February 4, 2022
Faber Infinite

Accelerate Operations in Pharma Industry

In the post-COVID recovery route, pharmaceutical organizations are focusing on network risk management, being more agile, making operations more transparent, and creating the future workforce. Many in the industry, however, were extraordinarily responsive during the COVID-19 pandemic. Leaders in the pharma industry have joined together to facilitate the cross-border supply of critical medicines and raw materials, manage labour safety, and deal with changing government regulations, all while preparing for new vaccines and therapeutics. Setting Strategic Goals for Rapid Response: Most businesses have also established crisis-response command centres to effectively manage and bring normalcy to a rather chaotic situation. Companies can begin to assess the potential measures for turning their attention to speedy recovery and the path to the new normal as a reaction to the crisis. This is anticipated to bring in significant changes in the pharmaceutical industry. Network strategy has evolved at the industrial level. As the attention changes to the cost implications of location risk, landed costs are no longer the most important parameter. As the pandemic has demonstrated, supply chains can be jeopardized when they are overly reliant on an area that is prone to damage. Shifting production locations closer to end markets or to lower-risk countries that are less susceptible to disruption is now a standard risk mitigation strategy. Digitalization for resilient operations: Because of the rising usage of digital tools, telehealth, and app-based ecosystems, supply chains are becoming more patient-centric. Companies are focusing more on operational resilience and accelerating initiatives that enable more agility, including workforce agility. As workforces become more remote and distributed, transparency can be established through the deployment of digital and analytics tools along with automation at the individual company level. Companies will seek more transparency across the value chain and create more responsive operating models in response to risk mitigation objectives. Companies that rely on digital and analytics-driven solutions will be benefitted at large as a result of the changing phenomena. If international transparency on stockpiles of crucial (and maybe all) pharmaceuticals and medical supplies becomes the norm, digitalization will play a critical role. Agility for increasing production: The complex manufacturing processes with different types of equipments and systems are controlled by integrating technology and optimum resources to increase productivity. Manufacturing and warehouse automation will play a key role in the future, improving data availability and, more significantly, reducing dependency on humans. Agility has to be a distinguishing aspect of a resilient strategy, particularly in product transfers and new material validation. Traditional pharmaceutical procedures will give way to agile models, which will allow for faster response times in the event of an emergency. Improved medical-equipment approval, quality and risk-assessment processes for new material qualification and validation, remote monitoring for site quality audits. And faster adoption of electronic batch records are a few examples of an agile model of the Pharmaceutical Industry. With our customized solutions within the GMP and regulatory frameworks, pharmaceutical manufacturing organizations. They have been able to overcome these challenges via the Organizational Transformation Framework by Faber Infinite Consulting. Contact us to know how the improvement journey can be accelerated for your organization as well. Ready to revolutionize your operations in the pharmaceutical industry? Fill out the form below and gain access to game-changing strategies and expert insights on accelerating your success. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to take your pharma business to the next level! Written by Faber Aleena & Compiled by Faber Mayuri

