WINNING formula - WGLL - TRACC

onTRACC
people • practices • results
WINNING formula
SUCCESS OF THE COORS SHENANDOAH BREWERY IS LESS ABOUT
ITS ENERGY-EFFICIENT TECHNOLOGY, BUT RATHER ABOUT THE PEOPLE.
VOLUME 2 2008
One of 11 breweries of the Molson Coors Brewing Company, the
state-of-the-art Coors Shenandoah brewery is located five miles
south of Elkton, Virginia in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley.
With 9 500 employees worldwide and annual sales of more than
US$ 6.19 billion Molson Coors is one of the world’s largest brewers.
Originally opened as a packaging operation, the Shenandoah
brewing facility was brought on line in March 2007. The brewery
includes two brew lines, fermentation and aging equipment, grain
handling (eight silos, two mill streams) and several structures to
house controls and related processes. As part of the expansion
project, Coors Shenandoah also upgraded its packaging capabilities.
In addition to the existing keg, bottle and can lines, the plant now
has a 1 200-bottle-per-minute changeover bottle line and a new
high-speed canning line that runs 2 150 cans a minute. The new
lines incorporate leading packaging technology to create a highly
automated process.
A star performer for Molson Coors, the brewery’s 450-strong
workforce packaged a record-breaking 6.78 million barrels of beer
in 2007. In 2003 the WCM journey in Shenandoah started by
adopting TRACC as the guiding system. The initial focus was on
short-term gains via Kaizen blitzes, while simultaneously
implementing the foundation
TRACCs to achieve sustainability.
These produced significant savings
in CO 2 , water, steam and other
materials in selected pilot areas.
Two years later a rapid expansion
of WCM implementation was rolled
out to include non-pilot areas.
The next two years also saw
commissioning of a new bottling
and can line as well as the final
start-up phase of the new brewery.
This stretched internal resources
and implementation slowed to
accommodate increased demand
on resources. After big personnel shifts to man the new lines and
brewery, the plant started to rebuild internal capability to implement
WCM in 2007. The keg line was chosen to progress the depth of
understanding of implementation in the plant, without interrupting
other operation areas. Despite often conflicting priorities, this line
soon achieved a breakthrough in application and understanding
of many of the foundation WCM techniques. This was possible
only because of encouragement from senior management and
sheer workforce perseverance.
SELF-DIRECTED WORK TEAMS
With only 24 operators running the brewery in four shifts 24/7,
including everything from grain intake to brewing to packaging,
it’s a process that seems to run almost on its own. The same applies
to packaging, which has six
lines running across four shifts
with only four team leaders.
This means that shop floor
teams are controlling their lines independently of supervision - a
work method that would never have been possible without an
engaged workforce.
Shenandoah uses the ‘WCM Triangle’ to describe World Class
Manufacturing. Each side of the triangle represents People, Practices
and Performance, but it would be justified to add a fourth
‘P’ - for Perseverance.
PEOPLE, PERFORMANCE AND PRACTICES
Coors has long had a strong commitment to people. The Coors
winning formula strives to create a winning culture through
developing, retaining, attracting and rewarding the right talent;
leveraging diversity; promoting wellness; and creating a safe
workplace. It’s significant that many of the TRACC implementation
actions have been implemented and applied by the operators with
less support than usual, where each shift-based team has a team
leader with supporting representation from Maintenance and
Quality. The high engagement levels by the hourly workforce
also have supported implementation
in a flat organisational structure. Base
staffing is 42 employees to each team
leader, but in the summer, w/temps
swell to 54:1.
A recent TRACC Best Practice rating
on the keg line shows that the journey’s
still in progress, but the growing
understanding of how to do
implementation and workforce
engagement on WCM in Shenandoah
means that important foundations
are being put in place. Overall, the
packaging department has shown
a remarkable improvement in
productivity over the last four quarters, including an 8.7% year
on year improvement in overall line rates. At the same time,
the keg line has shown an excellent 50% improvement in beer
loss since 2005.
