This made the matter worse for the company. When a company is facing quality problem and supply insufficient, is bad sigh because competitors will take advantage if the situation and try to drive

3

them out of the business. Talerico-Martin bakery had to find a way to solve this quickly if they wanted to stay in business.

Proposed solution Nothing is prefect but the proposed solution did solve and addressed the critical issues that the bakery was facing. The main issues that the company were facing were manual spraying of the pans and manual filling of the loaf. The bakery solved two problems by automating them. To automate the filling line, the bakery selected an automated spray system manufactured by Mallet & Company, as well as batter deposition equipment manufactured by Reiser. However, this was not enough because they still had to move loaf pans manually. to Improve they who baking process they had to automate everything. Therefore, they brought in Shuttleworth, a manufacturer of specialty conveyor systems to design a customized conveyor system that would automate the movement of the loaf pans through the entire filling process. When you implement automated systems, you can eliminate scrap and enhance quality control. Moreover, automation also helps in detecting critical issues within the product, such as bad parts, unwanted metal, etc. Conveyor solutions help in orienting products for the next assembly or operation, thus ensuring that no time is wasted for repositioning of any product. An automated solution also helps in creating more throughput and ensures improved customer satisfaction because of high quality products[ CITATION Kev17 \l 1033 ]. We can move 24 pound cakes per minute through our new filling line,” added Goebel. “Manually, we were able to do about the same amount, but we needed three workers to obtain that throughput. This automated system lets us do it with just one worker. And the quality of the 4

spraying and filling is of consistent quality. The automation has made our filling process very efficient[ CITATION Jim16 \l 1033 ].”

Recommendation of material handling equipment Talerico-Martin bakery is a company that has switched from manual based labor to an automated system. As a consultant, I do acknowledge that the full automated material handling equipment would be too costly for the size of such baker. I would therefore recommend Semi-automated material handling machines. These machines would still be very efficient and productive with very limited human operators involved. For instance, I would recommend semi-automated truck (end rider). This machine would help them to move the palletized finished pound cakes to be loaded into delivery trucks especially for those customers that make orders in large quantity. Advantage of this equipment is the size. semi-automated single pallet end rider can fit in a delivery truck. In terms of in-process handling, unit loads are received, stored, and shipped for distribution. The process includes determining the weight, configuration, size, and type of loads. The method and machine used in handling the loads are also involved in the design of the unit load. In addition, it covers how the load is formed and broken down during in-process handling. However, it’s important to keep in mind that unit loads shouldn’t be bigger than the size of the production batch in process[ CITATION Tim17 \l 1033 ]. My second recommendation would be extension of conveyor belt. Before conveyor systems, transporting materials from one level to another involved human labor that was not only strenuous but slow, forcing companies to spend a lot of money in labor costs. With the right conveyor system, food manufacturers can reduce employment costs, such as recruitment, wages, training, benefits, and retention[ CITATION Sei16 \l 1033 ]. The company already has a conveyor system that is involved in facilitating

5

production processes. I would recommend extending the conveyor from production area to packaging area and then from packaging areas to loading docks. The movement of products from production to loading docks via packaging areas would be more productive, fast, and efficient as it would eliminate the manual labor that is involves moving of finished pound cakes within the factory. All these recommendations would help the company achieve more by being more technologically advanced.

Basic handling considerations Talerico-Martin bakery is very ambitious company that is always seeking out the better way to improve the company productivity through technological innovations. The basic handling considerations would be handling that comes can copy up with their modern technology. Because material handling occurs at every stage in the manufacturing process, having the proper equipment is crucial. If the incorrect bulk handling system is used, then it is possible that some material may be lost at any stage They would have to consider space, material, and conveyor belt. Space is a particularly important consideration for in-factory transport. Factories have limited vertical and horizontal space, and any bulk material handling equipment will need to fit in a designated area and leave room for other processing systems[ CITATION Jen \l 1033 ]. The flow rate would be another consideration. The quantity of material moved either in short or long distance. Material handling directly impacts productivity in warehouses, manufacturing plants, and distribution centers. An inefficient facility causes errors and delays, eroding customer loyalty and making it easier for your competition to snatch away business. Therefore, material handling efficiency is very important to any company, it is beneficial to Talerico-Martin bakery to adopt any basic handling consideration that can improve its productivity and profitability.

6

7

Works Cited Kevin, Hill. "Importance Of Conveyors In Automation Systems." Engineering Review (2017). McMahon, Jim. "Talerico-Martin Bakery streamlines pound cake filling line." Bakers Journa (2016). Article. Seidel, Karl. What is the Benefit of Using a Conveyor System in the Food Industry? Oskaloosa, 2016. Article. Seim, Jenny and Tim Matzke. https://feeco.com/material-handling-considerations-agglomerateprocessing/. n.d. Article. Tim, Massey. https://www.flexqube.com/news/guide-basics-successful-material-handling/. 2017. Article.

8...