May 29, 2021
Faber Infinite

Lean Facility Design© – Secret to World-Class Layout Design

Lean Facility Design© (LFD) is a unique framework designed and developed by Team Faber Infinite Consulting which supports an organization to build World class layout Design from day zero. LFD ensures that the new plant layout becomes efficient and effective right from day zero. This framework is applicable across industries and sectors for organizations that want to set up a new greenfield project. And design a new layout, as well as for those that want to take up a brownfield project or expand their current facility. This framework helps develop flexible, effective, and efficient facilities. Lean Facility Design© (LFD) is a 14-step approach and that typically covers: 1. Streamlining the manufacturing flow from raw material receipt to finished goods delivery, Optimizing warehouse space 2. Manpower planning 3. Inventory design for raw material, WIP, and finished goods 4. Analysis of capacity and plans for ramping up 5. Material handling and storage design using FIFO, 6. Most importantly, creating an efficient and comprehensive layouts and much more. It typically has an impact on reducing floor space, delivering best-in-class flow design, lowering capital investment in specific areas of operation, reducing throughput time, best-in-class layout, improving manpower productivity, and planning logistics equipment correctly sized. Lean Facility Design Framework We are pleased to share the transformation journey of a client in the packaged food industry, which has implemented the Lean Facility Design Framework. Team Faber Infinite is assisting the client in the ready-to-cook food and spice industry with 5 to 6 units in their new greenfield plant and build a world-class layout considering all the food and health standards and even the latest Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) concepts. This master layout is set to be built on 18 acres of land with a project cost of approximately INR 100 crores, employing over 600 people. Pickles, papad, fruits and vegetable processing, millet processing, health foods, and nutraceutical, ketchup and curry pastes, frozen foods, Indo Chinese mixes, Indian traditional cuppa foods, blended spices, spice mixes, single ingredient spice, instant mixes, IQF, and many more SKUs are amongst the FMCG items which shall be produced by the company. Our consultants along with client teams have mapped all processes in detail, and including future states for each process have been mapped to define how it can be improved. Five value streams have been identified through PPQ (Product Process Quantity) analysis. For equipment selection, our consultants mapped all existing equipment and based on future capacity calculations – determined requirements of new machines & specifications, while also discussing what changes must be made to the existing machines to accommodate entirely new technologies. Team Faber Infinite’s consultants have been delivering excellent results in the FMCG industry via the proven and customized LFD framework thus delivering significant benefits to the organization. Take a step to transform your organization through Lean Facility Design© by Faber Infinite. Contact us today at consulting@faberinfinite.com. Written by Faber Nency and Compiled by Faber Mayuri

June 19, 2020
Faber Infinite

The Era of Consulting 4.0

In today’s tough times, where safety is of utmost importance, organizations cannot ignore the importance of Operational & Manufacturing Excellence for sustenance. Operational Excellence (OE) enables organizations to maintain and improve production capacity, equipment efficiency, manpower productivity, reduce production cost and much more to survive in the cut-throat competition. Amid these tough times, organizations should continue with their OE journey without any hurdles. An able consulting team can play an extremely crucial role in the uninterrupted & accelerated implementation journey. But the pertinent question comes up: how can an organization host external consultants in times like these? Team Faber Infinite identified these challenges and crafted a special product that will enable the consultants to work closely at the real workplace with the real challenges and provide real solutions beyond the virtual conference room meetings. Our consulting and technology team has come up with an all-new exclusive Augmented Reality (AR) Enabled Platform – Consulting 4.0. It enables our consultants to be present at the real workplace in real-time, virtually. This platform enables rolling out all the consulting support that is needed for a smooth, uninterrupted, and successful implementation of an improvement journey via the Augmented Reality Platform. As per the principles of the Toyota Production System – Go to the Gemba (real workplace), is critical. We, at Faber Infinite, will provide the support not merely via a discussion or a conference room meeting but by witnessing the facts and observing the real workplace via the AR platform. In these tough times, the consulting support for the successful implementation of your improvement journey is more essential now, than ever! Contact us for the online and virtual support, which will be nothing less than a real-time shop floor support provided. With the help of this AR platform, you can resolve chronic issues like equipment performance and maintenance, production, yield improvement, quality issues, change overtime reduction and much more. To make sure you not only survive but thrive in this competition and current situation, our forward-looking team brings to you a path-breaking Augmented Reality Enabled Remote Consulting 4.0 Platform, that allows the consultant to be present at the real workplace (Gemba) virtually! Watch the explainer video here. Book Your Demo Today! Written & Compiled by Faber Mayuri & Faber Priyal