The 2007 Focused Improvement project savings were about
US$600 000 for the year, but perhaps the most fitting accolades
are from outside parties. These include: Beverage World Plant of
the Year for 2008; OSHA VPP Star Status; Molson-Coors EHS Plant
of the Year 2006 and 2007. Said Fred Dooley, packaging and WCM
manager at Coors Shenandoah, “It gets back to our people and
our commitment to be the best, safest and most productive brewery
in the world.” Achieving this vision will be done with great people
and a passion for WCM excellence.
CONTENTS | 1 WINNING FORMULA | 2 FLYING COLOURS | 3 THE SHARING GAME | 4 AN INNOVATIVE MATTER | 5 PRIDE AND PASSION | 6 TOPS IN
OPERATIONS | THE SHARING GAME - CONTINUED | 7 PHARMACOLOGICAL ACTION | 8 A BRIGHT NEW IMAGE | WIN THROUGH PEOPLE | LATEST APPOINTMENTS

FLYING Colours
THE CHALLENGE FOR KENYA AIRWAYS HAS BEEN TO MAKE
ITS PHENOMENAL GROWTH RELEVANT AND USE LESSONS
LEARNT AS A SPRING BOARD FOR FUTURE GROWTH, WRITES
CCI-GROWTHCON SENIOR CONSULTANT DERIK DUVENHAGE.
National carrier Kenya
Airways was founded
in February 1977
following the break-up
of the East African
Community and subsequent disbanding of the jointly owned
East African Airways. Wholly owned by the Kenyan government,
Kenya Airways was privatised in 1996 after which it acquired
KLM as a strategic partner.
Since then the airline has
grown in leaps and
bounds, serving more than
2.7 million passengers
annually and flying to
43 destinations in 36
countries. In addition to
boasting one of the most
modern fleets in Africa
with 23 aircraft, Kenya
Airways also is a major
employer with more than
4 000 employees.
In the last three years, the airline has witnessed remarkable
growth in its network and customer base. As such, it’s been
challenged to meet rising expectations of staff, stakeholders,
but most importantly an increasingly diverse customer base.
Thus, the board and senior management decided to embark on
a strategic plan to invest and develop people and systems,
instituting various initiatives in most key departments.
This thinking compelled Kenya Airways to seek ways and means
to improve and enhance performance
in the technical department. In 2006,
CCI-GrowthCon was invited to submit
a proposal to the technical department
for an assessment of the mechanical
and avionics workshops. In the
assessment, opportunities were
uncovered to reduce outsourcing of socalled
BLR (beyond local repair) items
and improve processes such as
turnaround time and labour efficiencies.
A limited best practice implementation
over four months followed, with special
focus on support services and processes.
Lean principles such as identifying
customer requirements, process
mapping and waste identification also were applied.
A year later, Kenya Airlines requested a similar assessment for
Kenya Airways managing director Titus Naikuni (right)
admires the plaque presented by CCI-GrowthCon’s Derik
Duvenhage to mark the launch of World Class Operations
in the technical department.
Cargo Services, a division of the ground services department.
The division is responsible for optimising the cargo belly capacity
on passenger flights, as well as developing a dedicated freighter
network. Using Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as its premier
hub, KQ Cargo offers both belly and freight capacity mainly to
freight forwarding agents.
After completing the assessment, CCI-GrowthCon launched
a pilot improvement
programme in the unit load
device section and the
equipment maintenance
workshops, with the
emphasis on improved
equipment availability. This
soon resulted in positive
client feedback and
quantifiable cost savings.
Based on CCI-GrowthCon’s
proven methodology and
encouraging results in the
pilot areas, Kenya Airways
signed up for a fully-fledged
TRACC implementation in
the technical and ground services departments towards the end
of 2007. On 24 January 2008, World Class Operations (WCO)
was launched officially by the airline’s managing director,
Titus Naikuni.
