Case study · Food & Beverage
Dessert manufacturer adds capacity and cuts $3M in annual cost without new capital
Rising demand was outrunning a PE-owned dessert maker's three-plant network while plant teams were consumed by daily firefighting. USC removed the production and sourcing constraints, adding capacity and taking cost out of the operation.
Results
$3M
in annualized savings from throughput, yield, labor and sourcing
50%
increase in capacity at Plant 2, the most complex facility
67%
reduction in changeover time, from 90 to 30 minutes
Savings are annualized. The Plant 2 capacity gain was almost 50%.
The situation
After a merger brought new customers, the private equity-owned dessert maker's three plants struggled to keep up with rising volume. Plant teams spent their days getting product out the door, with more acquisitions ahead and no plan to add equipment or facilities.
What the assessment found
- Excess shifts, crewing and overtime, with equipment and crews set up incorrectly
- Yield losses on raw materials, packaging, film and labels above benchmark
- Production operating systems reporting too late to be useful
- Sourcing stretched thin, with gaps in its management system leaving cost in external spend
How the work was done
Plant 1: stabilize the line
Restored key equipment, recalibrated slicers and matched line output to packaging capacity. Grouped similar product families to cut heating, cooling and staffing losses.
67%
reduction in changeover time (90 → 30 min)
Plant 2: redesign the flow
Redesigned the most complex facility to remove unnecessary movement and pace preparation work to oven capacity.
50%
increase in capacity at Plant 2
Network: simplify the footprint
Moved production out of an unneeded third facility and into the two remaining plants, simplifying the manufacturing footprint.
Supply chain: source for total cost
Found better corrugated suppliers, cutting annual corrugated spend from $4 million to $3 million.
$1M
reduction in annual corrugated spend
Before and after
Changeover time
−67%
Annual corrugated spend
−25%
Lasting impact
The manufacturer made room for growth by improving the network it already had. Capacity rose, the footprint became more scalable and annual operating cost fell, without new capital investment.
Related case studies
Food & Beverage
Midwest food distributor saves $2.3M a year in yield by controlling beef giveaway
$2.3Min yearly yield savings
Read the case study →Food & Beverage
Food manufacturer reaches $16M in annualized benefits in half the planned time
$16Min annualized benefits, against a $3.5M target
Read the case study →Food & Beverage
Aquafeed producer saves $19.2M a year by taking warehouse operations in-house
$19.2Min annualized savings from warehousing and inventory control
Read the case study →