20 years. 20 stories of improvement.
As part of our 20th anniversary, we spoke with Ramón Cros, Continuous Improvement Manager at Noel Alimentaria, a family-owned food group with a presence in over 60 countries. He shared how Lean has enabled them to deploy a culture of continuous improvement across all their plants, increase efficiency, and strengthen team engagement, with results that have a direct impact on the business.
What made you decide to implement Lean in your company?
A strategic vision from our general management to promote and develop a culture of continuous improvement at Noel and begin exploring the Lean methodology, along with the requirement from a key international client to have a Lean management system in place in order to become one of their preferred suppliers.
What results have you achieved through the implementation of Lean?
We’ve created and rolled out a culture of continuous improvement across all Noel plants, with the participation and commitment of our team members, who generate over 600 improvement ideas each year. It also helps us communicate in an agile, efficient, and effective way.
In addition, by working closely with the teams in the different plants, we’ve achieved more than a 20% increase in efficiency, improved product yield, and reduced waste by more than two percentage points. We’ve also shortened lead times and decreased customer complaints. All of this has had a direct impact on EBITDA amounting to several million euros.
What was the key moment or highlight of the project?
The success of the first pilot implementation was key and encouraged the plant teams themselves to continue down this path and start working on continuous improvement. Naturally, achieving quick results with a direct impact on EBITDA was also very important.
Why did you choose SGS PRODUCTIVITY?
As a trusted and experienced reference in Lean and continuous improvement. The initial meetings and approach, as well as the training provided to the management team explaining the Lean management system, were very convincing and clearly revealed the need and value it could bring to Noel.
Learning about other companies’ experiences through your team and your strong commitment to results were also key factors.
Can you share an anecdote you’ve experienced with SGS Productivity?
More than a single anecdote, I’d like to highlight that the SGS PRODUCTIVITY team has been an integral part of Noel’s continuous improvement team and plant teams.
Especially during the intense initial phase, we went through the challenge of certification with our key client together, struggling a bit and celebrating the accreditation side by side. You have been, and still are, part of the team.
In what ways has your team evolved over the course of the project?
El liderazgo de dirección es clave, y ahora la mejora continua ya está integrada en el ADN de Noel. Asimismo, los equipos de las plantas y el propio equipo de mejora continua han crecido mucho en conocimientos y experiencia para poder ser autónomos y realizar talleres y proyectos de mayor complejidad. Es importante destacar que hemos creado un programa de formación de mejora continua específico en nuestra academia de formación, Noel Academy, para sensibilizar y formar a muchos de nuestros empleados y facilitar su implicación y su participación como elemento clave para crear cultura de mejora continua.
If you had to define your collaboration with SGS Productivity in one sentence… what would it be?
They are part of our team, bringing knowledge and experience, helping us grow and improve our model, and staying fully committed to results.