We had a Big Batch meeting at the Factory to share some of the data and lessons of Big Batch with everyone. If you’re interested, check out the presentation for more details on the process.

1. BIG BATCH
End of Project Report
August 2023

2. BIG BATCH WAS A PROJECT DESIGNED TO TEST
OUR PRODUCTION AND PACKAGING
CAPABILITIES.
THE IDEA BEHIND THIS WAS TO SEE IF WE
COULD RE-DESIGN OUR PRODUCTION TO BE
MORE EFFICIENT.
THE WAY WE APPROACHED THIS WAS TO
FOCUS ON MAKING ONE PRODUCT A DAY IN
PRODUCTION AND PACK ONE SKU PER WEEK
IN PACKAGING.
THE DATA GATHERED WILL HELP US
UNDERSTAND HOW TO MOVE FORWARD,
GROW THE BUSINESS AND BE MORE EFFICIENT.
SO HOW DID IT GO…

3. Production:
• 30,429 pieces of Soft As Silk run in one day
• 1,736lbs of Peanut Butter run in one day
• 4935.5lbs made in one week
• 5 batches of English run in the same timeframe as 2
batches would normally take
• Reached 21 pounds per labor hour at peak
• Packaging:
• 4460lbs packed in one week
• Reached 19.46 pounds per labor hour at peak
WE HAD
SOME
RECORD
BREAKING
DAYS!

4. WE TRACKED OUR PROGRESS IN POUNDS
AS WELL AS POUNDS PER LABOR HOUR
It’s interesting to see how pounds and labor hours fit together as well as how
Production and Packaging correlate to each other
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
W1 W2 W3 W4 W5 W6 W7 W8 W9 W10 W11
Progress Report in Pounds
Production Packaging
0
5
10
15
20
25
W1 W2 W3 W4 W5 W6 W7 W8 W9 W10 W11
Progress Report by Labor Hour
Production Packaging

5. PRODUCTION;
WHAT DID WE
LEARN?
• It was very interesting to see how multiplying batches worked
behind the scenes. We found that multiplying from our average
box count did not work for many items as it was not accurate over
larger batch numbers. Instead, we need to multiply from the
average pieces per batch to give a more accurate number.
• We got new revised data for how much we can produce per day
by product
• Streamlined production felt very efficient
• Increasing speeds really effects things. With the correct staffing
support, we managed to increase the speed on our Soft As Silk,
Good News Mint, Peanut Butter, English and Belgian over the
course of Big Batch.
• Rotating staff can make a huge difference on the feel of the day.
This new approach to rotating went hand in hand with Big Batch
and is something we will continue in the future.
• The overlap with Summer Fridays worked in our favor, having
people available for longer Mon-Thur was utilized. Having a
supervisor in at 6am on Fridays to temper and set up before 7am
made it easier and a very efficient start to the day. It did not seem
like we were losing time.
• Not having to make the smaller ‘by the piece only’ items like
orange peel and marshmallow helped us really focus on
maximizing production days
• We all need to work together as a team! We utilized people from
kitchen and packaging daily to optimize staff.

6. WE MONITORED HOW
OUR TIMING WAS
EFFECTED WHEN WE
INCREASED THE BATCH
SIZES
One thing we were weary of is that with increased
time spent on the line producing one item, as a team
we may get less efficient as the day goes on and we
produce more batches.
This is what lead us to rotate staff as much as we did.
We planned to rotate every batch or every other
batch depending on the number scheduled.
We spent a lot of time looking into the efficiency of
our batches as we multiplied them. Making Toffee in
the kitchen was noticeably less efficient during the
smaller batches due to set up, cleaning and break
down time.
We also monitored how staffing effected the timing.
A great example of this was the English Toffee. We
scheduled a regular run, then one with one more
person added and another with two more people.
You can see from the graph how this drastically
effected our timing per batch and therefore increased
efficiency.
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
1.6
1.8
Almond Toffee Hazelnut Toffee Irish Toffee English
Enrobing Toffee timing by batch
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
Almond Toffee Hazelnut Toffee Irish Toffee English
Kitchen Toffee timing by batch

7. WE ALSO TESTED THIS
SAME THING BY
SEPARATING AND
TIMING EACH BATCH OF
TOFFEE OVER ONE WEEK
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
Irish Toffee Almond Toffee English Hazelnut Toffee
Timing of each batch in a day
What we found is that with rotating as often
as we did and keeping associates ‘fresh’ our
timing did not lengthen throughout the
process as it has historically done.
The one thing we did find though was that we
need to play to associated strengths. At the
start of BB we would rotate through all team
member on the line for fairness but we found
that the timing per batch greatly varied
depending on who was loading. Example –
Batch 2 of Irish toffee is 0.58 hours vs Batch 5
of Irish is 0.95hours. This was because of the
skill set of the associate loading and setting
the pace.
As a resolution to this we discussed changing
the rotation for future schedules to include
some team members rotating into breaking
toffee or rotating into packaging instead of
rotating into loading.

