Meat Tumbler Process Improvement
P10711 - Spring 2010
Mission Statement:
Team:
Eric Albanese – IE
Tess Ambrose – ME
Jeremy Gray – IE
Okechikere Ekeada – IE
Jesse Wykstra - ME
The aim of this project is to improve the meat marinade tumbler transport in the Wegmans Culinary
Innovation Center. Currently, meat is marinated in 2000 lb. capacity tumblers, dumped into 300-600
lb capacity vats, and then transferred into a vacuum packing machine. The current process suffers
from many efficiency and ergonomic issues. The overall outcome of the project is to identify and
implement process improvements in order to increase efficiency and safety of the workers.
Goals:
•Improve ergonomics/safety and reduce risk of work
related injuries.
•Reduce waste (i.e. remove unneeded items, increase
floor space, improve worker utilization)
Additional Information can be found at: https://edge.rit.edu/content/P10711/public/Home
Map Overall Process Flow
Learn how the production room operates
Fishbone Diagram
Concept Selection
Choose the best solutions based on
different engineering metrics
Identify and categorize different problems
cleaning
station
Retrofit
Dumptables
VEMAG
receiving station
Cart5
Cart1
Cart2
conveyor
Cart3
Tumbler
1
V
Criteria
V
Feasability
20
5
100
9
180
Cost
10
8
80
4
90
Difficulty to complete
10
8
80
5
90
Ergonomics
50
6
300
7
450
Process Impact
(positive)
30
3
90
5
270
Cart4
Elevator
Cart7
Cart6
Solutions:
• Used lean implementation tool, Kaizen to
identify waste and find ways to improve
process.
•Use d process signals to establish a pull
system, thereby reducing inventory in the
packaging station and reducing number of
VEMAG vats needed.
Concept:
Problems:
•Wegmans wants to add a separate production
line in the same refrigerated room as the meat
tumbler.
•Existing chicken flattening process takes up
approx 240 square feet due to poor space
utilization.
Solutions:
•Replace existing conveyor with a smaller, more
compact one
•Rework layout to minimize amount of ‘dead
space’.
•Create standard work for higher outputs
High ergonomics/safety risk related to
column dumper and VEMAG vats
Proposal 3: Retrofit food dump table
Proposal 4: Retrofit column dumper and VEMAG vats
Before:
Solutions:
•A spring loaded grate design was added to the dump
table to greatly reduce the amount of bending/twisting
required to unload the dump table
•Larger 6” diameter ,360° swivel casters were added to
simplify the maneuvering of the dump table.
•The Cleaning process was simplified using a larger
removable mesh drain, which eliminated the need to lift/flip
the dump table over.
Results:
•Reduced space utilization from 821ft2 to 408ft2 with kaizen events,
layout optimization, and conveyor replacement
•Reduced ergonomic risks associated with pushing the VEMAG vats
and column dumper to a safe level
•Reduced the ergonomic risks associated with pushing, unloading,
and cleaning the dump tables to a safe level
1080
Proposal 2: Free wasted floor space
High ergonomics/safety risk related to food dump table
Problems:
•Excessive amounts of bending/twisting are required
for the employees to unload the dump table.
•Hard to push/rotate the cart during transportation.
•Cleaning process is very demanding, requiring the
employees to lift/flip the dump table over in order to drain it.
650
Marinade room is in need of more
Floor space
Proposal 1: Kaizen of Marinade Room
Problems:
•Excessive amount of VEMAG vats taking
up space on the floor
•Too much inventory at the meat packaging
station
Importance Score Wt Score Score Wt Score
Totals:
multivac station
Excess material handling equipments
clutter the marinade room
Before:
New
Dumptables
Problems:
•Bending at the
waist required to
move vats.
•Incidents with
shoulder pain
from awkward
angle of push,
lower/mid-back
pain from
bending.
•Large force
required to load
vat into dumper,
as well as to
move dumper.
Sponsors:
Chris Isaacson
Wyatt Newbould
Paul Hickey
Advisor:
John Kaemmerlen
Special Thanks to the
Meat Tumbler Team!
After:
Solutions:
•Raised handle
eliminates
bending &
awkward angle,
adds place to
properly grip vats.
•New casters
make column
dumper need less
force to move it
•Vat latch requires
only one worker
instead of two