KENYA – Nairobi Bottlers has so far saved KSh 439 million (US$4.39 million) in five years in their journey towards a World Class Manufacturing facility, says the company’s Manufacturing Manager, Josephat Kilungu.
The company has been implementing continuous improvement tools as it seeks to reduce waste, improve compliance and drive down costs of production since late 2010.
“We operate in a highly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) environment in our market in Kenya.
“The recent entry of new supermarket players in the country and the region is an indicator of how unpredictable the market can be. Just ask the major retailers like Nakumatt and Tuskys, and they will tell you that the entry of Game and Carrefour will surely change their way of doing business.
“We chose continuous development as one of our strategies to deliver on our promise to our shareholders and to our customers, and survive in this VUCA environment,” Kilungu says.
“Our company has a blend of Operational Excellence (OE) and TPM that work together in sync to deliver our set goals,” he explains.
Kilungu was one of the key industry speakers at the just concluded AFMASS Eastern & central Africa Conference & Expo, which took place in Nairobi, Kenya in early June, 2016.
“On our TPM journey, we have gone through a number of milestones, including the preparation stage, where the company did a TPM roadshow and selected a pilot line that the company used to fine tune their TPM journey, and where the learning could be replicated to the rest of the lines,” he adds.
“We have since then gone through the foundation and preparation stages. Right now we are at the implementation stage. We plan to meet our goal of being a World Class Manufacturing facility in 2018,” he concludes.
“We have realized bankable savings worth KSh 439 million (US$4.39 million) in our TPM journey at Nairobi Bottlers through our continuous improvement activities, showing the management that this was indeed a good decision and worth the investment that the company has put forward towards the implementation of these programs,” Kilungu says.
Through TPM, company is aiming to a process that eliminates wastes, defects and accidents; develop the technical skills of operators; empower operators to take charge of their stations and improve trouble shooting, he informed the forum.
Nairobi Bottlers is part of the Coca-Cola Sabco group of bottlers that is present in 7 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa.
About AFMASS Eastern & Central Africa Conference & Expo
The AFMASS Eastern & Central Africa Conference & Expo is organized by FoodWorld Media Ltd, the publishers of the African food and beverage industry focused magazines Food Business Africa, Dairy Business Africa and Agri-Business Africa, among other publications.
The 2016 edition of the premier industry trade event took place at the Kenya School of Monetary Studies in Nairobi, Kenya from June 8-10, 2016.
The event brought together over 350 industry business leaders, suppliers to the food and beverage industry, Government regulators and NGOs involved in the food supply chain from Africa, Americas, Europe and Asia to deliberate on ways to improve food processing, food packaging and food safety, with a focus on Eastern and Central Africa.
The next AFMASS Eastern & Central Africa Conference & Expo is planned for March 22-24, 2017 in Nairobi, Kenya.
A few significant changes in 2017 will see the set up of one exhibition, but with two parallel conferences:
1) The African Food Manufacturing & Safety Summit (AFMASS) Conference will focus on the beverage; dairy; baking & snacks; fruit and vegetables; sugar and confectionery; meat; and other processed food sectors;
2) The newly introduced African Grains, Milling & Feed (AFGRAINS) Conference will cover the formulation, post-harvest management, processing, packaging and food safety in grains, milled products and animal feed.
More info on AFMASS Eastern & Central Africa Conference & Expo can be found on the website: www.afmass.com.
