Brewing brilliance: Infor MES refines Taylors of Harrogate’s operations

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Taylors unlocks data-driven growth with Infor MES

Since 1886, tea and coffee expert Taylors of Harrogate has treated each step of the beverage experience as an art form. From the quality of the farms it sources its tea and coffee from, to the attention to detail it brings to each blend and roast.

With sustained global growth on the horizon, Taylors needed to look inward to identify systems to support the evolution of the business. Did a company that prides itself on crafting outstanding tea and coffee have the digital tools and infrastructure in place to make the company more efficient than ever? By using Infor MES, they did that and more.

Industry
- Food and Beverage
Product
- Infor MES

In a few months, Infor MES has fundamentally changed the way we work.

Lee Stephenson

Operational Excellence Lead, Taylors of Harrogate

Infor MES automated Taylors’ data collection

With Infor MES, Taylors was able to automate the data collection that was previously manual, ensuring helpful and easy-to-comprehend production information was available in real-time.

Rapid response times enabled by Infor MES

Infor MES helped Taylors evaluate production lines and product quality, identifying issues almost instantly and remedying them soon after.

Improved efficiency and reduced waste

With Infor MES, Taylors quickly identified opportunities to reduce waste and costs, improving its efficiency by up to 14%.

Challenge

From manual data collection to maximizing capacity for 32,000 tea bags a minute

Operating from a single site with manual performance tracking, Taylor faced lengthy delays in detecting and resolving production issues, leading to frequent inefficiencies.

Operational efficiency is a must for Taylors to keep up with demand and growth. In fact, “process” – one defined by Swiss precision and rooted in relentless operational excellence – is one of the “Six Ps” that serve as Taylors’ core values. With just one production site housing 16 tea-packaging machines, Taylors produces up to 2,000 tea bags per machine per minute. But their previous method of accessing and tracking data behind overall operational performance needed an update.

“We didn’t capture every single stop. We only captured the big chunky issues (like long stoppages),” said Stephenson. “[And] sometimes the smallest stops are more impactful than the biggest ones.”

To be truly efficient, Stephenson knew Taylors needed an all-encompassing software platform that would automate data collection and digitize manufacturing operations.

I want to know what’s happening every second of every minute so I can make a decision swiftly within a minute, and then within an hour, theoretically, you’ve then got a corrective action in place.

Lee Stephenson

Operational Excellence Lead, Taylors of Harrogate

Infor Solution

Taylors Crafts Perfection and Growth with Infor MES

Infor MES provides Taylors of Harrogate with effective synchronization of factory operations and real-time visibility, from the shop floor to the top floor. The breadth of functionality and ease of configuration of Infor MES also offer a flexible approach to digital transformation and smart manufacturing.

Working with the Infor MES team, Taylors formed an implementation team to build customizable dashboards and reports, ultimately providing a rich reporting library that displays live information in an accessible and helpful way. Taylors could instantly identify where performance gains could be made. For instance, Taylors could locate machines running below optimal speeds and immediately make the required adjustments to improve performance. They could also pinpoint quality issues before they occurred, reducing waste and associated costs. Above all, Infor MES provided Taylors with a customizable and self-sufficient system that allowed them to build their own dashboards suited to their processes. They could now monitor product, inventory, and quality operations at a more granular level. The results were near-instant, with Taylors making a return on investment within the span of a year once all cells were live.

“User adoption has been seamless and with real data, we are already making improvements that are positively impacting our business,” said Stephenson.

OUTCOME

Taylors of Harrogate’s production capabilities modernized by Infor MES

Integrating Infor MES helped Taylors achieve its goal of developing best-in-class operations, modernizing its production capabilities, and becoming an altogether more efficient manufacturer.

Challenge

Taylors’ manual approach to tracking operation performance often caused delays and waste, impacting overall efficiency.

Infor Solution

Infor MES enabled automated data collection, providing real-time insights and optimizing plant floor efficiency.

Outcome

Taylors modernized its production capabilities, resulting in an increased efficiency of up to 14%.

DOWNLOAD THE CUSTOMER STORY

Taylors of Harrogate brews efficiency with Infor MES

Download this case study to uncover how Taylors of Harrogate utilized Infor MES to enhance their blending and packing process, achieving operational excellence with best-in-class operations.

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Brewing brilliance: Infor MES refines Taylors of Harrogate’s operations

Taylors unlocks data-driven growth with Infor MES

Infor MES automated Taylors’ data collection