BENEFITS TO DATE
At the beginning of the year, the project experienced some
difficulty because of the post-election violence. Nevertheless,
overall results have been good and there has been a strong
endorsement from all quarters for
WCO to continue. To date introductory
training has been completed, steering
committees and taskforces are in place
and master trainers have been trained.
In the Cargo Services division, a
reduction of unplanned maintenance
and sub-contractor costs has yielded a
saving of KES14 million (USD215 000)
over nine months. For the same period,
the lower BLR costs in the technical
division amounted to a saving of
KES10.8 million (USD166 000). Other
benefits realised such as reduced
turnaround time and improved customer
services haven’t been quantified. Combined, the savings translates
to a 200% ROI for Kenya Airways – not bad for a WCO
programme in its infancy.
2
www.etracc.net

The sharing Game
CCI AUSTRALIA MD JOHN VAUGHAN-JONES IDENTIFIES
CHARACTERISTICS NECESSARY FOR TRUE SHARING OF
CORPORATE KNOW-HOW.
Sophisticated software programmes have been the main enablers
in structured approaches towards sharing corporate know-how.
But a true understanding of what exemplifies successful sharing
is still lacking.
Shallow copying happens across companies and between plants
within multi-site or multi-national organisations. Some of the
incidents discussed below took
place within global blue-chip
organisations where copying
was often simple, given the
desire for replication and system standardisation in these
environments. The risk of blind copying is given added impetus
through knowledge management systems such as Microsoft’s
Sharepoint ® (which also is used by CCI).
REAL LIFE EXAMPLES
By applying lean approaches diligently, as well as careful
thought and involvement, a visual control
technique had been developed for
operators at a multi-national giant’s
minerals processing installation in South
America (Site A). This enabled operators
and others in the area to visually identify
the operating condition of critical
equipment through standard work, plus
a well designed Daily Management
System. This beneficial technique has
been expanded across the site.
Site B is an identical operating unit of
the same corporation located in another
country. After seeing the technique at Site
A, Site B managers introduced it at their
plant. Tool/technique examples were
replicated and implemented on identical
equipment. However, within a short time,
the flashy new tool had begun to rust
through lack of use, and in one
application, the colour-coded visual
indicator itself had been lost.
Where did it go wrong Transmission of
and sharing specific templates and ideas
usually isn’t the constraint. The real
constraint is the failure to create an
environment driving improvement from
a lean perspective, which requires great focus. Once this is in
place and thriving, the time is ripe for ideas or solutions seeded
from outside the immediate environment.
Some 15 years prior, the same thing happened across departments
at a motor industry client. I had assisted in implementing a
“Tools don’t make a lean environment.
Lean is primarily a thinking process”
Superb examples of Visual Control at Site A
used diligently and to good effect, because the
environment that created them also uses them.
In such environments, transplanting ideas from the
outside work well.
visual daily management system on the engine assembly line.
Results, typical of properly implemented lean approaches, were
impressive (a 50% drop in defects per unit in 4 – 6 weeks).
Managers from nearby processes noticed the results and
requested assistance to implement this early stage of lean in
their departments. Pressed for time, I asked them to wait a
few months. The impatient managers then simply copied
the engine assembly process.
Unfortunately, what works in
an assembly environment
won’t necessarily ensure repeat
success with a ‘copy and paste’ exercise in a machine-intensive
continuous batch environment.
One manager was responsible for the engine block machining
line where the machine rather than the people adds product
value (common in capital-intensive processes). So, if the machine
runs smoothly and no machine-tool breaks occur, then no
defects arise and takt is achieved.
However, in an assembly environment,
people need to follow detailed standard
work practices diligently to achieve the
desired result.
After three weeks of trialling his new
visual boards for daily management, the
engine block machining manager asked,
“Why is there no information on my
board, while your engine assembly boards
are filled with valuable information by
mid-morning”
Lesson 1: Copying a tool or technique
without insight and understanding is
highly likely to fail. Lesson 2: make sure
that what you copy is appropriate to
your process type (different lean tools
are applied to different process types).
