www.laurasinternational.com

“Before Lauras came I was facing a £2million factoryextension project as my only solution for growth”

ProfileWhitby Seafoods is an independent private company, founded in 1985,employing 140 people in the North Yorkshire fishing port of Whitby Specialisingin frozen seafood coated in batter and breadcrumbs, the business processesup to 3300 tonnes each year and realises an annual turnover of over £15 millionacross the UK in both food service and retail sectors.

BackgroundWhitby Seafoods had been growing rapidly and despite acquiring MiddletonSeafoods in 2007, the business was struggling for capacity to meet the projectedsales growth. There were also some issues with production planning and rawmaterial yields.

MethodologyLauras International undertook a detailed assessment of the plant and theplanning processes. From this they ran a series of three workshops with groupsfrom the production lines. Each workshop solved different problems which werelimiting output and yield. Their “See one, Try one, Do one” approach meant thatthe factory CI champion was fully trained and has continued to deliver resultsusing the Lauras methods.

Factory output has improved from around 600kg / hour to an average of over750kg per hour and, with the improved planning, periods of 900kg / hour havebeen achieved. Yield improvements of between two and five percent have beendelivered. As well as significantly increasing sales and margin this project hasallowed a rethink of capital expenditure.

“I would recommend Lauras International to any food manufacturing business whichwants to achieve rapid and sustainableproductivity improvement”Graham Whittle, Managing Director, Whitby Seafoods August 2009

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