The present GMP model has been developed at Paulig over the years. With the help of the method previously in use, attention was paid to issues affecting safety on the job, such as orderliness and tidiness, machinery and equipment safety, ergonomics and safe movement. The GMP model formulated from this also included things like waste sorting. Last year, the roastery also began to use the 5S system based on 'lean' thinking, which was originally employed successfully at the Toyota automotive plant in Japan and elsewhere.

According to the lean philosophy, waste and extra effort should be reduced in everything you do. At the Paulig roastery, this means, for example, keeping order so that everything has its carefully considered place, whether it's a cleaning utensil, waste container, castor pallet, packaging pallet or a packaging line user's phone. The places for all objects and goods are marked on the floor or other surface with a blue line.

Monthly GMP inspection tours routinely run through a list of places where attention is paid to general tidiness, the orderliness of supplies, and safety. The inspection is done in different parts of the roastery, such as the roasting hall, the grinding room, the packaging hall or warehouses .

The method was further developed starting in 2013. The tours are always carried out by the same designated person, who is not personally in charge of the inspected areas' activities. This made the inspections more objective. The right things come out when the same person assigns points on the same scale. Also accompanying every tour is the foreman for each area so that any deficiencies can be conferred on and tackled without delay. Quality surveillance has also meant an improvement in things like safety issues, and overall tidiness has improved in the various sections of the roastery. Points allocation also serves as a benchmark for the personnel's bonuses.

The overall appearance of the roasting hall has become even tidier since the inspection tours came into play.

 

Cleaning equipment is stored in a movable rack in a designated location.

 

Under scrutiny here on the monthly inspection tour by Quality System Coordinator Eija Peltokorvi are these waste bins in the packaging hall: does sorting work smoothly?

 

A designated place is being painted for laminate trolleys, but at the same time a safety risk has been caused inadvertently by protecting the painted spot with upraised pallets. This time, the GMP tour recorded a caveat as well as a positive observation from one and the same point.

 

A laminate trolley is ready to go from its marked location in the packaging hall.

 

The packaging line user's tools are neatly in their places.

 

The waste bins are in the designated spot but where's the dustpan?