Lesson 3: don’t blame the channel through
which you copied when a tool or lean
approach fails, blame yourself.
REASONS FOR FAILURE
Perfectly good systems, tools or
techniques, each with a good fit in a
particular lean environment, fail because
of these common reasons:
• They were copied by enthusiasts who
had insufficient understanding about what it takes to grow a
lean environment.
• Tools don’t make a lean environment. Lean is primarily a
thinking process. It’s critical to create a situation that searches
Continued on Page 6
www.etracc.net 3

Bill Hughes
An INNOVATIVE matter
by Arend Brink and Bill Hughes, CCI-GrowthCon
BECAUSE OF MANY CHANGES TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF ASSET MANAGEMENT
DURING THE LAST DECADE, A MORE INNOVATIVE APPROACH TO IMPLEMENTING
AND SUSTAINING ASSET CARE BEST PRACTICES WAS BORN.
Mining, an intrinsically dangerous
industry, hasn’t been excluded
from this journey. Management
structures often were silo-based
and conflicting. This resulted in
high inefficiencies and maintenance
costs per production unit
as opposed to working as integrated
teams with a common
reference frame and shared goals.
Arend Brink
Initially, the Japanese realised this
partnership’s importance and promoted it in the TPM concept.
CCI-GrowthCon realigned this idea to accommodate a need
to be more profit focused, realise the potential of supporting
computerised systems and proactively expand the reliability
maintenance approach. Alignment also
encompassed eliminating on-thejob
hazards caused largely by rapid
expansion and the drop in technical skills
and experience.
The resultant strategy known as Business
Centred Maintenance recognises that while
quick results are essential to achieve
programme buy-in and support, these
results often aren’t sustained and personnel
quickly revert to old habits.
ASSET CARE STRATEGY
To combat this, a comprehensive asset
care strategy should be formulated and
signed off by the executive. A range of
key performance indicators implemented
at all organisational levels would ensure
compliance.
A people-system relationship is as fundamental to modern asset
management as a production-maintenance relationship.
Companies striving for high manufacturing efficiencies should
view the asset management function holistically and not delegate
responsibility to the most likely department (eg engineering).
Consequently, the Business Centred Maintenance philosophy
is based on a series of Key Success Factors.
Companies maintaining an asset management function -
particularly in the continuous process industry - need to
consider learning points that have surfaced globally over the
past 20 years: • An organisational structure supporting effective
communication and clear responsibilities between the functions
of Maintenance, Production, Materials Management and other
departments • Sound technical skills at all engineering structure
levels • An effective continuous improvement ethic linked to
Maintenance crews working through the night at
the Anglo Platinum Waterval Concentrator.
financial results tracking • A strong Leading and Managing
Change culture • A solid reliability-based maintenance
foundation backed by support elements and underpinned by
adherence to world class manufacturing basics: • A Talent
Management support system • An internal assessment system
addressing all the above to enable internal ownership of progress
measurement and subsequent action plans supported by externalbased
assessments
LEARNING POINTS
Often companies showing the following symptoms have difficulty
optimising their assets and rarely, if they do obtain performance,
manage to sustain it: • A traditional approach to maintenance
(‘You run the machines, we fix them’) • Silo-based structures
(Operations vs Maintenance) • No effective Root Cause Analysis
(equipment failure is automatically the engineer’s fault) • No
focused improvement initiative driving
the asset management function to
contribute to company profits (no
measurable results from maintenance
effort and maintenance seen as a cost,
not a profit centre) • Poor teamwork and
managers managing one level down (no
or little ownership of assets at shop floor
level) • The CMMS system is ‘windowdressing’
(system fed with information –
often inaccurate - to update management
reports • Little or no maintenance forward
planning - most work is executed
reactively, leading to escalating costs,
more breakdowns, compromising
preventative maintenance and generally
an unhappy working environment
The absence of asset management basics
often prevents a company from moving
towards a sustained best practice culture.
