Kick-off and support for Alpro’s OPEX programme

Discover how Möbius helped Alpro implement a culture of continuous improvement through their OPEX program. Learn more about the results achieved.

Alpro logo
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Strategic challenge

Alpro focuses on producing plant-based food and drinks. The company was founded in 1980 and has witnessed phenomenal growth throughout the decades since. As part of its evolution towards organisational excellence, Alpro asked Möbius to temporarily step in as a performance coordinator at its production site in Wevelgem. As part of this role, Möbius oversaw the implementation of Alpro’s OPEX programme to help instil a culture of continuous improvement.

The support offered by Möbius wasn’t just limited to assessing our performance management or identifying opportunities – the main focus was on the effective development and implementation of improvements. Working fully independently, the Möbius consultant quickly managed to integrate into our team and successfully built a rapport with operators, team leaders, and the various supporting services within the organisation.

Rutger Lambrecht Zone Manager Alpro

Approach

Möbius supported Alpro in achieving its objectives as part of its Growth Acceleration Programme. The main focus of this programme is to transition the entire organisation towards the desired culture on the basis of six cornerstones.

Möbius supported Alpro with two of these cornerstones: performance management and standardised work.


Performance management

As part of the Performance Management element, Möbius supported Alpro in fine-tuning its daily management system and optimising its shift handovers.

Fine-tuning the daily management system

Rules, timings, roles, and processes were all clearly defined to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the daily meetings. In the daily meetings themselves, the focus was shifted towards taking action if the current result veered away from the objective, and on following up the list of action points.

Optimising shift handovers

Möbius helped emphasise the importance of passing on responsibilities and information during the shift handovers. In addition, a shift handover document was drawn up in line with the SQCDME principle (safety, quality, cost, delivery, motivation), so that all the information needed by the incoming shift is recorded and passed on in a structured manner.

Standardised work

Together with Alpro, Möbius carried out a SMED analysis on one of the company’s cleaning processes, with a view to reducing the turnaround time. Several elements of the cleaning process were ‘externalised’ and internal cleaning actions were optimised. The process standard and follow-up were both overhauled to ensure that the cleaning process could be performed uniformly and efficiently. The result was a reduction in the turnaround time of the cleaning process. Möbius also helped Alpro update other standard work documents.

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Problem solving

In addition, Möbius and Alpro focused on implementing a problem-solving culture. Going forward, an in-depth root cause analysis (RCA) is to be drawn up for process deviations that occur frequently or that have a major impact. Möbius helped Alpro develop a problem-solving mentality by setting up an interactive RCA training course in which staff got to work on real-life practical examples.

Möbius maintained a strong presence in the workplace throughout the project, taking comments and suggestions from the operators onboard. 


Results

Möbius contributed to improvements in the efficiency of the daily management system, the shift handovers, and the cleaning processes. On top of that, awareness of OPEX and continuous improvement was significantly improved at all levels of the organisation following the conclusion of the project.

By linking the expertise developed to a proactive and hands-on approach, some fantastic improvements were realised despite the relatively short project lead time.

All in all, an enjoyable and successful partnership!

Rutger Lambrecht