Dairy Industry Case Study

Case study: a leading UK milk producer.

THE PROBLEM

This customer site produces 500,000,000 litres of milk per year for retailers. They employ around 30 engineers across 7 production lines, including 2 Tetra Pak lines.

The Engineering Manager and Stores Manager identify audit compliance as being very important, with Tesco PIU being their most stringent audit. They are very vigilant in this area.

Their top 3 supplier criteria are: 1) quality, 2) compliance and 3) stock control.

THE RISKS

The mish-mash of too many lubricants from multiple manufacturers, often found with lids or straws missing, posed risks of mis-selection and misapplication.

The lack of proper stock control was causing headaches for the managers and posed a risk of sudden shortages on essential lubricants.

One of the incumbent products was non-Foodgrade, posing a potential risk to food product integrity and an immediate audit non-conformance.

THE SOLUTION

We ran a four week, no-obligation trial of Activate products housed in a lockable, stainless-steel storage unit, with supporting application and compliance materials integral to the unit.

Activate applied their application expertise and industry knowhow to rationalise 11 oils and greases to 4 high performance Group 4 base oil lubricants offering superior engineering performance and all NSF Registered to the required Foodgrade category, thus always ensuring guaranteed Audit Compliance.

Effective colour coding and a simple stock management system facilitates easy and accurate product selection and stock replenishment control within a busy Engineering Department.

FEEDBACK

“Since switching over to Activate, we have become a lot more comfortable with our lubrication culture.

A big win for us has been the fact that we have had no stock outs since the switch over, something that was an issue for us previously. Our lubricant inventory has been very much rationalised and Activate’s advisors even managed to consolidate our existing lubricant stock.

We have found Activate’s after sales support and customer service to be fantastic. They are always on hand to answer questions and react very quickly when we need them. We now also have total reassurance that we are audit ready at all times. This is particularly important to us as we undergo stringent audits, including the Tesco PIU.

Despite the extra value elements mentioned above, we have actually seen a significant cost reduction in our lubricant spend, which is a very welcome bonus to the peace of mind we now enjoy!

In my opinion, there isn’t anything further I can expect from a supplier. I look forward to continuing to work with Activate!”

Note: the customer is now in the process of building a separate Asset Care Team comprising four Asset Care Technicians, with Activate support.

BEFORE

AFTER