Most failures in the continuous process industry are because
of competency-related issues as opposed to machine root
causes. This inevitably means that equipment reliability isn’t
always impacted by design characteristics, but rather external
factors compromising machine availability.
These external factors are aggravated by fewer technical skills
and experience currently experienced by all industries. Retaining
good technical skills is especially difficult in fast developing
markets such as the mining industry. This situation demands
greater focus to iron out potential hazards when developing
modern reliability maintenance programmes.
Asset management as a holistic business function will become
critical for heavy industrial companies throughout the world to
sustain high performance levels and execute a cost-effective
asset management programme.
4
www.etracc.net

Pride and PASSION
FROM MODEST BEGINNINGS AS A FAMILY-OWNED BUSINESS, THE NIGERIAN
BOTTLING COMPANY (NBC) HAS GROWN INTO THE PREDOMINANT ALCOHOL-
FREE BEVERAGE BOTTLER IN NIGERIA AND THE SECOND LARGEST IN AFRICA.
CCI-GROWTHCON CONSULTANT TENDAISHE MASUKA TELLS ALL.
NBC, one of the few remaining indigenous multi-nationals in
Nigeria, manufactures and sells more than 1.8 billion bottles
of 33 Coca-Cola brands annually. With increased global pressure
on manufacturing industries to
become more efficient and
eliminate waste, NBC identified
a need to engage the workforce
in an improvement programme
driven from the operational side
of the business.
The challenge was to implement
TPM practices in a market that,
though rich in mineral wealth,
still exhibits mass poverty coupled
with erratic electricity and water
supply – factors that will stretch
the morale of even the most
optimistic workers.
initiate structured problem solving and create a platform for
recognition. TPM implementation followed in September 2007
with strong emphasis on the Environment, Health and Safety,
Focused Improvement and
Business Centred Maintenance
TRACCs, as these areas urgently
required stability.
To restore the equipment and
develop some history on which
to base the BCM strategy,
Business Centred Maintenance
basics also were implemented.
Through training and focused
support, the operational review
meetings were strengthened to
ensure each site had solid multidisciplinary
teams driving daily
performance.
Supporting the need for improvement,
senior management
had earlier participated in a Six
Sigma Green Belt programme
delivered by Coke Atlanta. As a
result, the value of understanding
and supporting structured problem
solving motivated NBC to
integrate the TPM and Six Sigma
methodologies.
The approach was to pilot the
concepts on two sites and then
roll out to the remaining 11 plants
using learnings from the
initial implementation.
Benin and Ikeja were
the two pilot plants -
each with unique
climate and culture
challenges, as well as
relatively new equipment interspersed
with older lines.
CCI-GrowthCon launched the TPM
programme in August 2007 on both
sites with Yellow Belt and TPM star
projects. These were aligned with the
Coke Six Sigma approach and CCI-
GrowthCon’s PIP philosophy
respectively. Yellow Belt projects were
aimed at middle management, the
main goal being to deliver quick wins,
“…..NBC seeks to meet its social and
environmental responsibilities through the pursuit
of two core principles: continuous improvement
and sustainability.” – NBC website
While it’s still early days, both
plants already have seen
significant performance
improvements. Currently, Ikeja
has five live Yellow Belt projects
delivering savings of about
USD188 000 a month, while
Benin has six live Yellow Belt
projects saving close to
USD154 000 a month. Project
improvements also were noted
in changeovers and reduced
bottle breakdowns on the
Carbonated Soft Drinks (CSD)
lines, as well as reduced
carbon dioxide, water
and caustic usage.
Benin site saw the
System Line Efficiency
(SLE) of one pilot line
(Line 3 – Juice line) leap from 47% in
September to 61% in December.
Across the two sites SLE figures
have improved by more than 10%
on average.
