3. Lean Six Sigma
3.2. Transporting, bottling and labelling the wine
3.2.1. Problems in the bottling line production
Once the wine process has been explained from the beginning to the bottle giving some details about the different stages, this point is going to focus on the problems in the bottling process. This fact is because it is the area that fits better all the Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma techniques. To have a better idea about the possible problems that could be found in the bottling, this study is going to introduce common defects, mistakes, wastes, losses of efficiency and so on that can appear in the production.
After a visual observation, some problems can be realized to appear.
- Supply the material on time. Waiting and inventories waste. For example in the first stage before the filling, it is necessary to have a control of the material supplied to not lose time waiting for the bottles or in other stages, waiting for the wine, labels or corks. Also it is necessary do not have too much stock in each stage.
- Ineffective movements of the operators, transport of materials. Types of waste defined in Lean Manufacturing.
- Underutilized operators. If they are not motivated or encouraged it could reduce the output.
- Apparition of queues. Bottlenecks. The Lean production always looks for a piece-flow reducing the intermediate stocks.
- Bad conditions of the workplace. Implementation of 5S to keep sorted, clean, standardized places for the materials.
- Defects in the product and stoppages in the process looking at all the machines.
- Employee participation and responsibility. If they can solve the problems on time when the errors appear as Jidoka.
After that, there is the possibility to register some data to know more about the processes. Time studies are the key in the creation of a Lean Six Sigma project. It helps to understand the real costs of work and also the way in which the time is carried out. The time measures are directly observed and registered. With data can be measured human or machines times (Veža, et al., 2011).
Relating the benefits from Lean and Six Sigma, some techniques can be applied in the bottling process. Thanks to data, in the bottling process, there is the chance to optimize some manufacturing waste and problems of this process.
Lean Six Sigma in the wine-making Chapter 3
76 - Losses in the wine transport of the wine to the filling tank.
- Changeover times. Replacing the different labels, the type of wine and others. In a winery with more than one product they will need to plan changeovers. They will need to set up the characteristics in the filling machine for the next wine if it is necessary some cleaning or adjustments, and prepare the change in the labelling for the new labels optimizing as much as possible.
- Breakdowns times. Important to reduce to achieve better efficiency. - Reduction of the wine lost during the filling.
- Do not fit correctly the cork and place it in the right place, not higher or not lower. - Study and improve the OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) to know if some
machines are more efficient to improve the worst and maximize the equipment. - Broken bottles during the bottling production line.
- Study which are the most common defects and reasons for stopping the production line. It is represented with Pareto Chart.
- Adjust the takt time to the demand for a Just-in-Time production to be able to supply the customers on time.
- Minimize customer complaints. For this reason is important also the VOC.
Six Sigma and the SPC (Statistical Process Control) can assist the control of the variables of the process. Some examples to control can be:
- Control the liquid inside the bottles. To fill the bottle with more wine or under fill others it is not a well-balance system. The measures have to be inside the tolerances that the company or the clients want.
For example, to study the capacity of the filling process, of a 750ml bottle, the process must be capable (Cp), and placed between the limits (Cpk) that the company consider acceptable. The importance will be because if the filling of the bottles is not centred in 750ml, and it is filling 752ml as a mean, the losses can be significant.
- Control the corking. To register the position of the cork after the process, and analyze the strength to open it.
- Control the position of the labels. An example can be the position of the labels. It is important that the place is following a centred process and inside the tolerances as well. It is necessary to keep the best quality as possible in the products.
Lean Six Sigma in the wine-making Chapter 3
77 - Control the output and OEE in different shifts and products. It could be possible that there are some operators who do not achieve the best output generating significant differences.
These are possible aspects to pay attention in the implementation of Lean Six Sigma. All improve the output of the business by benefits about times, costs, effectiveness. As a result, based on the Six Sigma scientific method, the idea is to improve step by step, starting by trying to know the root of the defects, errors or delays which appear more, and also involving all the people in the company to find the solution and then control and standardize the process to maintain the process under the customer and company expectations. In this case, control the processes of the machines like blower, filler, labeller, case packer and palletister and the operator’s processes.
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