Background: A major player in the agri-food industry in a highly competitive market
Eurial, a subsidiary of the Agrial Group, is a key player in the French agri-food industry, with a turnover of €2.9 billion and activities covering milk, butter, cheese, and ingredients. Within its Butter-Cheese Business Unit (BU BF), Eurial produces a wide range of products, such as the famous Soignon goat cheeses, Pavés d’Affinois, and Grand Fermage and Conviette butters, across 13 production sites.
With 13 production sites spread across the territory, the BU BF must guarantee efficient, flexible and competitive production in a market where margins are tight and quality requirements are high.
Customer need: Manage performance and free up production capacity
Starting in 2012, Eurial sought to launch an ambitious initiative focused on a priority area: performance management, in order to address challenges related to costs, capacity, and responsiveness, while preparing for the future through strategic investment plans.
The company wanted to:
- Optimize production flows to reduce costs and improve responsiveness to fluctuations in demand.
- Free up production capacity to meet ambitious business plans without disproportionate investments.
- Establish an industrial governance structure capable of driving operational excellence across the organization, from headquarters to the sites.
- Increase the agility of its industrial sites to meet the growing demand for new products to be brought to market.
To achieve this, Eurial needed a partner capable of conducting accurate VSM assessments at its sites to identify bottlenecks and areas for improvement,supporting the implementation of performance initiatives by focusing on critical processes (such as scheduling, planning, and flow synchronization), andto equip teams so they could manage their performance on a daily basis and sustain the gains.
Achievements:A Strategic and Operational Lean Approach
1. Implementation of a performance management system
Starting in 2012, our support began with the implementation of a performance management system at each of Beurre-Formage’s (BU BF) industrial sites:
- Implementation of visual performance management (VPM) tools.
- Establishment of 5-minute (Flash), 15-minute, and 30-minute check-ins in the control room to organize information sharing among teams and enable the rapid reporting and resolution of problems.
- Rollout of the Continuous Improvement Management System (MAC) in the BF Business Unit
These initial steps have helped foster a genuine culture of continuous improvement within the teams.
2. VSM assessments to inform improvement plans
Starting in 2015, our goal is to take the next step by focusing on concrete and measurable performance improvements. Our team has therefore conducted about ten VSM assessments at Eurial’s industrial sites, which have made it possible to:
- Map production flows, identifying time wastage, excess inventory, and imbalances between the various stages.
- Prioritize performance improvement initiatives by focusing on the processes where the potential gains were the most significant.
- Develop roadmaps with ambitious economic goals.
These assessments revealed significant opportunities, such as increases in production capacity or cost reductions that could lead to potential savings on their industrial cost of goods sold (COGS).
3.Targeted Performance Initiatives
At the same time, Cubik carried out targeted performance improvement projects in coordination with the Operational Excellence team based at the BUBF:
- Optimizing multi-site workflows to better manage raw material transfers
- Optimizing material loss through an approach that is both centralized and shared with each production site
- Improving packaging and packing processes to reduce downtime and increase OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness).
- Planning and scheduling, to synchronize workflows and avoid bottlenecks.
4. Support for investment projects and performance improvement
Our team has also supported Eurial on major investment projects, such as the expansion of production facilities and the redesign of production workflows. These projects aim to:
- Anticipate future needs by simulating production capacity and validating investment decisions.
- Optimize equipment layout to maximize the efficiency of the new production lines.
- Secure productivity gains by ensuring that improvements are sustainable and reproducible.
Results:concrete gains identified and a culture of continuous improvement firmly established
The actions taken have made it possible to develop ambitious roadmaps and identify concrete benefits:
- Economic gains through the optimization of material waste, productivity, workflows, and capacity.
- Better synchronization of multi-site workflows, reducing losses and improving responsiveness.
- A deeply ingrained culture of operational excellence, with teams that are autonomous in managing their own performance.
A fruitful collaboration that continues over the long term
Today, Eurial continues its collaboration with Cubik in three areas:
- VSM diagnostics and the development of ambitious roadmaps.
- Supporting the ExOp team in implementing methods and enhancing Lean maturity across the various industrial sites.
- Support for various industrial sites through on-site visits and maturity assessments.
The trust and longevity of our relationship (nearly 15 years of collaboration) are a testament to the added value of this approach.
