Here, at Tennessee Bun Co., we were approached by a customer who was looking for a supplier of buns, which sounds easy enough, because after all, we produce buns. The challenge presented to us involved packaging for these buns, as the customer’s operation required special handling. This means we needed to slice the buns, pack a specified amount of them into chipboard trays, stack the trays together and overwrap the stacks before placing them into shipping containers. We have packaged our buns using bulk wrappers and bagging equipment, but never tray-packed and stacked buns in this manner. The packaging process sounded like it might be a real challenge in order to make this project work.
Our first hurdle started with the chipboard tray, the most critical component in the process. Working with our supply chain partner, we sourced a tray that met the customer’s criteria. But we were unable to find packaging equipment that could place the sliced buns into the tray, which meant we would be required to place the buns in the trays by hand. We chose a pre-glued tray that allowed operators to open the trays in one fluid motion before placing the buns inside. The tray allowed the operators to meet time limitations that we calculated from our methods time measurement study. But each tray had to be opened, filled and moved within six seconds in order to achieve a run rate necessary to meet a target cost.