• a smooth, fast process,
• product and information flow,
• with low inventory levels, and
• effective communication between the different up- and downstream processes/functions.

It is also applicable to administration and other supporting functions.

At Grain Field Chickens, a large chicken processing plant in the Free State, which recently received the International 20 Keys Excellence Award from PDI (Japan) and ODI (South Africa), the implementation of Key 8 focuses on strengthening coupling in terms of 3 issues:

• Implementing service level agreements between all first-line teams, in production and all supporting functions, including Sales
• Implementing the concept of Goldfish Bowl Meetings between functions
• Identify all coupling points in Production, from the farms delivering chicken, to Despatch of product and based on that drawing up a coupling strategy for ensuring a fast, smooth flow of products to the market

It is often not realised that there are large amounts of waste in an organisation between the different functions/processes producing products and services. The wastes between the links of such a supply chain can be of many different forms, and manifest itself in cost effectiveness, productivity and delivery performance, leading to the organisation being less competitive in the market.

Service level agreements serve the purpose of clarifying expectations between processes/functions in terms of requirements how they will work together and supply each other with materials, products and information. This is especially important at first-line team level as it is here where day to day work is done, which directly affects

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

The agreement should be a practical one with regular discussions and measurements to evaluate performance, with quick corrective actions. At GFC this has been implemented between all first-line teams, or Mini Businesses, resulting in many improvements where different types of waste were eliminated.

Goldfish Bowl Meetings help to get functions to effectively discuss issues between them which are hindering optimum performance. We all know that when two or more parties discuss issues that the discussion can quickly deteriorate into a blaming, hiding of issues and emotional session. This often leads to an issue just being argued away.

One of the first Goldfish Bowl Meetings we had was a discussion between the Farms Logistics team (catching and delivering chickens to the Plant) and the Plant Production team. The link between these two teams is a crucial one, as the efficiency and quality of production starts with the input it receives. They have, of course, discussed issues between them before, but the meeting provided a different format to assist with more effectively identifying and defining actions to be taken.

Every point where

• materials,
• information,
• documents,
• work-in-process and
• finished products are stored, is defined as coupling points (in this case mostly physical things).

Rene Janse van Rensburg, onsite 20 Keys Facilitator, supported the Key 8 Leader – Wessel Smal, with drawing up a detailed process flow map of the plant. All coupling points were identified and together they drew up a coupling strategy whereby the rules for how each coupling point will work, was defined – also with support from shop floor, supervisors.

As part of the Excellence Award review, all coupling points were regularly visited and evaluated in terms of its effectiveness, practicality and whether the rules are being adhered to. The strategy is evaluated on a regular basis, as it determines the flow, in terms of eliminating disruptions as well as the amount of materials and inventory in the system.

Implementation of 20 Keys is a never-ending journey, as there is always opportunity for doing things safer, different, better, smarter and more cost effectively. The aim is to establish a mindset and culture for continuous improvement, at all organisation levels. Without a structured approach, many  opportunities are lost due to an exclusive focus on day to day issues and pressures.

Author: Johan Benadie – Director at ODI

To read more about GFC’s structured approach for capturing and supporting the implementation of ideas, click here.

Organisation Development International (ODI) is a globally represented productivity and management consulting company, focusing on operational excellence.

The post Grain Field Chickens and Key 8 of the 20 Keys system for operations excellence appeared first on ODI.

Because they’re the ones actually doing the day-to-day work, employees are in the best position to come up with ideas for operations improvement. They know first-hand what’s working and what’s not, and they see all kinds of ways to improve performance, from simple, common-sense ideas for saving time and money, improve quality and safety, to entirely new ways of doing operations. A good start is to coach first-line managers for creating an environment within which their teams are encouraged and motivated to provide innovations and improvement ideas.

At Grain Field Chickens (GFC), who was recently awarded the PDI (Japan) and ODI (South Africa) 20 Keys International Excellence Award, the focus was on strengthening the workplace to have thinking people, with the mindset that innovations and ideas for improvement can, and should, exist at all levels of the organisation.

GFC implemented a structured approach for capturing and supporting the implementation of ideas. Wally Kok, the Key 3 Leader’s role is to support line functions and administer the suggestions tracking system. The line managers are the owners of the system and need to engage team members and stimulate them to think about their workplace, processes and activities in terms of

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

GFC received 3,065 ideas for improvement over the last year!

Implementing Key 3 is not a once-off project but a never-ending journey of strengthening the maturity where everyone in the organisation, literally every day, is thinking about operations improvement.

Below is a very good example of an idea for improvement, submitted by an employee in the IQF department of the plant – a clear understanding and engagement of staff that is evident in an organisation that enjoys a mature level of the 20 Keys system.

Author: Johan Benadie: Director at ODI, and a 20 Keys practitioner for 24 years.

To read more about Theo van Strijp’s (Managing Director at GFC) topic of discussion at last year’s one-day conference where we celebrated 30 years of operations excellence – “Grain Field Chickens: Road to Excellence Award”, click here.

The post Employees are in the best position to come up with ideas for operations improvement appeared first on ODI.

A number of the business units in the division already achieved the 20 Keys International Excellence Award. The Goldi Broiler Experimental Farm team at Standerton also took up the challenge and worked hard at it over a period of time. The Experimental Farm is situated in Standerton; it is a facility where mainly broiler rearing trails are conducted to shape the direction of Astral Food’s focus to best broiler farming.

Over the last year there was a dedicated effort on improving key performance indicators regarding QCDSM (Quality, Cost effectiveness, Delivery, Safety and Morale). This is an important part of the Excellence Award as it is not only about having high levels of best practice implementations regarding People, Processes, Systems and Technology but also excelling in terms of QCDSM results. With the final Excellence Award such KPIs are evaluated by looking at sustainable trends over a period of 3 to 4 years against industry best practice standards.  The information from the farm indicated a sustained improvement over the time period, with current performance exceeding standards, and also satisfied the other requirements of the Excellence Award.

Well done to the farm team of Mlu, Charles, Derick, Mxolise, Gladys and Mzikayifani (they call themselves “The Srutinizers”), as well as Dougie, Freddie and Elane for their support to the team!

Pictured here, the team at the farm receiving the award from Johan Benadie: Director at ODI

Dougie Greaves, Broiler and Contract Grower for the region, and the team

Freddie Matthews, Goldi Broiler Operational manager, and the team

Elane Steinbach, 20 Keys Facilitator, and the team

Mlungisi Gwala, Experimental Broiler Farm Manager, with his team

Toasting success!

Let’s celebrate!

Author: Johan Benadie: Director at ODI.

To read more about National Chicks, Boschkop & Klipkop Rearing and Laying farms that joined the Exclusive Club, click here.

The post 20 Keys Excellence Award at Goldi Experimental Farm in Standerton appeared first on ODI.