Potato Excellence

Strategic challenge

Since 1986, Agristo has established itself as a reference for developing and producing frozen potato-inspired products. The company continues to experience robust growth and aims to outpace market trends in the coming years.

This expansion brings about significant challenges, prompting Agristo to effectively leverage Operational Excellence to support and sustain this growth.

Approach

Defining Agristo's Operational Excellence Strategy

At the start of 2022, Agristo partnered with Möbius to support their Operational Excellence journey. Together, we defined Agristo’s Operational Excellence strategy, drawing inspiration from Möbius’ Enterprise Excellence Model and customising it with Agristo's unique approach.

The result is a strategy anchored by four main pillars:

1. Performance Management

2. Best Practices

3. Continuous Improvement

4. People

Pilot Plant

We realised that a systematic approach was essential for successfully implementing this strategy across all Agristo sites. As a starting point, a pilot plant was chosen to test and refine the new methods incrementally. Once proven, these methods were extended to the other sites, ensuring efficiency and effectiveness throughout the rollout.

Engagement of the executive team and other plants

Communication is a crucial component for maintaining alignment and engagement across the organisation. Therefore, a communication plan was established, involving regular updates and strategic discussions with the executive team and plant managers from other sites. Effective communication was, and remains, essential for keeping everyone informed and involved in the decision-making process, ensuring a unified approach to Operational Excellence.

OPEX scan & implementation

To translate the strategy into actionable steps tailored to the pilot plant, we conducted a comprehensive Operational Excellence scan to assess its current Operational Excellence status. Using these insights, we collaborated with the site leadership team to fine-tune the roadmap and began the implementation process.

Scaling across multiple sites

As is often the case, the initial implementation sparked many questions and requests for support from other plants. This demand led us to initiate targeted support at two additional sites earlier than initially planned.

The Operational Excellence scan was also performed at the other sites, to prepare their roadmap, anticipating the implementation at these sites. Throughout 2023, all other Agristo sites began rolling out the Operational Excellence strategy, each adapting the approach to their specific priorities and needs.

Tailored approach

Agristo firmly believes that Operational Excellence is a key catalyst for supporting their growth. They therefore invested, during the project, in a dedicated group-level Operational Excellence role and in Operational Excellence Coaches for each site to facilitate the implementation.

As a result of this continuous internal development, Möbius' support and role evolved throughout the project, assisting Agristo where it was needed most at each stage of the process. The flexibility and responsiveness of this support have been crucial to our successful collaboration.

Results

While Operational Excellence is an ongoing process that requires continuous adjustments based on context and feedback, and we recognize that there is still room for growth in terms of Operational Excellence maturity, our collaborative efforts over the past few years have resulted in significant progress and positioned Agristo firmly on the path towards sustained Operational Excellence.

Below is a summary of what we have already accomplished together:

• We have defined and implemented an Operational Excellence strategy that perfectly fits Agristo's unique needs and goals.

• We have implemented Hoshin Kanri to align Agristo's long-term goals with short-term initiatives, utilizing KPIs to monitor progress and make adjustments when necessary.

• A daily performance management system has been put in place, closely aligned with Agristo’s overall objectives, leading to a structured and standardised communication method.

• We have started introducing robust work standards and process confirmation practices to secure current best practices and provide a solid foundation for ongoing improvements.

• Several visual management tools have been implemented to enhance clarity and efficiency across various processes.

• We have executed several improvement initiatives, including A3 problem-solving, Root Cause Analysis, Makigami, and Kaizen events, all aimed at continuous improvement.

• But most importantly, coaching and employee development have been integral in the above steps, helping employees acquire the necessary skills to thrive in this transforming operational environment.