By partnering with specialist lean consulting firm TXM Lean Solutions, Poppy’s Chocolate is benefiting from more optimised operations.
Poppy's Chocolate is a Queensland, Australia chocolatier specialising in crafting chocolates and confections and has become synonymous with high-quality ingredients, artisanal craftsmanship and a dedication to creating delectable flavour experiences.
The company has occupied its Beenleigh facility for the past 17 years which also houses a retail showroom for selling directly to the public. It has also expanded the facility from one single unit to two adjacent units which includes the finished goods warehouse, production clean room and auxiliary storage space.
As the company has over 300 active SKUs with about 70 high volume lines, the company needed to evolve its systems to keep up with demand. The scheduling system used a manual trigger which fed into a digital system for the weekly schedule, which then drove the planning decisions for the following week.
This scheduling system was struggling to keep up with demand and needed to be redesigned. Also, with 150 SKUs of raw materials, the control of raw materials was also unstructured with a weekly stocktake triggering the replenishment process, which was very manual and time consuming.
This is when TXM Lean Solutions was brought in, and a comprehensive one-year strategy was devised to address the challenges identified during the initial project scoping phase. The project was then divided into two phases: the discovery phase, which involved creating an action plan to be executed by the Poppy’s team, and the transformational phase, focusing on implementing an optimised operational model and sustaining the achieved improvements through ongoing coaching and support.
A Kanban system was developed to effectively manage inventory, both incoming and outgoing, enabling tracking of finished goods production and the procurement of new raw materials. To familiarise the staff with the new visual management system, each team member received concise shopfloor coaching sessions.
To achieve a balanced production flow, a visual scheduling system for chocolate manufacturing was introduced. Additionally, TXM senior consultant Justin Tao implemented the TXM Lean Daily Leadership Process (LDLP) by utilising visual management boards displaying key metrics from previous days and weeks. Daily stand-up meetings were also introduced to foster a culture of continuous improvement.
Coaching by Tao means Lynda and her team are now able to reliably fill orders quicker, more accurately and with fewer resources.
Some of the tangible impact included:
- Achieved increased operational efficiency enabling a reduction in the number of operators from 11 to 5
- Improved capacity to meet client orders during peak periods such as Christmas and Easter holidays
- Implemented visual management schedules and standardised work processes, resulting in enhanced system comprehension and usability
- Implemented production levelling and supermarket practices to effectively manage inventory, mitigating issues related to out of stocks and overstocking
- Utilised the time saved from eliminating wasteful activities to create new innovative confectionery, and
- Leveraged the visual management system and implemented lean daily meetings to significantly enhance team performance compared to previous levels.
0330 808 2009