Meat + Poultry - April 2009 - 112

Tick-talk
For processors, retailers and consumers
seeking packaging solutions - It's about time
hroughout the food-production process, wasted steps, unnecessary
use of plant space, needless supply
purchases and extraneous labor all contribute to time drains and trickle down to
compromise the universal goal of meeting consumer demand for convenience.
In a collective effort to provide those consumers with time-sensitive, convenienceminded, quality proteins at a reasonable
price, time is indeed money. This fact has
been magniﬁed over the past year as the
economic recession has consumers pulling in their oars and purchasing food more
judiciously than ever. Likewise, at the processor and retailer level, efﬁciencies and
efforts to drive waste of all kinds out of
daily operations is critical as the costs of
doing business have soared.
Seconds saved by eliminating or
streamlining just one packaging step at
the processing plant exponentially translates into cutting hundreds of production
hours while increasing bottom-line returns.
Eliminating steps also allows for new products to evolve from concept to retail realities faster, which provides consumers with
the latest in convenience and value.
Dr. Glen Miller, owner of Harleysville, Pa.-

PACKAGING MATTERS

April 2009

based Performance Essentials Inc., understands how the "time-is-money" concept
manifests itself in meat-processing facilities. Miller, an efﬁciency expert who consults with meat and poultry processors to
optimize in-plant performance and process
improvement, is a proponent of Lean Manufacturing. By applying systems of measurement to processes throughout a production facility, Lean management allows

"The theme that
comes across over
and over is the high
cost of labor."
managers to identify the weakest links in
manufacturing and provides strategies for
eliminating waste.
One area Miller focuses on during his
work with meat processors is on measuring and identifying opportunities to reduce
rework. Another opportunity most processors can take advantage of is eliminating
downtime due to maintenance deﬁciencies
or inefﬁcient pre-shift preparation.
"The hidden factory" is the label Miller
www.cryovac.com

uses when referencing the behind-thescenes, micro-steps involved in producing
products. Identifying where waste exists
in the "hidden factory" is a key to process
optimization, he says.
Labeling is one area where many processors stumble. "It's a huge thing," Miller
says, and it is one problem Cryovac has
provided a solution for with a variety of
print-ready packaging ﬁlms.
In other areas of meat-processing
plants, Miller says there are ample opportunities to save time and money. He
says monitoring production in "real time"
and the ability to make changes based on
measurable performance is more valuable than production data gathered on
a monthly basis. Technology-rich, automated packaging equipment that provide
plant managers with continuous feedback
is another area where Cryovac technology gives time back to processors and
retailers.
One of the biggest challenges for an
efﬁciency expert working in the meat business is that most facilities don't have very
focused metrics. "They might be able to tell
you how many pork chops were produced
in a given month," Miller says, "but that's

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Meat + Poultry - April 2009

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