Harvest Optimization Using Lean Manufacturing Methodology

 

Harvest Optimization Using Lean Manufacturing Methodology - Success Case Agro Plantec

Knowing the Company:

Founded in 1975, Agro Plantec is a company active in the fruit, vegetable and vegetable market. Standing out for its entrepreneurship, innovation and quality, the company currently has around 600 employees, with crops in 10 different cities.

Valuing food safety and sustainability, Agro Plantec has quality control involving the entire production chain, ranging from seed selection to the product's delivery destination. Still, it seeks to reduce the use of chemicals, the use of rainwater for irrigation and the use of techniques that allow the non-pollution of air, soil and water.

Currently, Agro Plantec is among the largest companies in the production and distribution of tomatoes in Brazil, with a processing capacity of 600 boxes per hour in the packing house, located in Alto Caxixe – ES, with several awards for its products.

Challenge:

Seeking excellence not only for its products, Agro Plantec is also concerned with optimizing its processes, seeking to stand out in an increasingly competitive market, striving for agility and efficiency.

Thus, a partnership was created between Avilla Consulting and Agro Plantec, with a project being initiated in one of their plantations, located in the state of Minas Gerais.

From the chronoanalysis tool, it was found that the amount collected at the end of the day was far below the measured capacity. For the investigation and analysis of possible causes, the Ishikawa Diagram was used. Known for being one of the 7 quality tools, the diagram allows the analysis of causes for a given problem, dividing them into categories.

From this, it was found that the harvesting method used was inefficient because the employees had great movement/displacement (lost time) between the tomato rows, in addition to the fact that they worked together caused distraction during work. Also, it was identified the difficulty for the responsible coordinator to monitor the progress of the entire crop, due to the distance necessary to travel added to the shape of the local relief.

Aiming at the challenges mentioned above, some steps were implemented seeking to optimize the process as a whole, namely:

• Implementation of the SIT 'Integrated Technology System';
• Distribution of daily production controls;
• Separation of employees in different areas;
• Productivity bonus system;
• Implementation of visual management;
• Perpetrator training.

Solution:

A productivity analysis model was implemented, using the SIT (Integrated Technology System), software developed by Avilla Consulting, which allowed the monitoring of individual productivity and its evolution throughout the work. The data initially showed an average productivity of 41%.

For the control and calculation of productivity, a chronoanalysis of the activities performed was carried out, thus determining the ER (reasonable expectation, which determines the production capacity per hour), being revised when necessary. With the knowledge of the ER, goals were defined based on the SMART strategy.

The new proposed harvesting method was that each employee was responsible for harvesting a larger area, which was calculated and sized for a day's work, with the exception of rainy days, which due to the terrain relief made it impossible to move tractors with agility, causing interruptions and loss of productivity for employees. On these rainy days the harvest team returns to its old form (together).

With the average time measured, it was possible to dimension a harvesting area for each employee, the guidance on how the new harvesting process would be and the measurement of the result enabled the demonstration that there was a gain in the change of activities.

By implementing the new harvesting method, starting from the third day, a considerable increase in average productivity was obtained, as shown in figure 1.

Figure 1

Aiming at solving the coordinator's difficulty in monitoring the situation of the crop, a visible management framework was implemented (figure 2), enabling the manager to have an agile and clear view of how the process is yielding, thus acting on critical points. Another point of gain was the change in the method of payment, with bonuses for goals based on productivity, thus making employees look for better performance.

Figure 2

Results:

The need for employees was reduced by 24% during peak harvesting. For the analysis of the per capita volume, the harvest was divided into 3 moments: beginning, peak and end, comparing the results before and after the work carried out in partnership with Avilla Consulting.

Figure 3 represents the increase in per capita volume in each period. Also, with the new method, it is now possible for the coordinator to view and audit the boxes, acting, if necessary, on employees with non-standard boxes.

Figure 3

With the mapping of activities and implementation of individualized production controls, we obtained information on the performance of each employee and crop areas, and with this information we can make the right decisions to increase productivity.

For the work carried out by Avilla Consulting to prove continuous and lasting, the perpetuator was trained, the employee responsible for perpetuating what was done and maintaining the Kaizen philosophy, seeking daily improvement.