Identifying and Prioritizing Improvement Opportunities with Poka Analytics at Barry Callebaut
Poka Analytics has played a pivotal role in revolutionizing continuous improvement at Barry Callebaut, a leading chocolate manufacturing company. Ailana Pereira, CI & Reliability Manager in Brazil, sheds light on their journey in implementing data-driven practices to enhance decision-making and operational efficiency. Poka’s Connected Worker app integrates data from plants in multiple regions, allowing them to connect and standardize their CI initiatives.
Challenges
Alaina emphasized that at Barry Callebaut, “data analysis is the basis for everything.” Big factory or small, there are infinite ways to improve. Rigorous data analysis prioritizes which projects they choose to start and forms the foundation for better decision-making.
Transitioning to Poka meant doing away with manual paper-based forms. However, staff still had to take additional steps to extract and manipulate the information collected in all their digital forms. Poka’s integrated Analytics is the second half of the equation, completing the data capture and insights process.
Implementation of Poka Analytics
She introduced three impactful cases where Poka Analytics transformed their approach:
Foreign Material Reporting:
- Previously, data on foreign material found in the shop floor was collected via digital forms; then downloaded from Poka, pasted into Google Sheets, and analyzed using Power BI. It took up to 20 minutes per day to run the reports needed for daily meetings.
- Poka analytics enabled the creation of in-app dashboards, automating the entire process, saving time, and providing real-time insights.
5S Audits:
- Multiple production areas and countries used the same 5S form. Every form had to be downloaded and aggregated to track deviations and ensure audit completion, requiring a sprawling spreadsheet with multiple tabs and dynamic tables to examine the data.
- Now a single dashboard can manage this large quantity of information.
- Reports can be delivered by email to relevant individuals, on their preferred schedule.
Skills Matrix:
- Poka analytics empowered the creation of a comprehensive dashboard that brought together all plant employees and their current skills into a single matrix.
- Customizable formulas and formatting highlight gaps in endorsements and potentially missing trainings, reducing data treatment time from an hour a week to just the time it takes to skim the report.
- The HR team can more quickly make decisions and follow up with plant employees.
Results and Achievements
The implementation of Poka analytics resulted in significant improvements:
Improved Data Analysis
- Enhanced decision-making capabilities by providing a clear and consolidated view of data.
- Increased efficiency in data processing, leading to more informed and timely decisions.
Increased Integration
- Consolidate information from multiple sources into a single dashboard.
- Flexibility to view information across different periods to assess short and long-term trends.
Time and Resource Savings
- Drastic reduction in the time spent on data processing and analysis.
- Increased resource availability for strategic initiatives and daily decision-making.
We improved our data analysis and decision-making with Poka Analytics because everything is easier to see, easier to treat, and then to make decisions with this information.
Ailana Pereira
Reliability and Continuous Improvement
Conclusion
Barry Callebaut’s switch from manual processes to automated dashboards not only saves time and resources but has also empowered the company to make more informed decisions. This story serves as a testament to the potential of Poka Analytics in optimizing operations and fostering a culture of continuous improvement.