General Management

M&J Seafood is part of Brake Bros, suppliers of food products to the catering industry. The company produces the entire filleted salmon output for the whole group at its Fleetwood factory. Some 3,000 tonnes of filleted salmon are produced annually from two automated filleting lines at the site, which employs around 80 people, and has an annual turnover of approximately £22 million.
The company heard about the Productivity Reviews that are available free to all companies within the Lancashire West area and decided to undertake one to see if they could benefit. The review with John Clifford, a Productivity Centre consultant, identified that the central area for improvement at M&J Seafood was the consumption of water in the production process. Limitations on the mains water supply into the site reduced the operating efficiency of the production line and prevented maximum output from being achieved.

An audit of water usage was carried out by Productivity Centre staff, using simple equipment, to determine exactly how much water was used at each of the production stages. The audit showed that the actual consumption of water through the production process differed significantly from the design parameters of the equipment.
A number of specific opportunities for immediate reduction in consumption were identified, mostly involving little or no capital expenditure. Other potential opportunities were noted where more detailed investigation would be required to ensure that product quality would not be adversely affected.
In parallel with the water audit, a programme of regular meter reading was instituted to allow both measurement of improvement and early identification of any future problems of leakage or overuse of water.

The difference became apparent almost immediately. Previously, it had not been possible to operate both lines at full capacity simultaneously. But reducing excess water use at certain stages of processing has eliminated this problem entirely, increasing the total factory capacity by 30%.
M&J Seafood General Manager Alan Green said: "The Productivity Centre did an excellent job. We were not so much interested in reducing costs as in being able to operate the factory efficiently. The work of the Productivity Centre has allowed us to do that."