How To Execute Effective Changeovers In Food Packaging

By John Henry, www.changeover.com

John Henry of Changeover Wizard, Changeover.com — a company offering services to help manufacturers be more efficient and simplify the changeover between products — believes in ESEE, or Eliminate, Simplify, Externalize, and Execute. This process seldom involves major, if any, capital expenditures and initial results can often be seen in days. However, according to Henry, in lean manufacturing, many different techniques for Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) are used.

For food manufacturers looking for new packaging equipment, Henry offers the following advice:

• Choose a packaging designer works with people who work on the plant floor and understand how a packaging and its product are going to be made.
• Employees who will be running packaging machines should be involved in the packaging designing process and should be inquisitive, asking all necessary questions.

Henry says when searching for improvements or efficiencies in plant operations, he always finds — 100 percent of the time — a process in a plant that can be eliminated.