Tetra Pak Materials, the leading global manufacturer in aseptic food package converting, has received the Total Productive Maintenance Excellence award for its factory operations in Denton, Texas, US.
Each year, the Japan Institute of Plant Maintenance (JIPM) honours companies for exemplary achievements in productivity, quality, cost, delivery, safety and morale at their factories.
"This award reflects the commitment that each Tetra Pak employee has to waste reduction, machine efficiency, and fast product delivery to our customers," said Charles Posey, director of manufacturing, Tetra Pak. "We have a world class team that works hard for Tetra Pak, its customers, and our home town of Denton."
The TPM Excellence award analyses more than 100 aspects of plant manufacturing, focusing on high manufacturing productivity and product quality. Tetra Pak received the award for its consistent improvement in each category for its innovative World Class Manufacturing (WCM) programme.
At the Texas facility employees are grouped together as task forces to implement solutions to problems. The solutions are then evaluated as to how they affect Tetra Pak's bottom line. From the start of the World Class Manufacturing programme in 1999, the Tetra Pak employee teams have reduced total factory waste and lead-time by 50 per cent while improving productivity by 44 per cent.
The JIPM awards committee, consisting of manufacturing directors and industry experts, selected winners on the basis of an initial document screening and on-site assessments. Other worldwide enterprises recognised in the past include Milliken and Company, Unilever, Mitsubishi, and Honda.
Tetra Pak Materials produces packaging materials for Tetra Pak's aseptic carton systems, a technology which allows sensitive foods to remain fresh for months without refrigeration or preservatives. The Denton facility of Tetra Pak Materials is composed of five major process areas: prepress, flexographic printing, lamination/coating, slitting, and warehousing. The factory employs 160 local personnel in its three-shift operations.