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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• 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.

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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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The VKB Group is a modern, dynamic and leading agricultural enterprise that has, since its establishment almost a century ago, constantly focused on progressively managing solutions for the changing and various needs of agricultural producers and related stakeholders.

Today the VKB Group can be esteemed to be a “house of brands” with a unique composition of brands of companies and products that makes the group one of the leaders in the agricultural environment.

The investment in Grain Field Chickens supported sustainable diversification strategies for producers. Currently the average weekly consumers’ demand for chicken in South Africa stands on 22 million broilers.

ODI’s Mbali Tshabala recently facilitated a group of GFC learners doing their NQF3 National Certificate in General Management.

Comprising of 8 modules, this qualification aims at equipping every first-line manager with the essential knowledge and skills necessary to:

• Develop, lead and inspire productive workplace teams.
• Ensure that all team members are developed to their full potential

To read more about obtaining a national qualification with ODI, click here.

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The VKB Group can be esteemed to be a “house of brands” with a unique composition of brands of companies and products that makes the group one of the leaders in the agricultural environment.

The group is also one of the prominent job suppliers in rural Eastern Free State and rural Limpopo that employs about 4 500 people. The group forms the cornerstone of the rural economy in the Free State and it increasingly invests in initiatives and infrastructure to the benefit of the communities in which it trades.

As part of VKB’s commitment to the development of their employees, ODI’s Mbali Tshabalala facilitated the NQF3 National Certificate in Management learnership at their offices in the Free State.

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The VKB Group can be esteemed to be a “house of brands” with a unique composition of brands of companies and products that makes the group one of the leaders in the agricultural environment.

Grainfield Chickens (part of the VKB Group) has been implementing 20 Keys for a few years and is aiming to achieve the International Excellence Award by April 2020.

Johan Benadie of ODI and Landi vd Merwe, Continuous Improvement Manager at VKB Agri Processors, kicked off the 20 Keys implementation at Triple V Feeds, Vrede with a planning workshop. The factory has highly sophisticated equipment and produces a range of animal feeds that is distributed by the VKB and NTK network of outlets. Every function also presents their Quality, Cost effectiveness and Delivery objectives for the next year. Jaco Viljoen, Executive Head of VKB Feeds, attended the session to share his expectations and support with goal alignment of objectives. “It was energising to see how passionate people are about the business” says Johan.

#fortheloveoftheland #virdieliefdevandielan

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

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