INGREDIENTS There has been a lot of waste reduction since Ben Furney Flour Mills starting the Lean manufacturing journey.
Research fundamental to Lean manufacturing journey Ben Furney Flour Mills is a successful ingredient manufacturer that has embraced Lean manufacturing. Mike Wheeler explains why it has taken the journey.
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ocated in the heart of the New South Wales’ wheat belt, in the town of Dubbo, Ben Furney Flour Mills is a family-run business that has been going for more than three generations. With the company motto being “big enough to matter, small enough to care”, like a lot of family-run businesses it makes up a core part of the local community with more than 80 plus employees helping make the business tick. Being located in regional Australia doesn’t mean the company isn’t open to big ideas. Recently it has taken on board many of the principles associated with Lean manufacturing as it realised that streamlining processes and training staff in more than one aspect of the business was a win-win situation for the company and its employees; it cut down the costs for the company while offering diversity to its labour force.
Linden Kotzur is Ben Furney’s service operations manager and is a keen endorser of many of the Lean philosophies utilised by the company. He was there when the company first instigated the process and he has three main pieces of advice for those thinking about starting the journey – the first being research. “As a company, we had been discussing the different options available and looking at ways of continuous improvement,” he said. “We started to research more and more into Lean manufacturing and look at what the advantages were and where we could then apply this. We spoke to people in the industry and talked to many different parties. We then aligned ourselves with a consultant in the field who was experienced and had also worked with the implementation into the workplace.” The second part is to implement
22 Food&Beverage Industry News | February 2020 | www.foodmag.com.au
it into small steps. Do not go all out and try and convert the whole production process at once. It will not work. “My biggest point would be to say that you need to start with some small tasks first,” he said. “Isolate one small particular area. Go through the exercise and consult with all involved. Let people evaluate the change and find their own benefits in it. If you try and implement it too big, too wide, too far over too many tasks, people will lose the input and motivation because they are not seeing a return. “Your first attempts at the Lean process need to be very carefully planned. They need to be small achievable tasks. You need to see how it will go right from the beginning. It might be something as simple as reorganising the spare parts cupboard of the workshop. Once the company started
Lean manufacturing has allowed Ben Furney Four Mills to produce flour to a customer’s individual needs.