March 20, 2020
Faber Infinite

Six Sigma Strategies to Reduce the Cost of Production

Did you know, one of the leading paint manufacturing organizations of India was able to save INR 11 lacs for a year by implementing six sigma strategies? One of the leading paint manufacturing organizations of India was incurring a high cost on raw materials and manufacturing. They were unable to identify the reason for the high cost of production. The management team decided to deploy lean sigma strategies to control the cost of production. They deployed a lean six sigma personal to identify the backdrops. Cost Reduction using Six Sigma Methodology In a very short time, the organization identified the reason behind the high cost of production. While rolling the roller on the paint, a few droplets of the expensive paint fell on the floor. This was later cleaned by the machine operator without knowing the cost of the paint. When this was brought to the notice of the management team, they decided to apply six sigma methodologies and make changes in the machine to save those droplets. The machine was wrapped around with a plastic paper. The speed of the roller was slowed. The data on how many droplets fell out before and after was collected. Surprisingly, the count of the droplets falling out of the container before applying six sigma was around 72 lac droplets per year. Each drop contained around 3ml to 4ml of paint. Later, when the data of the droplets after applying six sigma was collected, the results showed that all the droplets that fell down were now saved completely. When the data was analyzed, it resulted in saving INR 11 lacs per year for the organization. It was highly surprising for the organisation to see how small changes made by implementing six sigma can help them save such amount of money. Six Sigma can help organizations in vivid ways by saving time, money, improving productivity and profitability and much more. So, have you started implementing Six Sigma strategies? Written & Compiled by Faber Priyal & Faber Mayuri

December 20, 2019
Faber Infinite

Productivity Improvement for FMCG Industry using Lean tools

Did you know, one of the FMCG organizations was able to improve its productivity by 4x just by implementing lean solutions? The organization is one of the leading FMCG product producers. They were not being able to meet the sales forecast because the product prices were low. The senior management team also considered adding an additional 20-25 production works to achieve the demand. But after doing so, quality defects started bothering. 99% of the time there was a defect in the product and most of them were identified and corrected internally. Productivity Improvement in FMCG Industry The organization later decided to implement lean and five S. Employees were asked to form Natural Work Teams (NWTs) and work collectively in a new cellular layout designed to implement the process. Five S and Kanban was used to reduce inventory that was in work in process and was able to conduct uninterrupted replenishment of parts. Various new innovative solutions, components, and hardware standardizations were suggested and implemented. Common tools that were needed, but in constant short supply, were bought and kept in precise and accessible locations. A turntable was constructed for easy lifting of heavy machine parts. Before implementing these processes, each employee from the production department was expected to produce 1.8% of the primary unit each day. But after implementing the processes, each individual employee was capable of producing one unit every 15 minutes, 4 units per hour, and 32 units per day, with 99% perfect quality using only 4 assemblers. Here, you can see the improvement in productivity by more than 4 times. Work in process and finished goods inventories were under control, and there was no need to hire additional production staff. As you can see, implementing continuous improvement initiatives helps organizations not only save time and money but also utilize it properly and increase the overall productivity to meet the target demands. So, have you started implementing lean and continuous improvement initiatives to improve organizational productivity?

