Case Study - Avon Operations Poland

Avon Operations choose the Harford Information Management System for their Polish Manufacturing Site. Between 1996 and 2003 Avon Operations Polska increased production output from 7 million to 407 million pieces per annum. With such enormous growth Avon Operations recognised, under the direction of Gary Jarvis and his team, that accurate and relevant information was essential in order to continue to manufacture high quality products on a right first time basis, at economic cost. In order to achieve this, a number of Key Performance Indicators were established including Yield, Quality, Production Line Efficiency and Wastage. Avon were keen to appoint a computer systems provider who could help them manage their objectives efficiently and, at the same time, eliminate the need for paper records, whilst providing the benefit of instant traceability. Avon Cosmetics chose the Harford solution as it incorporated their key performance indicators within its standard software packages. As a total turnkey solution the Harford system acts as both operator interface (collecting data and giving valid actions to operators) and real time manager showing current production performance on the desktop computers connected to Avon's existing network. Avon, in their commitment to excellence, have woven continuous improvement and right first time strategies, into the fabric of their production operations. This has taken considerable effort through the ongoing development of strong teams and the encouragement of ownership at all levels. Avon fully recognise the benefits of improvement, but also the difficulties in maintaining improvements and achievements already made. This has created a need for heightened awareness across the whole manufacturing plant, so as to highlight instantly any non-conformances in need of attention. Dedicated computer terminals directly linked to weighing systems allow Avon to meet their legal requirements under Average Quantity Law and e-marking. The quality module ensures that all quality and coding checks are done with minimal manual intervention, are paperless and fully traceable, instantly. Avon's Plant Director, Gary Jarvis, expressed his satisfaction with Harford with the following comment: - "Avon installed the Harford Control System in it's UK plant back in the early 1990s and it was a key enabler for us to reduce overfilling and deliver ingredient savings well in excess of GBP100,000 within the first few months of operation. When I moved to our operation in Poland I saw similar opportunities so I contacted Harford to establish if they could provide us with a system in Poland. Following a review of their latest software and knowing the excellent service the Harford team provide alongside their commitment to their customers, I had no hesitation in selecting Harford to provide us with their enhanced Manufacturing Control System in our Polish facility". Automated On Line Data Capture On line PLCs and sensors automatically collect information about line stop times and reasons, line speeds and product changeovers. In the event of any non-conformance the appropriate operator is immediately informed and advised, by the system, of the action necessary to regain optimum control. Automatically and simultaneously through Avon's site-wide network, all operational levels are advised of both the occurrence of ‘issues' and the corrective actions taken. Harford refers to this as its factory level integrated information management system which advises and guides line operators to take actions where ever necessary to restore process normality. Raising Awareness Harford's Advanced Information software suite resides upon the central information database and turns low-level data and information into optimised resource actions for managers. This combination performs a ‘watchdog' and drill-down function, looking for and reporting upon non-conformances, instantly, as they happen in a simple ‘Traffic Light' format. When a ‘red light' occurs a supervisor/operator is drawn instantly to the specific fault/condition and thereby encouraged to deploy only the resources necessary to restore efficiency. Such non-conformance is not limited to weight violations, quality failures or line stoppages, but also includes such important criteria as excessive product overfill and reasons for losses in production efficiency. Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) Avon are committed to the use of OEE as a measure of overall performance and effectiveness. As with all ‘World Class' manufacturers, Avon are aiming at OEEs of 80% and above and Avon's partnership with Harford will not only help Avon to achieve their goals through the Harford Integrated system, but also to maintain them.