Plus Group provides technical Hygienic Design expertise and CapEX support to establish scope of project expectations prior to funding for a Global Cosmetic Manufactuer.

A global cosmetics company approached Plus Group to provide technical expertise and CapEX (Capital Expenditure) support to implement improvements in optimizing their Batch Cycle Time (BCT) and Filling & Assembly (F&A) process.

The BCT improvements eliminated potential micro risk and established changes to pre-mixing steps and sanitization procedures which minimized product waste and reduced total cost by saving hundreds of hours of production time. Other improvements included confirming what mass codes could be campaigned.  This action allowed consolidation of production of similar mass codes to common kettles which enabled operators to develop the most efficient process method. The BCT improvements enabled two hours/batch savings from the above campaigning actions. In addition, modifications were made to enable automated cleaning and sanitization, which after validation, should allow making batch on batch with improved cleaning efficiency.

The proposed F&A improvement included installing a filler valve/piston assembly upgrade proposed to cut the CIP (Clean-in-Place) by 50% based on the improved sanitary design and elimination of small gaps, bushings, and o-rings. The pistons and cylinders will also be removed for cleaning in the washroom versus on the filler, which is a more effective cleaning process. Annualized, the proposed upgrades increased line availability by an additional 86,839 jars. Production capacity was increased by upgrading the filler/valve piston assembly that eliminated 90% of the full valve assembly breakdown, clean out, and reassembly required by the existing system. Annualized, the proposed upgrades increased line availability by an additional 282,276 jars.

An additional F&A improvement suggestion was issued to increase the rate of a new cartoner and over wrapper that reduced the time required for an average package order (PO) increasing line availability to run an additional 27 PO’s adding more than $18M in potential revenue. Over a 5 day / 24-hour operational week, an additional 3 PO’s can be realized by planning to run 3 identical formats (they can be different products) before changing over formats on a cyclical basis. This equates to an additional 81,858 jars/week of additional capacity. Annualized, this provides an increased line availability to run an additional 4MM jars. This increased line availability has the potential to add more than $208MM in sales revenue.

LOCATION: NY

Value Provided:

  • Plus Group is recognized in the industry as an authority in Microbial Hygienic Design Standards, Cleaning & Sanitization requirements
  • Participate in peer reviews for scope definition. Action to include deploying company standards and to provide training to their engineers and operations staff
  • After implementing recommendations, the increased line availability has the potential to add more than $208M in revenue per line.

 

  • Request Project Information

    For more information about this project or any other project from Plus Groups, please contact us using the form below.