Case study · Food & Beverage
Bottling company Refresco is experiencing rapid growth and has numerous national and international production sites. It is crucial to operate optimally and standardized across all locations. With EZ-GO, the company is making a significant efficiency leap. The OEE improves, the output increases, and with the skills matrix, capacity is better planned.
Sandor van Weegberg, Training & Education Manager Benelux, and Yorick van der Wal, Trainee Production Management, explain why they chose EZ-GO, how they use the platform, and the results it leads to.
Efficiency boost
Refresco produces beverages and fills drink packages such as cartons, bottles and cans. They do this for their own brand Wicky, for various soft drink brands, and for numerous private labels. With 75 factories worldwide (six of which are in the Benelux), on three continents, with a total of 358 filling lines, Refresco is a leader in this segment.
“This makes our processes future-proof and scalable.”
Operational excellence
The company is thriving and growing rapidly. This is partly due to increasing customer demand, but also through the acquisition of other players. Standardizing processes is therefore becoming increasingly important.
Sandor: “Operational excellence is a high priority for us, but some processes were not running smoothly. For example, converting the lines, which we often have to do because we produce many different products, took a lot of time. During an assessment, it was found that many standards were incomplete or outdated, that different factories operate differently, making it difficult to exchange staff, and that the training of new employees was not standardized. Given our rapid growth, this is of course an important point.”
Sandor: “Additionally, we want to move towards a paperless factory and work more data-driven in line with Industry 4.0. These were reasons to look for a digital solution to address all these improvement points at once. This makes our processes future-proof and scalable.”
Needs
Refresco conducts thorough market research and evaluates various solutions through a tender procedure. EZ-GO turns out to be the best fit. Sandor: “EZ-GO enables us to work according to uniform standards and to capture best practices. This can be done digitally, with many visuals, and is very user-friendly. This helps to improve productivity and to train staff well. As a result, we can deploy them faster and better.”
Sandor: “With the data we extract from the platform, we can monitor and improve our performance. EZ-GO also has useful additional features, such as tagging and a data API. Finally, it is a system that we can deploy at our various locations, making it possible to scale further.”
Superusers
The implementation starts in the Netherlands. At each factory, a superuser is appointed per department. These are enthusiastic employees with a digital mindset, who understand both systems and content. The superusers identify what is going well and what can be improved, and translate this together with other users into work instructions, checklists and other components in EZ-GO.
Yorick is a management trainee and has this role at the Bodegraven location. “I had already done several improvement projects and could translate that knowledge into the app. For the production processes, we first looked at the best practices. This best way of working has been translated into work instructions and checklists. People were then trained how to use the app. We now use almost all functionalities of EZ-GO in Bodegraven.”
Sandor adds: “At each location there is such a superuser who coordinates the process. There is regular consultation with these superusers to ensure that standardization is uniform across locations.”
Skills
The skills matrix was an important reason to choose EZ-GO. Sandor: “The learning and training package falls under my responsibility. The skills matrix helps tremendously with this. We have been closely involved in the development of this component by EZ Factory. We are therefore sure that it fits well with operational practice. With the digital skills matrix, we map out what capacities people have and what skills they master. This allows us to better plan the available manpower. As a result, we always have the right capacity in the places where we need it.”
“EZ-GO has the power of simplicity.”
Digitalization
Yorick notes that the app has been quickly accepted. “EZ-GO is user-friendly and has the power of simplicity. Sometimes users were a bit skeptical at first, but as people get used to it, they become more and more enthusiastic. They can find work instructions on the spot, instead of having to look them up on a PC. It is also nice that the paperwork disappears; everything is now digitally together in one place. That is easier and saves time.”
Business case
Refresco has been working with EZ-GO in the Netherlands for over two years now, and the results are impressive, confirms Sandor: “We see fewer disruptions, higher Overall Equipment Effectiveness, and better employability of people. As a result, production at the various locations has increased significantly. Look at Maarheeze for example; just the business case there is sufficient to cover the license fee for EZ-GO for the entire Benelux for a whole year. And that is just one location. Now that everything is running smoothly, we want to use EZ-GO more for continuous improvement. We have also started implementing the platform at our international locations.”
