The Effect-Cause-Effect Flow: Dilemma at Benevento Foods

Benevento Foods Case study
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Benevento Foods Case study
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The Effect-Cause-Effect Flow
The problem stems from three root causes. First, the high volume output and introduction of complex products has affected the operations of the company. Second, there is increased pressure to deliver on time, which is caused by the high demand from customers and the slow truck transit that could result in delays. Consequently, the company is forced to speed up the production process to reduce chances of delays by deploying the orders early. The last root cause is pressure to minimize disruption of production in order to meet the high customer demand. The three root causes have resulted in poor maintenance and inspection of machines and equipment. There have been complaints by operators that the maintenance personnel report to work late and then do a very poor job of keeping the machines working.
Consequently, most machines breakdown after one day in operation. Operators are forced to fix the machines themselves to meet deadlines, which is unfortunate since they do not have the required skills and training. Others resort to do their work manually, which reduces production speed and results in errors. Since the production process goes through stages chronologically, it becomes exceedingly hard for operators to complete their work manually within the stipulated time. Consequently, operations in succeeding stages usually start late and operators are forced to rush through the whole process to meet deadlines. As a result, most operators skip some crucial procedures that are vital for the quality of the products. The problem is compounded further by the introduction of complex products that make the process harder for operators working manually. Thus, foreign material contamination in the baking mixes was caused by a series of factors that led to quality issues in the baking mixes.
Causal Loop Diagram
Causal Loop Diagram Flow
Benevento Foods’ strategic advantage is the production of custom baking mixes that cater to different customer needs. The company utilizes information from customer feedback and its Research and Development (R&D) department to develop the right quality of baking mixes. Consequently, it experienced exponential growth that allowed it to develop new product lines and expand to new markets, including Mexico and Japan. However, due to the high production pressure, the company’s machines were constrained beyond their capacity leading to regularly breakdowns. Machine operators resorted to working manually to meet the high demand. The manual approach resulted in delays at each stage of production, which forced operators in succeeding operations to ignore various procedures that are necessary in the process in order to beat the deadline.
Consequently, there were errors in the whole process which resulted in foreign material contamination of baking mixes. Investment of new company machines remains the most plausible solution for the decline in quality. The company instead decided to hire maintenance personnel to inspect and repair the machines. However, poor maintenance practices did not solve the problem as the machines malfunctione...