Wegmans Interview – September 3rd, 2013
Attendance: Richard Latham, Bridget Eggers, Tyler Brent, Valeria Gonzalez, José Guzman, Shawn Hart,
Mike Least
General Project Questions
1. Can we change multiple steps in the process or only the mixing and dividing?
Mixing, dividing, and pre-scaling can be changed. The rest of the steps can be analyzed,
but should not be changed.
2. How much increased production capacity is expected?
20 hours per week of dividing must divide into 4 hours per day. They can start dividing at
6 P.M., unless commercial cookies are running late. Process must be done by 10 P.M.
Buffer to add for holidays. Spiral #2 is a resource shared with frozen and commercial
cookie processes.
3. What are the different types of cookie dough product?
Got a list of the formulas for the different types. The frozen line has a low demand from
January to June.
 Multiple types of dough.
Different types require different setups and have different changeover times. Some types
of dough have faster changeovers than others, depending on the order in which they are
processed.
 Acquire through observation and from José.
4. Are there past improvement initiatives that have failed? Why?
No, not focused on this process.
5. Are there any improvement initiatives underway internally?
No, not formal projects yet the team leader Bill is always looking for improvements.

Project is currently looking into starting the commercial line earlier in the day.
6. What “tools” are to be consistent across crews and shifts?
Any visual aids or scheduling means that will help sustain the project.
Proposed Idea Questions
7. You suggest that the use of motivational tools as a potential solution. Could you
please expand on your thoughts here?
Don’t want motivation tools (or operator improvements) as the first approach to the
solution, want first operation improvements. There is a lacking in what the standard work
should be for a shift. First find the cycle time for each product then a standard for what
should be able to be done in the 4 hours of dividing time.
8. Simulation is given as an idea to communicate a potential solution. Could you please
expand on your thoughts here?
There is no simulation software at Wegmans. Would like to see a simulation of how the
process will run and what the changes will affect.
Administrative Questions
9. What is the management structure of the Bakery? The cookie dough line?
Bill Holden - Team Leader (11:30 A.M. - 8 P.M.)
Paul Adams - Team Leader (8 P.M. - 4 A.M.)
Jose Guzman - Manufacturing Engineer
Shawn Hart - Bakeshop Production Area Manager
10. How many different employees work on this line?
1 Mixer
3 People (1 operator, 2 assistants)
3 People Packing
7-8 on line
Work on other stuff rest of shift
11. When should we meet to watch the assembly processes?
(See below)
12. How do we schedule visits to the production lines? Can we come every day from 610pm?
Pre-scaling: 1 P.M.
Mixing
Dividing: 6 P.M.


Have to be done by 10PM, unless overtime needed.
Schedules come out Wednesday for the following week, commercial cookie
schedule based on forecasting system.

Important to see interaction in the mixing process between commercial and frozen
cookies.
13. How do we work with Wegmans to know how it uses standard work and other lean
practices?




Standard work is lacking and/or nonexistent.
Need to create standard work for almost every procedure.
Associate cycle times and setup times with every procedure
Many management decisions are based on experience, rather than procedural
information.
14. Does Wegmans have an internal safety policy? (ergonomics, sanitation, food safety)
Have to take into account food preparation and safety guidelines, which will come into
play when analyzing the pre-scale phase and mixing phase
 Acquire through observation.
15. Can we take pictures of the line? (Discuss confidentiality issues.)
None of operators faces. Jose must look at pictures before they can be posted on EDGE.
No cookie formulas on EDGE. We can use our phones to take pictures.
16. How will the success of the project be measured?
Daily output is not a good measurement, production hours is a better measure. Use
planned production vs actual production.


Performance metrics
o Production rate/production hours
Management target
o Divide dough for 20 hours/wk without any gaps or minimal downtime (5
days, 4 hrs/day).
Observation Notes (9/3/2013)
Cookie Line:
Pre-scale --> Mixing --> Dividing --> Cooling --> Packaging







Mixing is the known bottleneck; process is shared between multiple product lines.
Commercial cookies are made to stock.
Roughly 20 hours/week are allocated for producing frozen cookies.
Commercial cookies always take priority over frozen if overall demand can’t be met.
Cookie dough mixer is up on platform. Pallet jack is needed to move the platform away
from the mixer to add ingredients and to dump the finished dough.
Pre-scale area is located against the wall near the divider. Very cluttered area and will
definitely be a source of interest during our observations.
Need to observe the changeover between commercial cookies and frozen.




Only 2 troves are used for storing pre-mix and transporting mixed dough.
Team leader calls sanitation for necessary clean-up between changeovers and
maintenance for machine setup. These operations are found too difficult to schedule dayto-day.
Cookie line is one of the lower priority production lines in the facility.
Tracking forms? Get from José (hours spent dividing each day).