November 25, 2019
Faber Infinite

Winning Strategy for Farms in Africa

As per a research published in a recent article written by – Xinhua, it is stated that the Kenyan flower sector is experiencing a high cost of labor, energy, and farm. These are some of the major challenges currently faced by the sector. Because of these challenges, many organizations have also planned to reduce the headcount and some of the organizations have planned to shut down their farms. Not just this, other reasons such as climate change, drop in rainfall and others are also some of the reasons why Kenya flower farm industry is facing a crisis. Team Faber Infinite has been helping farms in Africa with its proven Farm Operational Transformation Toolkit from Organizational Transformation Framework© by Faber Infinite Consulting to sustain in the market with lesser production cost and more profits. We have been working with leading flower farms in Africa and helped them get over issues such as: Low Land and Labour productivity High manpower cost Issues related to water High Inventory High rejection rate We have helped farms reduce costs by improving productivity. We have worked on both field productivity as well as packhouse productivity. Field productivity was improved by the implementation of standard work and elimination of non-value adding activities. Packhouse productivity was improved by redesigning the packhouse layout and workstation design. Another burning issue in farms is a high rejection rate. Team Faber Infinite has helped farms reduce the rejection rate by more than 35% in the field as well as packhouses by the implementation of quality management toolkit. To balance the cost factor, many organizations that are not optimized, have either overstocked or understocked inventory, blocked their capital cashflow and have started reducing the headcounts in the farm to balance their operating costs. Due to certain policies, many farms are facing challenges for inventory management of fertilizers and chemicals. As a result, farms were stocking a lot of inventory, resulting in cash flow problems. Team Faber Infinite has helped farms maintain optimum inventory, with the implementation of inventory management toolkit by Faber Infinite. All these initiatives have helped the client increase the overall production and reduce the cost per stem by more than 25%. Another concern that the farms in Africa are facing apart from the cost issue is water. Because of the irregular rain patterns, the farms are facing issues with irrigation. This leads to improper growth of flowers, which causes an increment in the rejection rate. Also, due to the unavailability of proper resources of water in the country, many organizations are planning to shut the farms. In situations like these, Team Faber has helped organizations devise and implement strategies to save water in order to run and sustain the business. We have helped organizations identify ways to conserve water in every possible way. We have also helped them improve their irrigation, which can lead to the healthy growth of flowers and thus reduce or nullify the rejections rates. In situations like these, team Faber with its specially designed and proven framework for Farm Transformation has helped many leading flower farms across Africa to maintain a balance between the cost of production and manpower without reducing headcount. Team Faber has been helping farms improve productivity per person in the packhouse, reduce wastage of water, optimize inventory, reduce rejections to name a few. Some of the results delivered at various client farms include: 25% improvement in flower production 83% improvement in the value-adding ratio 45% reduction in lead time in the packhouse 39% improvement in harvest productivity 47% improvement in manpower productivity for packhouse 53% reduction in inventory carrying cost Team Faber has been persistently working towards building competitiveness in farms. We have been helping clients embark on the journey of continual improvement and organizational transformation for business excellence. The same can be done for your farms as well. Contact us at consulting@faberinfinite.com to know-how! Read below to know more about how Team Faber Infinite has been helping and supporting transformation in farms: Transforming Farms Building Excellence in Flower Farms Case Studies – Commercial Farms We would like to thank our Organization Transformation expert Mr.Vishal Singh for sharing his valuable insights on issues faced in commercial flower farms in Africa. We sincerely appreciate his efforts in helping us come up with this informative article that will help numerous commercial flower farms across geographies. Written & Compiled by Faber Priyal Shah

September 20, 2019
Faber Infinite

Adapt change to survive the competition

Did you know, 18,500 employees lost their jobs at one of the leading FMCG organizations because they did not adapt to change? In this article, we will talk about How Adapt Change to Survive the Competition in Food Industry. One of the international FMCG brands has now shut down by killing 18,500 jobs, its factories, and other assets. So, what went wrong with the organization? The organization was a well-known brand for its junk food product range. But, as the popularity of the junk food faded more than a decade ago, the company that was established 84 years ago, struggled with increasing labor and commodity costs. Transformation Journey to Survive The first time the company filed for bankruptcy was in the year 2004. In the year 2009, the organization came out of bankruptcy. The organization also tried to adapt to the changing demands and needs of the market. They even hired new and private bakers but this lead to increased debts which further made it tough for them to invest in new equipment. At the same time, their workforces were unionized and there was a demand for high labor cost. The organization had a net loss of around $1.1 Bn over the revenue of $2.5 Bn in the fiscal year 2012. And the next January, the organization filed bankruptcy again. Hence, as you can see, any organization that operates in today’s era needs to be proactive and ready to adapt to the changes in the industry. Because in such a competitive era where your competition Is always striving to serve the market better, organizations need to build the culture of transformation and change for their sustainable development. So, are you aware of what is happening around? Are you facing resistance to change from your employees? Contact us and we will help you sail smoothly on this journey of transformation.