8. 14.9
8.6
11.38
8.3
36.45
15.12
30.78
35.08
20.96
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Efficiency by Product
Pounds per Labor Hour
Having all this data available, we also took the opportunity to look at how
efficient our products are.
Can you guess our most efficient and least efficient product?
Answers:
Soft A Silk is most efficient being 36.45 pounds per labor
hour
Irish Toffee is the least efficient being 8.3 pounds per labor
Pounds per hour

9. PACKING;
WHAT DID
WE LEARN?
• Having the chocolate ready every week was a
huge relief. It look the pressure off and was a big
help that the team did not need to count brown
boxes weekly to confirm the following weeks
packing.
• We can accomplish more if we are not limited to
one week’s packaging and can easily go ahead.
• Everyone worked together as a team for a
stress-free work environment.
• Space in the walk-in got really tight at times, it
made it harder to pull wholesale and daily web
orders.

10. IT WAS INTERESTING
TO COMPARE
PACKING 10PC, 19PC
AND 39PC AND HOW
THAT EFFECTED
EFFICIENCY
This is something we have not looked
at in depth before and is great
knowledge to have for the growth of
the business as well as other things
such as targeted marketing, branding,
giveaways and marketing samples.
0
5
10
15
20
25
Small
items
Small
items
10pc 10pc Tortels
etc.
19pc 19pc 19pc 38pc 38pc 38pc
Efficiency by Packaging product

11. PRO’S AND
CON’S OF BIG
BATCH
CON’S
• DIFFICULT TO WORK AROUND ALL THE
BIG RACKS IN THE WALK IN
• DIFFICULT TO PULL CHOCOLATE DAILY
OR WEEKLY BECAUSE OF FULLNESS OF
WALK IN
• IT TOOK A LONG TIME TO ORGANIZE
BOTH INITIALLY AND THE WEEKLY
MANAGEMENT OF STAFF
• IT HAD A NEGETIVE EFFECT ON FIFO
AND INVENTORY DATES IN THE WALK
IN FOR BOTH BY THE PIECE ONLY TEMS
AND ASSORTMENT PRODUCTS.
PRO’S
• WE BROKE RECORDS WITH THE
AMOUNT OF CHOCOLATE WE MADE
DAILY AND WEEKLY
• IT WAS EASIER TO SCHEDULE, ONLY
MAKING ONE PRODUCT A DAY AND
ONLY PACKING ONE SKU PER WEEK
• WE MANAGED TO INCREASE
PRODUCTION SPEEDS
• THIS SHOWED US WE CAN MAKE
MORE! BOTH DAILY AND WEEKLY
THERE IS ROOM TO INCREASE IN THE
FUTURE
• PACKAGING ALWAYS HAD THE
CHOCOLATE THEY NEEDED AVAILABLE
• WE PLANNED AHEAD AND DID NOT
RUN OUT OF ANY PRODUCTS FOR
WHOLESALE OR BY THE PIECE
• THIS WILL HELP US PLAN FOR THE
FUTURE, SHOWING US A NEW
STRUCTURE TO INCREASE OUR
PRODUCTION AND PACKING
SCHEDULES

12. YOUR FEEDBACK
We asked for your feedback to help us understand the impact this had and how we could improve for the future. This is
what you had to say …
• “I think it worked well in the packaging area taking all the chocolate out on one rack”
• “I liked it because it was exciting work”
• “More time on the line meant less time for side work and cleaning”
• “I am happy to see the change y’all did and I loved every second of it”
• “Taking turns loading, taking off etc. worked really well”
• “Everything was easier with no older dates”
• “Everyone worked together as a team”
• “Not as hard as expected”
• “We were able to packaged the pallets quicker”
• “We would get out a little more tired”
• “It worked well because we didn’t feel tired because there was a change every 45 minutes”
• “Having only one product per day instead of 2 or 3 makes set up and clean up easier and faster”
• “By working together as a team, we can achieve our goal”
⭐️ The biggest feedback we got was about the racks being too big, too heavy and taking up too
much space. We did not change too much ahead of time since this was so new and unknown and
only for 8-11 weeks. We hear you and promise to alter this if we decide to do Big Batch again in

13. RESULTS FROM FEEDBACK FORMS
YOUR OPINIONS
Positive, same or Negative
Positive Same Negative
Harder, same or easier
Harder Same Easier
Overall, I feel like Big Batch was…

14. OUTCOME
• We made 30,668.7 pounds in 8 weeks!
• Average of 13.9 pounds per hour
• Average of 3833.5 pounds per week
• We packed 31,772.9 pounds in 10 weeks
• Average of 13.1 pounds per hour
• Average of 3177.2 pounds per week
YOU DID THIS AND WE
APPRECIATE ALL YOUR
EFFORTS!

15. WHERE DO WE GO FROM
HERE??
OUR CURRENT PLAN IS TO DO A MODIFIED
VERSION OF BB IN Q2 NEXT YEAR TO HELP
SET US UP FOR SUCCESS LATER IN THE
YEAR.