ICE Chips

Q.  We have ongoing issues with things that don’t belong in production areas being left there. Maintenance leaves nuts, screws, and other items; production leaves towels and tools; and sanitation leaves parts. Every department seems to be contributing in one way or another to the amount of “stuff” left around. Any suggestions?

A. What seems to happen is that junk is spread all over the place and no one really has any idea of just how much of it there is. Too often some of this material makes its way into the process stream and is responsible for customer complaints, injuries, or significant equipment damage. A few plants have learned the hard way just how much of an issue this behavior can be.

I once worked for a large family-owned company that took great pride in the way it kept their facilities and invested considerable resources to keep them updated and in great condition. All the employees in the plants were well aware of the expectations, and the owner would visit every manufacturing location periodically to make sure his standards were being kept.

On one particular visit to a plant, the owner pointed out a number of items in the production areas that, in his opinion, had no business being there. He was so disturbed by what he saw that he left the plant and went to the local hardware store to purchase a red wagon. When he came back to the plant, he gathered the management team and gave the wagon to the plant manager to pull behind him as he made the rounds. Every time he found something that he felt did not belong in the production area, he placed it in the wagon.

When he was done with his tour, he piled the contents of the wagon on tables at the entrance to the production area which everyone had to pass to get into the plant. His tour had produced wires, nuts and bolts, a welding rod, cleaning rags, tools, spray bottles, duct tape, product made in one section of the plant found in an unrelated area, piping and fittings, and other junk. By the time he was finished, there were three tables of his findings on display! It was quite an embarrassment to the plant, particularly to management, but his message was clear.

I suggest you could periodically collect all the random out-of-place material in your production areas and put it on display for your staff to see. A little bit here and there adds up to quite a threat to the integrity of your products. If you can connect some of the material to recent and past customer complaints, then the message is all the more powerful. It is impossible to realize how much is out there one piece at a time, but when you put it all together it makes a statement!

The author is Head of Food Safety Education, AIB International. Do you have a question for Al St. Cyr? If so, e-mail him at astcyr@aibonline.org.