July 19, 2019
Faber Infinite

Six Sigma for Sustainable Growth

Did you know, one of the world largest defense contractors is using six sigma methodologies to streamline their business process since the 1990s? The world’s largest defense contractor has been using Six Sigma methodologies to streamline their business processes. For more than 25 years the organization has been applying these methodologies and strategies to achieve their goal of corporate sustainability. You might wonder how Six Sigma strategies that have been originally designed to reduce and eliminate errors in manufacturing processes be used for corporate sustainability. In this article, we will talk about Some Strategies Six Sigma for Sustainable Growth. This organization provides a strong example of how implementing Six Sigma methodologies can broaden the horizons of the organization to address issues regarding the sustainability within the organization. The strategic development of powerful metrics and a detailed plan of action inherent to the Six Sigma environment has helped the organization make impressive progress toward corporate sustainability goals. Apart from this, implementing sustainability goals as a part of corporate culture has helped this organization maintain and grow its success. In the year 2013, after the release of the company’s sustainability report the president and the CEO of the organization said that their commitment towards sustainability continues to accelerate their business strategy. For the six sigma project, it is important to set metrics identifying goals that align with corporate mission and values. To apply the methodologies to improve sustainability ratings and triple bottom line performance, the organization divided its project into 4 areas such as; Operational Efficiency, Resource Efficiency, Product Performance and Supplier Sustainability. Cost Reduction using Six Sigma Methodology In organizational efficiency, re-examining physical space allowed the organization to accomplish the same outcomes with minimum physical space. Using less space helped the organization save energy and other resources used previously. By implementing this, the organization reduced 20% of its total costs. In resource efficiency, Six Sigma strategies helped the organization to reduce the use of water and carbon emissions by almost 20%. Also, landfill materials was decreased by 36% and energy consumption was reduced by 12%. In product performance, the organization has developed partnerships to build alternative waste disposal options, energy options and address climate adaptation challenges. In supplier sustainability, setting transparency as a goal was the basis of the relationships between the organization and its suppliers. By improving the processes which are used to guide decision making with regard to the company partners and vendors, the organization has set higher standards for social and business conduct across the different partners of the organization. Six Sigma strategies can help develop and monitor the metrics created for the projects with clear goals. The company has made huge contributions to the communities. The organization has also donated over $25 million to civic programs around the world. Hence, as you can see, Six Sigma which is mainly known for the reduction and elimination of errors in manufacturing processes can also be used for corporate sustainability. So, have you deployed Six Sigma yet? Image Source: Industry Week Compiled by Faber Priyal & Faber Mayuri

September 19, 2018
Faber Infinite

Struggling to Stay in the Air?

One of India’s oldest privately-owned airline is struggling to stay in the air. Since some time the airline has been giving one bad news after another. First, there were news about the airlines cutting cost by trimming employee salaries by 25%. Then they deferred to release the financial results and now the decision of the civil aviation ministry to audit the company. All these started after the airline reported huge losses due to high fuel prices and a weak rupee. However, the CEO of this airlines recently quoted that there are various transformation initiatives that have been identified and are being implemented. The airline is confident that the implementation of the transformation initiatives will help them to address the current problems. They have recently quoted that some of the transformation initiatives are already delivering positive and favorable results. The airlines have been working to achieve greater operational efficiency. They are implementing a host of measures to optimize costs and increase revenue while retaining focus on clients. But the bigger question is, what is the right time to work on transformation initiatives? The answer is, there is no right or wrong time. Any organization should always strive to improve and work on different transformation initiatives to remain effective and efficient. Transformation initiatives are like a marathon race they demand persistence and speed; it is just that, there is no finishing line. It is a journey without any end. It is a known fact that most of the employees resist change. Research suggests that 90% of the change initiatives fail due to employee resistance. Organisations have to find the right place to minimize the resistance. One can not be too fast for the employees to accept change and too slow that it becomes boring for the employees involved. Transformation should be a continuous process. It should not happen that when there are problems in the organization then you go for such initiatives. Team Faber Infinite has been working on transformation journeys with organizations across industries. We have been helping organizations to excel and perform right things in the right manner at the right time. We have been helping organizations in designing and implementing the transformation initiatives to become more effective, efficient and agile. We have been helping our clients to build successful organizations, always striving for excellence, by establishing a culture of continual improvement; in order to transform. To know more about our offerings and service contact us at consulting@faberinfinite.com Written & Compiled by Faber Kishlay, Faber Mayuri & Faber Jalay.