For each plant the challenge is to
sustain the gains, grow and create a
climate that engages the workers by
instilling pride and passion.
www.etracc.net 5

TOPS in operations
THE 2008 WINNER OF THE INTERNATIONAL MARTIN K STARR EXCELLENCE
IN PRODUCTION AND OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT PRACTICE
AWARD IS DR DINO PETRAROLO, GLOBAL HEAD OF MANUFACTURING
DEVELOPMENT, SABMILLER PLC.
Professor Martin Starr and
Dino Petrarolo
Instituted by the Production and
Operations Management Society
(POMS), the award recognises outstanding contributions to the
POM field. It’s presented to an individual who has been
exceptional in advancing POM practice, promoted the profession
and linked industry and academia. Contributions may cover
employment at several organisations during the candidate’s
career. It is POMS’ most prestigious award in recognising a
masterful practitioner and industry leader.
A regular contributor and speaker at CCI’s TRACC user
conferences, Petrarolo has
had extensive operations
management experience. He
has always brought academic
discipline and rigour to his practical work and has contributed
to OM literature with noteworthy papers based on
practical lessons.
Petrarolo joined South African Breweries (SAB) in 1997 where
his initial job was to move the company along its World Class
Manufacturing journey. In 1999 he joined the team that planned,
designed and implemented the latest SAB green-field brewery
in Ibhayi, South Africa. This project constituted rigorous
application of POM knowledge. Petrarolo focused on designing
the management system for this innovative brewery. That system
is now considered a global benchmark within SAB’s breweries
“He has always brought academic
discipline and rigour to his practical work”
and bottling plants world-wide and has received considerable
attention from companies in other industries.
Petrarolo was promoted to group head manufacturing
development in 2005, responsible for developing and
implementing SABMiller’s global ‘Manufacturing Way’ initiative.
In this position, he initiated a formal programme to codify the
company’s best practices accumulated over 15 years around
the world and instituted a common set of global key performance
indicators (KPIs). These activities have received recognition
both inside and outside SABMiller, including an invitation for
presentations at the Cardiff
Business School.
Early in his career he worked
for South African steel manufacturer Highveld Steel and
Vanadium Corporation where he improved the inventory
management system. He wrote a paper on managing spare
parts inventory based on his experience. For this he received
the Ingham Award for best journal article in 1990 from the
South African Institute for Mechanical Engineering. Highveld
Steel continues to use the Petrarolo system – 18 years later!
Dino Petrarolo received his MS and PhD in Industrial Engineering
in 1997 from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg,
South Africa.
The sharing Game continued from Pg 3
for and develops solutions, before attempting to short-cut this
process by copying solutions. But, once this environment is
established and developing, borrowing ideas from others must
become a key part of the process.
• Understanding your specific value-adding
process is an important first step in the lean
journey and insights from this will indicate
the implementation process, as well as the
most appropriate lean tools.
• Beware of substituting systems or tools
for thinking – you’ll fail.
There’s a need to differentiate between
‘structural and irreversible’ solutions to
problems (such as moving a machine) and
solutions involving behavioural change. It’s
easy to imagine that ideas of the former type
should be easy enough to copy and their
benefits should be long-lasting by definition. This is indeed true.
Not so for behavioural changes. These changes are reversible
and need to be developed with the people involved. First by
recognising the problem, then by accepting the challenge of
The Site A technique copied to Site B. There’s
nothing wrong with the idea itself, but the
environment which should support it isn’t in
place, hence its collapse.
solving it, doing so and being committed to maintaining the
solution and developing supporting systems to achieve this,
such as leader standard work.
A knowledge management system implemented prematurely
in a lean journey might implode. And even
if the KM system doesn’t implode, it may
well be the catalyst for a failed lean journey.
Decide on the priority and how to nurture
the lean journey. A KM system implemented
incorrectly or ill-conceived could be your
undoing. But correctly implemented at the
right journey stage, it could be one of your
greatest assets.
NOTE: CCI has enhanced the features of
its flagship product DigiTRACC to include
a much-improved knowledge sharing ability.
