An established poultry-abattoir in Reitz in the Eastern Free State, Grainfield Chickens (GFC), is an international pioneer in terms of the continuous improvement of an industry by involvement at all levels of an organisation. René Janse van Rensburg, an industrial engineer at GFC (formed in 2010 under the guidance of the age-old enterprise VKB), says the organisation recently received the prestigious International 20 Keys Excellence Award from PDI (Japan) and ODI (South Africa). The 20 Keys system consists of 20 elements or keys that unlock value in the organisation. She says the improvement of five goals is this system’s main focus, while there are also certain requirements and criteria to be met. According to René, a company culture should be created where people think about what they are doing and then improve on that. Regular progress is measured towards world-class and best practices. She says the requirements to achieve this award, amongst others,

• a 50% improvement in productivity,
• a 20% equipment availability and
• cost improvement of 20%, must also be proved.

According to her, all the industries of VKB, are implementing the system. Rene says maize and soybeans produced in the Eastern Free State form part of the food composition for broiler chickens and it has made sense to boost the value chain with the construction of a livestock plant. Hence, GFC has gone from strength-to-strength and about 900,000 chickens are slaughtered per week.

To read more about GFC receiving the 20 Keys Excellence Award, click here.

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GFC started their 20 Keys journey in March 2016, when Theo van Strijp, currently MD, asked me to present the 20 Keys system to him and the rest of the management team.

Theo is no newcomer to the 20 Keys, also having achieved the Award in 2006, while he was a manager and 20 Keys Facilitator at the Earlybird Processing Plant in Standerton.

I did the final Award review on Thursday and Friday, following a gap analysis and pre-review earlier this year. Detailed and thorough reviews were done, and the final review satisfied all the requirements for the award; both in terms of the required maturity levels for the 20 Keys, as well as improvements required, in terms of:

• quality,
• cost,
• productivity,
• delivery,
• safety, and
• morale.

Over the period of implementation, GFC went through rapid expansion and equipment upgrades. Throughout this time, Theo stuck to the implementations, and actively supported it – a best practice example of the role of senior management. I consulted monthly with a 2-day visit each time.

An important success requirement is that adequate resources and support need to be provided for the implementation. This is even more important in a high-speed industry like chicken processing, as there is very little time available to have first-line team members in training and discussion sessions. The process is finely balanced, and when someone is not at a workstation, the production flow is affected.

Landi van der Merwe started off as the 20 Keys Facilitator for the first few years, and was joined in 2019 by Rene Janse van Rensburg; both of them are Industrial Engineers. They did an excellent job of supporting the production and supporting functions with:

• training,
• effective use of tools and techniques, and
• implementation advice.

I am impressed by their eagerness to learn, and their patience to help first-line teams to understand and implement the concepts. The role of Key Leaders is also important; Theo took the responsibility as Key Leader for Key 2 (Goal Alignment) and Key 20 (Technology), while the other Keys were allocated to people involved with the particular functions.

Without exception, a great job was done by the Key Leaders, supporting the implementation based on action plans which were regularly reviewed and updated in line with the requirements of the different levels for the Keys. The system was implemented in all production and supporting functions at the Processing Plant, as well as at GFC Head Office.

Special mention must be made of people in first-line teams. The success of the implementation, results and sustainability are very much determined at this level, where people directly interact with machines, other teams and information. Without their active participation and willingness to learn, an implementation will not be sustainable.

Well done to Theo and the GFC team, from all of us at ODI!

“Dear Theo, I am Yoshi Kobayashi of PDI Japan. I remember meeting you in 2006 in Japan and again in 2008 in South Africa. Thank you very much for all your hard work with 20 Keys. I hope that you will sustain the level and also improve further. Please extend my thanks to the two 20 Keys facilitators – Landi (I met Landi at the last Japan tour) and Rene. Best regards.”

Yoshi Kobayashi :  PDI

Theo van Strijp: MD, replied:

“Good day Dr Kobayashi, Thank you so much for the kind words. I remember you very well and have such respect for you and your knowledge on 20 Keys and continuous improvement. Indeed – the 2^nd Excellence Award for me; with the first one, I did all the hard work as 20 Keys facilitator but this time I was lucky to have people that is committed to do the hard work, and I just gave guidance. I’m looking forward to the day that we meet again, and definitely another picture!”

Theo to Johan Benadie:

“Johan, you made such a big impact on my career when we met many years ago and I have learned so much from you over the years.”

Author: Johan Benadie – Director at ODI

To read more about ODI’s Continuous Operations Improvement System, click here.

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• quality,
• cost effectiveness,
• delivery,
• safety (and bio-security) and
• morale of people, over a number of years.

A first progress review was done at the end of January 2019, and after a very thorough and strict progress review, a few gaps to be closed, were discussed. Within days of the review, Manoj supplied some supplementary information on closing the gaps, and a final review date was set for 12 April 2019.

