Success story · Food

Not Breaking the Cold Chain, but Managing Time: OEE at 82% in Food Production

Lean transformation in frozen food and raw material production: OEE rose from 65% to 82%, lead time fell from 10 days to 4.5 days, and total costs dropped by 30%.

Lean production in the food sector and freezer capacity management

Real Results Achieved Together

The solution was not buying a new machine but finding the rhythm of the existing line: through equipment measurement, shop floor management and a freezer capacity strategy, the result went straight to the bottom line.

82%machine OEE (from 65%)

55%shorter lead time (from 10 days to 4.5 days)

30%reduction in total costs

Gains of the Transformation

Equipment utilization rate increased by 35%
A freezer capacity and energy strategy was established
Immediate problems began to be addressed on site and on time
Visual control and PDCA reduced the impact of problems

Starting point: the hidden face of losses in food production

In food production, especially in the frozen food and raw material segment, time means not only cash but also freshness and energy. Every equipment stoppage, longer sanitation time and inefficient freezer use directly erodes profitability. When we went down to the production floor, the biggest bottlenecks we encountered were usually equipment stoppages, sanitation (CIP/cleaning) times and packaging areas where production balance had not been established.

High energy cost: Freezers, the heart of production, running empty or at low capacity.
Long sanitation times: Cleaning during product changeovers could not be managed as “non-production time”.
Low OEE: Machine-based efficiency stuck in the 60–65% range.

Approach: finding the rhythm of the existing line

The solution was not buying a new machine, but finding the rhythm of the existing line. We applied the following steps in food production sites:

Proper measurement of equipment and efficiency tracking
Building a shop floor management culture; intervening in immediate problems on time and on site
Freezer capacity and energy strategy
Reviewing product workflows and eliminating unnecessary operations
Creating visual control and visual management areas, and reducing the impact of problems with PDCA

TPM, maintenance and team work in a food factory

In food, freshness is everything; efficiency is no different.

Results: the transformation scorecard

The lean strategies applied made a difference not on paper but directly on the balance sheet at the food production facility.

Parameter	Before	After	Improvement
Machine OEE	65%	82%	+26% efficiency
Lead time	10 days	4.5 days	55% faster
Total costs	Baseline	-30%	Savings
Equipment utilization rate	Baseline	+35%	Capacity increase

If the freezers in your facility are also running empty or cleaning times are slowing down production, there is a great treasure lying there. We are ready to find that treasure at the Gemba, on the shop floor: beyond improving processes, we code efficiency into the DNA of the factory.

Shop floor meeting and visual management in a food production area

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Let us analyze your freezer capacity, equipment efficiency and sanitation times together; with the Competitiveness Quick Diagnosis, let us uncover your hidden capacity.

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