Golden Wonder, No wonder they’re good

Manufacturing in Action, Source : The Manufacturer
Published : March 2005
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Sam Allen takes a look at some of the processes involved with making one of the country’s favourite snacks

Here’s one for all setters of trivia quiz questions. What is the thickness of a Golden Wonder crisp? Answer: .053 inches, plus or minus three thousandths of an inch.

Control of this and a thousand other miniscule details are the watchword of Nigel Smith general manager of the Scunthorpe crisp factory. The overall target for here, and sister plant in Corby, is to turn them into world standard concerns. “We’re not there yet,” admitted Smith, “but we are working hard to establish the highest possible standards in the five pillars of measurement by which we judge our performance.”

In no particular order of priority, these are: quality, safety, service, cost and people. Quality, as measured by complaints received, is already half the industry benchmark of 10 per million units sold. A ridiculously small percentage in itself but even more impressive when you remember that with a production throughput of 3300 kg of fried crisps per hour and multiple bagging machines working at 120 packs per minute, it only requires the slightest blip to affect a relatively large number of packets.

“We rarely get isolated complaints,” explained Smith, “rather they come in batches. For the industry as a whole flavour has traditionally been the number one cause of complaints. It only takes a three or four second flavour blockage and you haven’t just got one potential complaint but dozens. By working hard with the control and hardware companies such as KMG and MCS, we have put flavour problems back into second or third spot.”

Unlike most famous FMCG products, Golden Wonder is not part of a huge portfolio of brands. Instead, it is owned by Longulf, who’s only other business interest is the Cepac cardboard packaging producer. Even so, the two factories are run like independent operations with their own business leaders responsible for results but all reporting in a common manner and operating a common philosophy shared by its general managers.

The process of making crisps is quite technical. Being a natural product the potatoes can vary enormously depending on the variety, age and the way it has been stored. Special peelers are used to reduce the discarded white flesh to a minimum. The potatoes are then sliced to wafer thinness and washed to remove the starch. Finally, the slices are air dried to remove excess moisture.

Scunthorpe has two crisp frying units, each nine metres in length by a couple wide and holding 4500 kg of oil. “We’re conscious of health considerations,” said Smith. “Two years ago we switched from palm olein oil to sunflower for our Golden Wonder brand and our supermarket brands are now reviewing this and in some cases have changed. It’s more expensive, but has higher poly-unsaturated levels. We minimise the price difference by tight control of the frying process.”

The key here is restricting free fatty acids (FFA) to less than 0.30 per cent by not allowing the oil to come into contact with oxygen while cooking. Above this level, the oil decays rapidly but below 0.30, it’s possible to continually replenish the small quantity of oil that is absorbed by each crisp.

Once cooked, everything becomes brittle and susceptible to damage. Breakage is minimised by using a vibrating conveyor instead of a tradition belt conveyor. Gentle harmonics shuffle the crisps along a solid stainless steel bed. By varying the frequency, different sized and shaped products can be handled by the same machinery giving the line the flexibility to pack crisps and snacks. Similarly, packing lines have been designed to cope with the widely varying demands of different product lines.

The most common problem for all crisp manufacturers is getting a good seal on the pack. It’s estimated that two per cent of all product is rejected for this reason. Golden Wonder has recently employed two materials conversion specialists, whose task it to make the necessary changes to the process.

Although operators and managers have long had the tools to measure efficiency, waste and rejects on an hourly basis and then take the necessary action, there has been no way of bringing these factors together. It’s hoped that the Gemba’s OEE system on order will draw the stands together and allow Golden Wonder to continue on its journey to becoming a world class manufacturer.

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