Software helps a processor get weights and quality right the first time—from the plant floor to the corporate office.
Michael Foods, Inc. is a multinational producer and distributor of egg products and refrigerated potato products, as well as a distributor of cheese and other dairy-case products for the foodservice, retail and food-ingredient markets. With annual sales of nearly $2 billion and more than 3,000 employees, the Minnetonka, MN-based company offers a variety of valued, recognizable brands such as Papetti’s, Crystal Farms, AllWhites and Simply Potatoes.
“We had been practicing statistical process control [SPC] to improve the operational efficiency of processes and machines within our manufacturing facilities,” says James Hunkins, senior manager of quality systems development, Michael Foods. “However, data collection was largely performed manually since the analysis software we used was developed for quality assurance rather than statistical analysis. Because the software didn’t offer the necessary capabilities to understand the value of the collected data, we realized we needed to improve our overall statistical approach to quality so we could reduce the amount of product we lost through overpacking.”