Berks Packing Co., Inc., founded by the late Mr. Charles A. Boylan, is a local third-generation, family-owned and operated meat processor located in Reading, Pennsylvania. His son, Charles P. Boylan, is currently CEO, and his grandson David Boylan is president of Berks Packing Co., Inc. which employs approximately 140 dedicated people.
“MRC brings a structure and discipline that makes them an excellent place to start for training.”
– John Buckley, Director of Operations
Berks Packing, an 83-year-old, Reading-based meat processing enterprise, has been involved with MRC for several years. More recently, Director of Operations John Buckley says the company’s past success with MRC’s training led them back for Inventory/Process Improvement, Six Sigma training, and Strategic Preventive Maintenance training.
Solution
Given the perishable nature of its product, Berks Packing must be acutely aware of shelf life. When the company grew to believe they were carrying more inventory than was necessary in at least one department, while another had suspected fill rate issues, they called MRC for an Inventory/Process Improvement effort, mediating the discussion between sales, main operations, and other areas.
“MRC’s Lean Team was able to understand our process very quickly,” says Buckley. “We were able to look at discontinuing some slow-moving parts in order to optimize our inventory holdings.”
A Six Sigma training project, meanwhile, studied slicing department yields as part of a broader effort to bring operations abreast with best practices. With MRC’s help, Berks Packing was able to understand the current state and identify areas in need of improvement; that yield improvement netted $100,000 in savings.
A third effort focused on Strategic Preventative Maintenance Training offered a blend of hands-on and classroom instruction. “We were able to look at the history of our equipment, look for trends, and be proactive/predictive in our maintenance processes,” Buckley says. “Much like the Six Sigma initiative, we needed to bring the maintenance team up to the best level. It was great to have other companies and the MRC facilitator here to help with the troubleshooting of some of our equipment.”
Results
- Conducted Strategic Preventative Maintenance Training for proactive/predictive maintenance.
- Inventory and Process improvement helped Berks Packing to reduce inventory by 25-30%.
- Yield improvement studies resulted in more than $100,000 in savings.
For more information about Berks Packing, visit their website www.berksfoods.com