Customer demand was projected to rise 31%, but the plant was moving in the opposite direction. Utilization had dropped from a historical average of 70% to between 30 and 40 percent, dragged down by severe unplanned downtime, ongoing labor shortages, and poor visibility into whether the raw materials needed to run were even on hand. Capacity was slipping at exactly the moment the business needed more of it.
A major beverage manufacturer reversed a collapsing line into a 7% year-over-year output gain, with demand projected up 31% and utilization down to 30-40%, by rebuilding how the plant ran on every shift rather than running on memory and guesswork.
Major Beverage Manufacturer, Two Plants
Results at a Glance
7%
YOY Output Gain
46% to 76%
Mechanic Utilization
23% to 88%
Material Location Accuracy
Executive Brief
With customer demand projected to rise 31%, this major beverage manufacturer was losing ground in the opposite direction, as utilization fell from a historical 70% average to 30-40% under severe unplanned downtime, labor shortages, and poor visibility into raw materials. POWERS rebuilt the operating system end to end: Centerline changeover standards, structured CIP checklists, Short Interval Follow-Up routines, daily mechanic work plans, project-based shutdown planning, overhauled receiving and inventory controls, and a Digital Production System framework. The result was a 7% year-over-year gain in overall plant equivalent cases, mechanic utilization up from 46% to 76%, material location accuracy up from 23% to 88%, and maintenance work-order execution to schedule up from 40% to 88%.
The Situation
Operations were being held together with guesswork and outdated habits, just as demand was about to climb and capacity was already slipping the wrong way.
Customer demand was projected to rise 31%, but the plant was moving in the opposite direction. Utilization had dropped from a historical average of 70% to between 30 and 40 percent, dragged down by severe unplanned downtime, ongoing labor shortages, and poor visibility into whether the raw materials needed to run were even on hand. Capacity was slipping at exactly the moment the business needed more of it.
Underneath the symptoms was a deeper structural problem. The plant lacked standard processes, did not track performance in real time, and struggled with basic coordination between operations, maintenance, and planning. Changeovers ran on memory, CIP durations hid inside planned downtime, maintenance was purely reactive, and material location accuracy sat at 23%. Each function was solving its own problem in isolation, and the variation had room to compound.
Leadership recognized that their internal efforts were not enough. What the operation needed was not a one-time fix but a system: standard work that held across shifts, real-time visibility that surfaced problems early, and the coordination to align production, maintenance, CIP, and inventory against rising demand.
The Diagnosis
Five structural gaps producing the same outcome from five directions.
Changeovers run on memory
With no Centerline settings, operators relied on personal experience to stabilize the line, often wasting hours across shift changes just to reach full speed. Every changeover started from scratch instead of from a known standard.
CIP losses hidden in planned downtime
Clean in Place had no defined steps or time targets, so extended durations ate into production hours. Because they were marked as planned downtime, the problem stayed invisible and went uncorrected.
No daily visibility or accountability
There were no consistent metrics, visual tools, or structured meetings, and no clear roles, follow-up routines, or escalation paths. Problems had nowhere to surface and no owner to close them.
Maintenance reacting instead of planning
Mechanics had no daily work plan, PMs were routinely skipped, and equipment issues lingered with no coordination between maintenance and production. Reliability degraded while effort went to firefighting.
Inventory gaps starving the line
Material location accuracy was just 23%, driving daily shortages, while incoming shipments arrived late or without paperwork and freezer space was maxed out with slow-moving and retained product. Poor planning created self-inflicted stoppages.
What POWERS Did
Rebuilt the operating system from changeovers through maintenance to inventory.
POWERS treated this as an execution and control problem rather than a capital one. Centerline standards were created for all major changeovers, developed with the people running the lines, then documented, posted, and reinforced across shifts. CIP checklists were built with expected times per step and tracked daily, with deviations flagged as unplanned downtime so the hidden losses became visible and corrective actions followed. Short Interval Follow-Up routines brought visual boards, shift huddles, and real-time issue tracking to a floor that had been running blind.
Maintenance was rebuilt in parallel. Mechanics received daily work plans prioritized by PM schedules and equipment data, shutdown planning shifted to a structured, project-based approach with Gantt charts and pre and post reviews, and a maintenance KPI dashboard gave the work real ownership. On the supply side, receiving and locating were overhauled, min/max controls were implemented, and obsolete and held inventory was cleared to stop renting extra freezer space.
Integrated scheduling then aligned production, maintenance, CIP, and changeovers, while a shared labor model flexed operators and techs across lines and internal audits and reporting were streamlined. Deployed on top of a Digital Production System framework, the cumulative effect was a plant that recovered capacity by running the same disciplined way every shift instead of relying on guesswork.
The Full Result
Six measurable gains, all earned by rebuilding daily execution, not by adding plants, headcount, or equipment.
7%
YOY Output Gain
Overall plant equivalent cases rose 7% year over year as the rebuilt operating system recovered capacity against demand projected to grow 31%.
46% to 76%
Mechanic Utilization
Mechanic utilization climbed once daily work plans set by PM schedules and equipment data replaced personal judgment, a 65% improvement over baseline.
23% to 88%
Material Location Accuracy
Overhauled receiving and locating lifted accuracy nearly fourfold, ending the self-inflicted shortages that had stalled the line daily.
40% to 88%
Maintenance Schedule Compliance
Maintenance work-order execution to schedule rose under structured, project-based shutdown planning, a 120% increase from where it started.
