‘Good communication within the organization is fundamental to achieving optimal operating results,’ says Richard van der Looij, Cargill plant manager at Sas van Gent.

‘Cargill’s strategy in recent years has been driven by customer focus, optimal operating results and innovation. Leadership through training and education for our people forms the basis for this strategy. In recent years innovation has been in the spotlight all over the world, and Sas van Gent is no exception. The introduction of a new electronic shift system (ShiftCliq™) for improving communication in production was an important element in our overall communication plan.’

The Cargill plant in Sas van Gent processes about 250,000 tonnes of maize and 750,000 tonnes of wheat every year. The products are shipped throughout Europe and can be found in soups, sauces, soft drinks, biscuits and other foodstuffs. The location consists of four separate factories plus a separate packaging and transhipment department. In 2004 management and staff agreed that the communication within production and operations was capable of improvement.

‘I myself had no overall view of what was happening in the factories,’ Van der Looij says. ‘I did not want to keep bothering people, but dropping in to have a look myself was not an option either. What’s more, each department had its own way of communicating and its own communication priorities.’

‘A few factories made use of Kijkwijzer, an Excel-based electronic shift book,’ says Henk Bogema, head operator and the brain behind this first electronic shift book. ‘Kijkwijzer was a splendid start, but after 10 years of service it was clear that we needed to make rigorous improvements.’

‘The new shift book software goes beyond merely making shift reports,’ Hans Vercouteren, maize superintendent, explains. ‘In a special internal task force we first of all defined best practices for our new communication structure together with iBanx. Arrangements were made across the units about the use of day reports, detailed reports and shift reports. The consolidated arrangements formed the basis for developing the electronic shift system. The software was developed through a step-by-step improvement process by iBanx. In February 2006 we started using the system without any major problems.’

Tasks and misunderstandings
‘One of the biggest improvements was the disappearance of the hand-written shift books and the loose lists that used to be left lying about,’ says Bogema. ‘What’s more, ShiftCliq™ enables us to share out tasks so that the operators know exactly when what must happen. Sampling is a good example of this. Now we always know exactly when and with what frequency specific samples must be taken, even when an operator is doing his first round after two weeks holiday. The tasks are also much clearer now. What used to happen was that someone would give a colleague instructions for a task. He would pass this on to the head operator who, in turn, would tell it to his shift. By that time, of course, the nature of the job had changed. It’s a well-known problem. Now the tasks are described in ShiftCliq™, so there is always a single point of reference, which leaves considerably less room for misunderstandings.’

Availability
‘The production history is now also easy to trace with ShiftCliq™,’ says Bogema. In the old days, you had to read through each and every shift book. Now information is available to everyone in the factory at any time. This creates more openness with operations and production, but also towards departments such as logistics. They can keep an eye on what is happening at the factories in order to plan and schedule their own activities. By looking at the data and reports in ShiftCliq™, they can now draw their own conclusions. So the new shift system also leads to greater understanding between the departments.’

Already commonplace
‘There has been a radical change in the way we communicate. The new communication system has been given a place of its own within the organization,’ says Bogema. ‘At first, you would reach for a piece of paper every time something needed to be noted down; now we all say: “Can’t we put that in ShiftCliq™?” It has made the employees more committed and cooperative and people take more responsibilities.’

Innovation
‘And the development of the electronic shift system has not stopped there,’ says Vercouteren. ‘Thanks to the uniform set-up of this shift system, the possibilities are endless. We now also regularly get suggestions from the factory. Sometimes the ideas are really wild and would mean iBanx writing an entirely new program, but we still include the suggestions as best we can in our shopping list for the next version of ShiftCliq.’

‘The communication around the production has been standardized and has become much more reliable,’ says Van der Looij. ‘Each department makes use of the same system. The reporting procedure has become much clearer. The implementation of the new electronic shift system marks a big step forwards in terms of communication innovation. It’s a step that’s entirely in line with the overall Cargill strategy.’

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