Partnership with Kaizen Institute
13% increase in productivity in Production and 12% in Logistics: these are the clearest results after applying the Kaizen Methodology at Adega de Borba.
Within the scope of “Projecto Mais Indústria + Produtividade” (More Industry, More Productivity Project) from the Associação Industrial Portuguesa (AIP, Portuguese Industrial Association), in a partnership with the Kaizen Institute, Adega de Borba has started to implement this improvement programme from Japan in January 2014. The goal is to strengthen its level of competitiveness. The project focussed on areas like Production, Planning, Logistics, Maintenance and Procurement, being later applied to support areas (Marketing, Winery, Administrative and Financial Services).
“A year and a half later, the results showed the success after the implementation of this methodology: reducing overtime in 18%, increasing productivity in 13% in production and increasing productivity in Logistics by 12%”, says Helena Ferreira, Production and Quality Manager at Adega de Borba.
Maintaining its strategy to be on the forefront of change, Adega de Borba has invested in the Kaizen programme to guarantee a greater efficiency in the various working processes on a daily basis, thus eliminating waste and reducing costs.
“This was an important step for Adega de Borba, the Kaizen Methodology allowed to consolidate our biggest goal: to supply a quality product to our consumers and an excellent service to our clients”, states Helena Ferreira, Production and Quality Manager at Adega de Borba.
One of the main characteristics of the Kaizen Project is the involvement of all coworkers from Adega de Borba, which has also fostered a change in culture and behavious,
“One of the main results of this project was the cultural turn of the employees from all the departments in the company who actually see the continuous improvement as a goal to achieve as a team and a goal to achieve”, states Helena Ferreira, Production and Quality Manager at Adega de Borba.
Widely applied and followed at an international level in the restructure and optimisation of production processes, the Kaizen Philosophy is a Japanese model for continuous improvement. Kaizen means change for the best, every day, in every department, involving all employees.
The philosophy “Continuous improvement” entails some key elements which have to be accepted by all the employees as, for example, see opportunities for improvements in problems, bet on change in slight routines, question everything without paradigms or eliminate/reduce waste, among others.
The Kaizen Institute
The Kaizen Institute was founded in 1985 by Masaaki Imai, Japanese guru of management and pioneer in modern operational excellence. The Kaizen Institute praises the original Lean management consultancy.
Composed by over 40 local offices, the Kaizen Institute team applies the Lean methodologies to every sector and defends that success is not only about tangible financial results, but also about developing people who are able to support them, while being part of this kind of system. The Kaizen Institute team lives the Kaizen values actively through the transfer of knowledge and skills for the teams of clients and their constant search for continuous improvement.
Adega de Borba’s website www.adegaborba.pt and online shop www.adegaborba.pt/loja
About Adega de Borba
Founded in 1955 Adega de Borba is a cooperative of 300 wine growers who cultivate around 2,000 hectares of vine (70% red grapes and 30% white grapes), an annual volume of one million cases of 9 litres. Adega de Borba is one of the 10 biggest wine producers in the country.
Within its portfolio some of the more distinctive wines are Adega de Borba DOC, one of the top selling wines in Portugal within its segment, the iconic Adega de Borba Reserva “Rótulo de Cortiça”, a brand that is over 45 years old and one of the most important hallmarks from the Alentejo region, the historical Montes Claros, a brand which dates back to 1945, one the first names to be distinguished by its unique quality in Portugal, Convento da Vila which is widely known for its value for money, and the most recent range of single varietals under the name Senses. In 2014 Adega de Borba was awarded with 52 medals in all national and international competitions held that year. It is a pioneer in innovation within its category, having been integrated the Innovation network of SMBs from COTEC and received the status of Excellence SMB awarded by IAPMEI.