August 9, 2018
Faber Infinite

10 golden rules of Inventory Management

Inventory plays a crucial role in complying with the demands and in creating value for the manufacturer as well as for the customer. Moreover, inventory is also one of the wastes that impacts the business and minimizes the profits and profitability of the organization. Hence, it becomes important for any business to maintain enough inventory for the demands. In precise terms, inventory management is the collected activities of employees maintaining optimum number of required items available to comply with the demands at optimum costs in the market. Inventory Management Inventory management is about understanding the situations like supplier conditions, product requirement, and lead times and then managing inventory to control the overall cost. Balancing various inventory management task means keeping an eye on three basic aspects. Lead time Supplier Conditions Demand variations Before we move ahead, let us have a look at the various types of inventory involved in the manufacturing process. Types of inventory Raw material Work in progress Finished goods Spares/Consumables The 10 golden rules of inventory management Any inventory needs to be efficiently managed for the demands. Below is a set of rules that can help an organization in optimizing their inventory for achieving optimum results. Air free – The inventory should be managed in an organized way using vertical storage and keeping it air and dust free. This can be done using lean tools like Five S. FIFO – FIFO (first in, first out) is a very interesting concept that enables the organizations to be in loop and avoid the risks involved in inventory management to a certain extent. In simple terms, it is an asset management and valuation system which helps the manufacturer in selling out the commodities manufactured first at the earliest. This can be done with lean tools like Five S and the manufacturer has to take care to keep replenishment and removal on different sides. Bend free – What we mean here by bend free is to keep the employees as far away as possible from bending to either pick or transport materials and products, since bending a lot might result in injuries which will ultimately affect the working and productivity. Count free – Poorly arranged inventory and spares inside the warehouse is bound to result in messy storage and pathetic accountability. This will further result in wastage of time and incur extra work. Hence, inventory should be neatly arranged and should be made visible and count free. Again Five S is the solution to this. Search free – Materials and products in an inventory warehouse should not be kept together. There should be proper segmentation for every different type of tools or materials to have an organized inventory. This will help one in avoiding the time incurring in searching and retrieving the desired material. Systematic arrangement of the tools and equipment with a structured index will help to save time and improve productivity. Heavy material on ground – Heavy materials should be kept on ground since keeping it at height will make it difficult to access them and might result in accidents and mishaps. Hence, as a precautionary safety measure, heavy materials should be kept on ground. It will also lead to easy access and less damage to inventory. Fast consumables near the entrance – Materials should be arranged in the inventories as per the rate of their consumption. If items that are consumed at a rapid pace are kept at the far end of the warehouse, it will incur more motion and time to access them and transport them to the desired place. Climb free – Spares should always be kept at places where they are easily accessible. Keeping them above normal heights will consequently make them more difficult and riskier to handle. It becomes more convenient for an individual to access them if they are kept at lower levels. Adequate lighting – Lighting plays a very crucial role in helping the inventory management in identifying the defects and abnormalities occurring inside the inventory warehouse. Adequate lighting makes it very easy to identify such defects hampering the efficient Adequate ventilation – Adequate ventilation should be provided in the warehouses to keep healthy working atmosphere. Lack of ventilation makes it uneasy and difficult for an individual to work efficiently. Conclusion Inventory is no doubt the backbone of any manufacturing industry. Hence, it becomes quintessentially important for any organization to be alert on their inventory side. Team Faber Infinite has helped dozens of clients in improving their inventory and ultimately achieving excellence and continual and sustainable development. The objective is to efficiently and effectively provide the right materials at the time when it is required and with right quality standard maintained. For more information, contact us at consulting@faberinfinite.com