Vegan food manufacturing
Vancouver, Canada
Situation
A vegan cheese slice line was yielding a product quality rate of 68%. Nearly a third of everything the line produced was being downgraded or scrapped, and the defect pattern was inconsistent enough that no one could point to a single cause.
Diagnosis
A comprehensive root cause analysis across the defect modes pointed at the cooking stage: the process was being run across two separate steps, with atmosphere and thermal conditions varying between them and between shifts. The variation the plant was measuring in the product was variation in the process itself.
What changed
I integrated the two critical production steps into one controlled operation and brought the cook under precise parameter control in a zero-atmosphere condition. That meant mechanical engineering modifications to existing equipment as well as newly designed equipment installed to hold the required operating conditions. Alongside the hardware, I standardised the cooking procedures, rewrote the work instructions and ran extensive training with the operations team.
Result
Product quality rose 28%, generating $2.8 million in cost savings over two years. The consumer experience improved with it, and the strengthened quality record opened the door to partnerships with larger retail and quick-service restaurant customers — a commercial gain the plant had not been able to pursue at 68%.
