Improvement and optimization in the packaging lines of the frozen fish company marcabo Lda.

Abstract

In the food industry, the importance of ensuring the maximum possible quality of finished products has increasingly become one of the key objectives in organizations operating in this sector but using the tools to get a better product with good quality is a challenge. For this challenge, it was used a methodology called Six Sigma, which has the objective of reducing defective products. This methodology was applied for 21 days to packed frozen products (all of them fish and cephalopods) aiming at increasing quality. Three production lines were the target, designated as “Cefalópodes”, “Ensacadora” and “Higienização” lines. The DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control) cycle was applied and supported by tools and quality techniques throughout all its phases. The Sigma level obtained in the Measure phase was 4.57 for “Cefalópodes” line, 3.37 for “Ensacadora” line and 4.05 for “Higienização” line. The ideal Sigma level would be equal to 6, which corresponds to 3.4 non-compliant products (in this case with a good packaging system/control procedure above the one considered acceptable) in one million products. However, in this first approach, it would be unrealistic to reach level 6 on the Sigma scale due to its sensitivity and constraints, so it was pointed out to reach at least level 5. Nevertheless, the production in the company increased although it was difficult to follow the products and increase the Sigma level. In the Analyze phase, the most probable causes of the problem were analyzed, and actions were selected in the Improve phase. The identified causes had origin mainly in the production lines where solutions/improvements consist in restructuring the production, quality, and maintenance plans to attain a more efficient production cycle without delays in the lines. These solutions proved to be the most appropriate ones, approaching the critical points of the problem, and increasing the Sigma level. In the Control phase, we sought to gather measures and suggestions so that possible improvements can be implemented continuously and that actions can be implemented in the future to stabilize the processes as much as possible.

Date of Award	19 Dec 2022
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	João Tiago Ribeiro Mendes Peixoto (Supervisor)