Also, we’ve recently launched an integrated
Sharepoint ® system operating alongside
DigiTRACC to assist clients in sharing and learning. As with
the examples discussed, these systems could be misused. Clients
should use CCI-developed systems in an informed environment
and not as substitutes for the thinking central to the lean journey.
6
www.etracc.net

PHARMACOLOGICAL action
CCI BUSINESS PARTNERS TOMASZ SENDYKA AND
MICHAL LOPACINSKI ´ OUTLINE POLISH DRUG MANUFACTURER
POLPHARMA’S WCM IMPLEMENTATION.
As one of the largest and most modern pharmaceutical plants
in Europe, Polpharma specialises in manufacturing both generic
and over-the-counter cardiological, gastrological and
neurological drugs. Founded in 1935, Polpharma combines
tradition and experience with modern technology and the
highest manufacturing standards.
After years of nationalisation, a milestone in the company’s
history was its privatisation in 2000, funded solely through
Polish capital. Privatisation gave the green light for thorough
changes, which turned Polpharma into
a strong business and the top player
in the Polish pharmaceutical market.
Together with the Medana Pharma
Terpol Group, in which Polpharma
is a majority shareholder, it’s the
Polish market leader by volume
of drug packages sold.
Reinforcing its position in
international markets, the
company has representative
offices in Russia, Lithuania,
Kazakhstan, Belarus, Vietnam
and the Ukraine.
and rollout to other parts of the
company in Stage 2 – the remaining
sections of Dry Forms, as well as
the Wet Forms and Infusions
departments.
Tomasz Sendyka
Problem areas identified on these
lines included a systemic lack of
treated water for washing on the
granulation side, as well as
complex and extensive changeovers
for packaging, often causing
Michal Lopacinski ´
prolonged stoppages. Three line
operator teams were assigned to the granulation and
packaging lines while profit improvement projects (PPZs) were
introduced simultaneously.
A structural analysis approach was followed with the emphasis
on shortening washing time (changeover) of the granulation
lines, as well as curbing changeover on the packaging lines.
The immediate results were impressive - washing time dropped
from 14.7 to 8.7 hours, while packaging posted a similar
improvement after a SMED blitz with changeover time dropping
from 11 to 6 hours.
Competition in the generics
market, particularly in Central
and Eastern Europe, is robust.
One of the main drivers for
WCM implementation was
the potential threat from
competitors overtaking
Polpharma’s generics market
share - thus there was a need
for improved flexibility. Since flexibility could be a growthlimiting
factor, it could be addressed either via new capital
investment or improving inherent process flexibility.
Direct goals of the WCM implementation was to lower
manufacturing cost and active ingredient losses, shorten
changeover times and increase flexibility in response to market
needs, without upping stock levels.
Following a steering committee
workshop in July 2005, part of the
Dry Forms section was identified
as the pilot area, as bottlenecks
usually were encountered with the
three granulation lines and, to a
lesser extent, packaging. Stage 1 of the rollout embraced the
TRACC Best Practices of Teamwork, VPM, Focused Improvement
and 5S, supported by Set-up Time Reduction Blitz exercises in
the pilot area. This was followed by broadening implementation
“One of the main drivers for WCM
implementation was the potential
threat from competitors overtaking
Polpharma’s generics market share”
But results in the pilot area were most inspiring in terms of
financial gains – direct cost savings amounted to €150 000 pa
of which €110 000 was due to yield improvement alone. Future
investment costs of €968 000 also were averted.
To support production improvements, Polpharma requested
additional support via a supply chain project. It was aimed at
limiting stock levels and improving warehouse service flexibility,
which resulted in better planning and delivery capability.
Elements of TRACC foundation practices also have been
rolled out to warehousing to improve communication and cooperation
through Teamwork, order and organisation through
5S and stimulate better support for production departments
through VPM.
It’s anticipated that once the company’s WCM implementation
reaches maturity, it will up its
production volume by 50-70
million packages a year. The aim
also is to increase the number of
key brands from the current 10 to
between 20 and 30.
