The Client
As a family-run artisan bakery, Première Moisson prides itself on providing customers with the ultimate buying experience. The company has built this reputation by embracing emerging trends and staying a step ahead of consumer tastes.
Two primary initiatives were identified to help solidify this leadership position. These include the support of sound agricultural development in the home market, beginning with the growing of exclusive varieties of wheat. And, investing in innovation to optimize efficiency and ensure a high level of quality in all company development, production, management, and marketing processes.
The Challenge
Production and process efficiency improvements are key to any forward-thinking manufacturing company. And so, with major equipment upgrades planned to automate selected production lines, Première Moisson had to ensure that the investments would generate the improvements needed to achieve its lofty productivity and efficiency goals. Specifically, the objective was to increase equipment availability while maintaining high production levels of up to 15,000 units per hour.
VP Operations, Dave Lamothe, and Production Director, Marie-Christine Lussier had specific goals in mind to gain better control over various plant lines and ensure that production targets were met. To achieve this, access to reliable production data would be key. At the same time, it was recognized that providing front-line workers with real-time feedback in the form of alarms and e-mails would help maintain production goals.
"The overall production picture obtained through Worximity’s solutions allow us to identify where our main downtimes are and to understand what actions we need to take to improve."
The Solution
Like a growing number of manufacturers, Première Moisson found the answer in digital transformation with Worximity’s manufacturing software. The Montreal-based company supports manufacturers in boosting performance by arming every level of the organization with the tools they need to perform better. Worximity enables teams across the entire business with real-time production monitoring, data analytics, and concrete improvement opportunities.
An article on Food Navigator.com (Smart Manufacturing can make all the difference: How Tech is transforming food production) echoes the impact of leveraging manufacturing software to reduce downtime and enhance process improvement: “…when new challenges present themselves, food makers can avoid downtime and optimize processes in a way that was previously unimaginable.” The article goes on to say: “Through smart manufacturing, data can be leveraged to improve competitiveness and unlock significant productivity gains, effectively shining a light on waste that manufacturers would have struggled to identify.”
After working with the client to identify critical downtime and productivity KPIs, Worximity installed smart sensors on an industrial guillotine and at the end of bread and pastry production lines. Optical sensors measured units with accuracy and reliability providing Première Moisson with the real-time production data they needed to be more responsive and make informed decisions.
Computers were used throughout the plant to track downtimes, and their causes while strategically placed monitors displayed real-time production metrics such as availability and efficiency throughout the factory. Providing an overall snapshot of production performance would allow productivity to be increased without adding resources.
The Results
Thanks to Worximity’s manufacturing software solution, management at Première Moisson has a precise and on-demand picture of current operations throughout the plant. Within months of implementation, the company achieved record efficiency and measurable improvements across all production KPIs:
• Productivity increased by 58%
• Equipment downtime decreased by 70%
• Cost of downtime dropped 20%
Dave Lamothe explained that monitoring production in real-time, allows Première Moisson to do more with less essentially transforming operations into a more efficient and profitable factory.
“The overall production picture obtained through Worximity’s solutions allow us to identify where our main downtimes are and to understand what actions we need to take to improve,” he said.
Building upon this success, Worximity’s solution was installed on additional production lines. Today, by leveraging insights gained with Worximity, Première Moisson continues to set the pace in retail baking with ongoing improvements to production and process efficiency. And these steps are having a measurable impact on the bottom line as the company has grown to 28 bakeries throughout Greater Montreal, Quebec City, and the Ottawa-Gatineau region.
