Imperial Team Improves Production of Brown Sugar

What started as a mission to improve throughput on two brown sugar packaging lines, led to a 40 percent improvement in the brown sugar processing area at Imperial Sugar Company’s Gramercy plant.

The DMAIC team in charge of the project first conducted speed trials on its two-pound brown sugar retail packaging line. DMAIC – which stands for define, measure, analyze, improve and control – is a Six Sigma approach used to determine root causes of problems in manufacturing or other processes.

The team soon discovered that excessive downtime in packaging was the result of delays in the brown sugar processing area. So, the team switched gears and started looking at possible bottlenecks there.

The Gramercy Brown Sugar DMAIC team included (l-r) Jay Matherne, supervisor, Troy Chabaud, Maintenance, Becky Moderson, operator and Dwayne Dumas, technician. Team members not pictured included Corwin Williams, brown sugar shover and Tara Lougue, administrative assistant.

“The new goal was to determine what was affecting our ability to make brown sugar right the first time,” said John Gerace, Gramercy packaging team manager. “In other words, making quality product – within specification ¬– the first time through the refining process so it wouldn’t have to be done again, causing delays down the line.”

The team used statistical sampling techniques on various pieces of equipment at discreet points within processing to uncover problem areas. As a result of their findings, several changes were made to the equipment, delivering a 40 percent increase in processing throughput. Equipment changes also were accompanied by new safety standard operating procedures (SSOPs) and operator training.

From there, the team moved its focus back to packaging, performing a high-level review on the 50/25 pound packaging line for industrial customers.

Action steps included the writing of new SSOPs for the operation of the machines and the conducting of design of experiments (DOE). DOE is another Six Sigma tool used to investigate a process systematically. It involves a series of structured tests in which planned changes are made to one or more input variables until the desired output is achieved.

A fifty pound bag of dark brown sugar rolls off the production line.

The experiment designed for the industrial packaging line modifies the drop rate of the product going into each bag and measuring the corresponding output. That includes increasing the drop rate from the fill buckets to the point where sugar goes into the bags, making sure each package falls within the proper weight control parameters.

“We’re changing drop speeds and measuring the output,” said Gerace. “It’s trial and error, but it’s all being done in a controlled fashion. Once we get it to a point where it’s running satisfactorily at a higher rate, we’ll write an SSOP for that and train the operators.”

Members of the brown sugar DMAIC team are: Jay Matherne, supervisor; Troy Chabaud, maintenance; Becky Moderson, operator; Corwin Williams, brown sugar shover; Dwayne Dumas, technician; Tara Louque, administrative assistant; Stephen Downey, Hagen & Company consultant.