It was with great anticipation that I visited on 12 April 2019.  I was again met by the whole team and introduced the review approach for the day.

Usually I choose a site at random on the day for an in-depth review, but decided on a different approach, and asked Team Leaders to volunteer their sites. A quick response resulted, with Team Leaders all volunteering. My random choice fell upon Ireen Maboya – Team Leader at a Laying Site. However, two more Team Leaders also wanted to participate, so I included them as they had all their implementation evidence ready – neatly organised in files.

A few hours were spent assessing the Keys which the Team Leaders are responsible for, having time spent with Farm management on their Keys, as well as evaluating the overall QCDSM KPIs. Apart from assessing the 12 Keys (out of the 20 Keys for the Farms Model) against best practices and requirements for the Excellence Award, the performance with key performance indicators was evaluated, over a period of 5 years, to see whether standards were met and sustained.

A review was also done with the maintenance function in their workplace, which delivered a pleasant surprise, as all the issues pointed out in January 2019 had been addressed at a very high standard – one of the best farm maintenance workshops, mini-business area, and team functioning I have seen!

In the afternoon, the team was called together for feedback. It was a real pleasure for me to announce that National Chicks, Boschkop and Klipkop Rearing and Laying farms joined the exclusive club of Astral Foods Farms achieving the 20 Keys Excellence Award.

I also decided to give a special award to the Maintenance Team for a Level 3.5 Workplace, which did not look possible in January 2019, as it was such a short period of time before the next review. Piet, an elder and leader in the team, is living proof that you are never too old to learn a few new tricks, as he enthusiastically took up implementation of the 20 Keys in the team!

During my feedback, I mentioned a few things, apart from achieving the Excellence Award requirements, in terms of Keys’ levels and KPI performance, that stood out for me, like the eagerness of Team Leaders to learn and take notes when we discussed issues, and the support from the managers.”

Said one of the managers “The review in January, and the one today, were very thorough and tough; we really feel like we deserve this.”

Author: Johan Benadie, Director at ODI.

To read more about ODI’s Continuous Operations Improvement System, click here.

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National Chicks, Boschkop Farm (part of the Astral Foods group) is competing for the 20 Keys Excellence Award. This International Award, awarded jointly by PDI Japan and ODI South Africa is a tough one to achieve. It focuses on having a high level of performance and maturity in terms of the organisations’:

• processes,
• systems,
• people and
• technology, and also
• sustainable, proven, performance with quality, cost effectiveness, delivery, safety (and bio-security) and morale of people, over a number of years.

When Nikki Moodley, Astral Foods Operations Improvement Executive recently invited me to do a gap analysis in terms of the Excellence Award requirements, I knew that the standard at the farm had to be high. Nikki has extensive 20 Keys implementation and facilitation experience, and does regular reviews herself, so I trust her judgment.

Nevertheless, I thought that it would still be some time before they could achieve the award, as it is quite a large farm in terms of the number of chicken breeding and laying sites. What a pleasant surprise awaited me! The whole management team, Manoj Singh, National Chicks Breeding and Laying Manager Gauteng, and all the foremen and site supervisors were at the opening session at the farm’s central offices (see the picture below, with Manoj and Nikki standing on the left). I had to comment on how neatly they were all dressed, and felt quite honoured that I was received as a very important visitor (people often duck and dive when progress reviews are done!).

After discussing the approach for the day, and which site will be visited (only one site as part of very strict bio-security measures at the farm), I was challenged by the group to ask them questions about the 20 Keys (which doesn’t happen very often!). Being challenged by a very confident looking group, I opted for the more difficult questions about the various Keys that they are implementing (there are 12 in the 20 Keys customised Farm System). The questions were met with insightful and enthusiastic answers, with everyone participating.

After the opening session, a number of hours were spent at a site, with the site supervisor and her team, looking at and discussing operations improvement, progress, and next steps. The real test with a 20 Keys implementation is at first-line team level; those people who are the closest to the day-to-day operations issues regarding:

• quality,
• cost effectiveness,
• delivery,
• safety,
• bio-security and
• morale.

After a very thorough and strict progress review, testing whether the principles of operations improvement are embedded within the people, processes, systems and technology, and looking at quality, cost effectiveness and delivery performance over recent years, only a few, minor gaps to be closed, were discussed, with the level of bio-security outstanding. This is no doubt due to the good support that Nikki provided, as well as the support from Dave Stock, Chief Operating Officer National Chicks.

Within days of the review, Manoj supplied some supplementary information on closing the gaps, and a final review date has been scheduled for early April 2019. Watch this space!

Author: Johan Benadie: Director at ODI

To read more about ODI’s Continuous Operations Improvement System, click here.

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