Del Monte implements Lean & Six Sigma

The Del Monte company processes fresh fruit, fruit juice and fruit cans based on mainly tropical fruits like pineapple, banana, mango, litchis, etc. The company has designed a road map for a global plant implementation of Lean & Six Sigma as part of a major improvement process which is planned to deliver substantial cost savings.

As the first step in the introduction of the Lean & Six Sigma methodologies, Del Monte has decided to train the auditing team and their local operational people. Training will be provided at the company’s plantation in Kenya, where Del Monte also has one of its canning and juice production plants. A key part of the training will be the different field sessions that cover the whole production process from plantation and harvesting to the ‘filling and packaging’ and ‘canning’ lines.

ATS was selected to provide the training and a range of improvement projects were identified including: six Sigma projects related to pineapple size variability analysis; improvement of the clean-in-place processes; ratio of energy consumption; machine breakdown analysis; and total productive maintenance introduction starting in the filling and packaging and the canning lines.