80%
Truck Wait-Time Reduction
Refrigerated truck wait times fell sharply after obsolete inventory was cleared and incoming shipments were coordinated against the schedule.
23% to 14%
Mechanic Overtime
Mechanic overtime dropped as planning replaced firefighting, a 39% reduction once daily work plans and reliability routines took hold.
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Equipment Reliability · Frontline Leadership · MOS · Supply Chain
A major beverage manufacturer reversed a collapsing line into a 7% year-over-year output gain, with demand projected up 31% and utilization down to 30-40%, by rebuilding how the plant ran on every shift rather than running on memory and guesswork.
Major Beverage Manufacturer, Two Plants
Executive Brief
With customer demand projected to rise 31%, this major beverage manufacturer was losing ground in the opposite direction, as utilization fell from a historical 70% average to 30-40% under severe unplanned downtime, labor shortages, and poor visibility into raw materials. POWERS rebuilt the operating system end to end: Centerline changeover standards, structured CIP checklists, Short Interval Follow-Up routines, daily mechanic work plans, project-based shutdown planning, overhauled receiving and inventory controls, and a Digital Production System framework. The result was a 7% year-over-year gain in overall plant equivalent cases, mechanic utilization up from 46% to 76%, material location accuracy up from 23% to 88%, and maintenance work-order execution to schedule up from 40% to 88%.
Results at a Glance
7%
YOY Output Gain
46% to 76%
Mechanic Utilization
23% to 88%
Material Location Accuracy
The Situation
Operations were being held together with guesswork and outdated habits, just as demand was about to climb and capacity was already slipping the wrong way.
Underneath the symptoms was a deeper structural problem. The plant lacked standard processes, did not track performance in real time, and struggled with basic coordination between operations, maintenance, and planning. Changeovers ran on memory, CIP durations hid inside planned downtime, maintenance was purely reactive, and material location accuracy sat at 23%. Each function was solving its own problem in isolation, and the variation had room to compound.
Leadership recognized that their internal efforts were not enough. What the operation needed was not a one-time fix but a system: standard work that held across shifts, real-time visibility that surfaced problems early, and the coordination to align production, maintenance, CIP, and inventory against rising demand.
The Diagnosis
Five structural gaps producing the same outcome from five directions.
Changeovers run on memory
With no Centerline settings, operators relied on personal experience to stabilize the line, often wasting hours across shift changes just to reach full speed. Every changeover started from scratch instead of from a known standard.
CIP losses hidden in planned downtime
Clean in Place had no defined steps or time targets, so extended durations ate into production hours. Because they were marked as planned downtime, the problem stayed invisible and went uncorrected.
No daily visibility or accountability
There were no consistent metrics, visual tools, or structured meetings, and no clear roles, follow-up routines, or escalation paths. Problems had nowhere to surface and no owner to close them.
Maintenance reacting instead of planning
Mechanics had no daily work plan, PMs were routinely skipped, and equipment issues lingered with no coordination between maintenance and production. Reliability degraded while effort went to firefighting.
Inventory gaps starving the line
Material location accuracy was just 23%, driving daily shortages, while incoming shipments arrived late or without paperwork and freezer space was maxed out with slow-moving and retained product. Poor planning created self-inflicted stoppages.
What POWERS Did
Rebuilt the operating system from changeovers through maintenance to inventory.
POWERS treated this as an execution and control problem rather than a capital one. Centerline standards were created for all major changeovers, developed with the people running the lines, then documented, posted, and reinforced across shifts. CIP checklists were built with expected times per step and tracked daily, with deviations flagged as unplanned downtime so the hidden losses became visible and corrective actions followed. Short Interval Follow-Up routines brought visual boards, shift huddles, and real-time issue tracking to a floor that had been running blind.
Maintenance was rebuilt in parallel. Mechanics received daily work plans prioritized by PM schedules and equipment data, shutdown planning shifted to a structured, project-based approach with Gantt charts and pre and post reviews, and a maintenance KPI dashboard gave the work real ownership. On the supply side, receiving and locating were overhauled, min/max controls were implemented, and obsolete and held inventory was cleared to stop renting extra freezer space.
Integrated scheduling then aligned production, maintenance, CIP, and changeovers, while a shared labor model flexed operators and techs across lines and internal audits and reporting were streamlined. Deployed on top of a Digital Production System framework, the cumulative effect was a plant that recovered capacity by running the same disciplined way every shift instead of relying on guesswork.
The Full Result
7%
YOY Output Gain
Overall plant equivalent cases rose 7% year over year as the rebuilt operating system recovered capacity against demand projected to grow 31%.
46% to 76%
Mechanic Utilization
Mechanic utilization climbed once daily work plans set by PM schedules and equipment data replaced personal judgment, a 65% improvement over baseline.
23% to 88%
Material Location Accuracy
Overhauled receiving and locating lifted accuracy nearly fourfold, ending the self-inflicted shortages that had stalled the line daily.
40% to 88%
Maintenance Schedule Compliance
Maintenance work-order execution to schedule rose under structured, project-based shutdown planning, a 120% increase from where it started.
80%
Truck Wait-Time Reduction
Refrigerated truck wait times fell sharply after obsolete inventory was cleared and incoming shipments were coordinated against the schedule.
23% to 14%
Mechanic Overtime
Mechanic overtime dropped as planning replaced firefighting, a 39% reduction once daily work plans and reliability routines took hold.
POWERS|+1 678-971-4711|info@thepowerscompany.com|1801 Peachtree St NE, Suite 200, Atlanta, GA 303091 / 1