Recently, Polpharma became a
member of the Gideon Richter Group, controlling local divisions.
Since the results have been sustained and proved to be essential
for company success, Polpharma has requested WCM support
on its new sites.
www.etracc.net 7

A BRIGHT new Look
SINCE CREATING OUR CCI AND TRACC LOGOS MORE
THAN A DECADE AGO, MUCH HAS CHANGED IN TERMS OF
OUR OFFERING, MARKETS AND OF COURSE,
MARKETING AND DESIGN TRENDS.
Therefore, CCI took the bold step of updating its corporate
image. We wanted to highlight our global penetration in 55
countries, our emphasis on people, practices and results, as
well as the value and
dynamism that TRACC
offers our growing client
base. The new logos, we
hope, will be a just
reflection of these issues.
What does good look like
This probably rates as the
most frequently asked
question CCI has had to
answer during its 15 years
in World Class Manufacturing. Though the TRACC toolkit
certainly has placed and guided clients on the journey to WCM,
users wanted to see more of what their peers were doing at
various TRACC implementation stages. Guided by this appeal,
CCI established a web-based visual knowledge bank in its quest
to create a global TRACC community.
The recently launched What Does Good Look Like (WGLL)
website (www.etracc.net) forms part of a three-pronged offering
to TRACC clients. Apart from full access to the site, community
members will receive a PowerPoint presentation containing all
contributing clients’ visual data submissions every six months,
as well as a copy of the annual Journal of Best Practices.
We invite you to visit the site, send feedback, make your
submissions or join the online discussion group and become
part of a growing WCM community.
WIN through PEOPLE
Join Competitive Capabilities International’s annual TRACC
conference at the Hilton Milwaukee, Wisconsin on 6 and 7
November 2008 where the focus will be on Winning through
People. The conference will concentrate on the critical people
performance aspects of continuous improvement including
organisational design, knowledge sharing, employee engagement
and competency development.
Leading international corporations such as Danone, Land
O’ Lakes, SABMiller and Molson Coors will present case studies.
A site visit to the SABMiller brewery in Milwaukee is included
Pedro Torres has joined the GBU’s
Latin American team as a consultant
and will initially work with SABMiller
in Panama. He’ll also be available for asset
care assignments elsewhere in the GBU. Pedro
has 28 years’ experience in EAM/CMMS
implementations, Asset Management and
QSH&E, of which 17 years was spent as a
logistics engineer in the oil, gas and mining
industry. As a naval officer, he focused on
electronic maintenance engineering and
navigation for 11 years. Pedro holds a degree
in Mechanical Engineering and is currently
studying for his Masters in Facilities
Management at Cataluna University, Spain.
Hugoh Ndudzo has joined CCI-
GrowthCon in Johannesburg as a senior
in the programme. On
a lighter note, an
evening event is planned
at the new state-of-theart
Harley Davidson
museum. So, dust of
those leathers and make
sure to book your place!
TRACC clients may attend the conference free of charge while
a fee of US$495 applies to non-TRACC clients. To register visit
www.ccint.net or e-mail chobbins@ccint.net.
LATEST APPOINTMENTS
consultant. Mainly focusing on BCM Asset Care, his main clients
are Anglo Platinum and Coca-Cola SABCO. A qualified electrical
engineer, Hugoh also holds an MSc in Manufacturing Systems
and Operations Management, as well as a certificate in
Marketing. He previously worked as engineering manager for
SABMiller associate company Delta Beverages in Zimbabwe.
Hilton Mentor has been appointed
a consultant for CCI-GrowthCon, Western
Cape. After graduating as a chemist from
the University of Cape Town, Hilton started
his career as a research technologist for
global synthetic fibres company SANS
Fibres. He subsequently moved closer to
the coalface, ending up as continuous
improvement manager.
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CONTACT US AT: info@etracc.net • website: www.etracc.net
Editing, production and design: Mariette Greyling, Tomar Communications