This document summarizes the history and operations of Morrisons, a UK supermarket chain. Some key points: - Morrisons was founded in 1899 and now has over 500 stores and 125,000 employees, making it the UK's fourth largest food retailer. - It has 22 manufacturing sites across the UK where it processes and manufactures all of its own brand products from raw materials sourced within the UK. - The document then focuses on the Deeside manufacturing site, outlining the 8-step meat processing line and roles of maintenance engineers in proactive and reactive maintenance. - It describes an apprentice project by the author to reduce waste generated from a conveyor elevator by installing a hopper

1. Morrisons
PLC
George Hinks

2. • Founded in 1899 as a stall on
Bradford Market, making the
company 115 years old.
• First supermarket opened in
Bradford in 1961.
• Purpose-built fresh food factory,
Farmers Boy, begins production in
1981.
• In 2001 the company achieves top
100 UK companies status.
• As of 2014, Morrisons is the
country’s fourth largest food
retailer with over 500 stores and
125,000 employees.

3. Manufacturing Sites
• 22 manufacturing sites across
the UK
• Morrisons is the only UK retailer
to manufacture all of its own
brand products.
• Morrisons uses only UK sourced
crops and livestock.
• The sites process and
manufacture everything from
bacon to bread to fruit and
vegetables.
• The Deeside site (where I work)
manufactures cooked and sliced
meat.

4. Manufacturing Process at Farmer’s Boy
Deeside
The manufacturing process at
Farmer’s Boy Deeside consists of:
1. Raw meat intake
2. Raw meat storage
3. Meat Processing
4. Cooking
5. Chilling
6. Slicing
7. Packing
8. Warehousing
9. Dispatching

5. The Role of Maintenance Engineers at
Farmer’s Boy Deeside
Pro-Active Maintenance
The carrying out of maintenance
activity in order to pro-actively reduce
down time calculated in part by ‘mean
time until failure’.
Typically:
• Greasing and oil schedules
• Bearing/seal replacements
• Alignment checks
• Thermography reports
Reactive Maintenance
Unplanned maintenance activity.
Typically:
• Repairing damage to machinery
• Adjusting machine settings
• Resetting tripped fuses/machinery
• Fault finding using drawings
• Liaising with contractors to solve
technical problems.

6. My Development as Engineering
Apprentice at Farmer’s Boy Deeside
Four year training course consisting of:
• English, Maths, and IT equivalents
• Performing Engineering Operations
• BTEC Level 3 in Engineering
• NVQ Level 3 in Engineering
Maintenance
• HNC Engineering

7. BTEC Unit 3 Project: Reduce waste
caused by elevator conveyor

8. Estimated total weight of waste generated during one 8 hour shift:
0.832 kg x 2 (30 minutes) x 8 (hours) = 13.312 kilos
Over the course of the working day of two shifts of eight hours, this gives a cost
of:
0.832 x 2 (30 minutes) x 16 (hours in two shifts) x £5 = £133.12
Therefore the cost per week of seven working days is:
£133.12 x 7 (days) = £931.84
Per month of four weeks:
£931.84 x 4 (weeks) = £3727.36
And per year of thirteen four week cycles:
£3727.36 x 13 (four weekly cycles) = £48455.68

9. Problem areas

11. Root cause of waste generation 1

12. Root cause of waste generation 2
Temperature of product exiting
freezer tunnel: -65°C
Temperature of product from
deep-chill storage: 3°C

13. Proposed
solutions
Idea Pros Cons
Chicken wire soldered across
the length of the elevator
Reduces floor waste by
preventing spilling
Easy to implement
Working at height issues
Difficult to clean
Elevator wall need to separable
to facilitate cleaning.
Does not address root cause
Interlock mod between Multivac
and freezer tunnel
Addresses root cause of problem,
ie, excessive build-up of product
in the base hopper.
Eliminates overfilling of hopper.
Zero cost to install as done by
site engineers.
Requires frequent system
reboots.
Is not suitable for time
constrained production demands.
Removable plastic guards the
length of the elevator
Prevents product from spilling
out past end point of guard.
Does not address root cause
Risk of contamination from
broken plastic
Working at height issues.
Staff training involving
adequate separation activity to
prevent clumping together of
product.
Prevents clumping of product
Zero cost of implementation
High staff turnover requiring
frequent retraining
Does not address build-up in base
hopper caused by elevator
stopping.
Base hopper barrier to reduce
gap between hopper.
Addresses root cause of problem
(over-filling of conveyor)
Addresses secondary cause (the
spilling of product from under
the guard)
No contamination risk as made
from stainless steel
No risk of working at height
Controls generation of waste
caused by spilling.

14. Design

15. Design

16. Design

17. Legal
• Food Safety Act 1990
• The General Food Law Regulation (EC) 178/2002
• The General Food Regulations 2004 (as amended)
• The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974
• The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992

18. Material
selection
Property Nylon Stainless Steel Polyvinylchloride
Young’s Modulus 2.62 – 3.2 GPa 189 – 210 GPa 2.14 – 4.14 GPa
Elastic Limit 50 – 94.8 MPa 170 – 1000 MPa 35.4 – 52.1 MPa
Tensile Strength 90 – 165 MPa 480 – 2240 MPa 40.7 – 65.13 MPa
Elongation 30 – 100 % 5 – 70 % 11.93 – 80 %
Castability 1 – 2 3 - 4 1 – 2
Mouldability 4 – 5 2 – 3 4 – 5
Machinability 3 – 4 2 – 3 3 - 4
Weldability 5 5 5
Cost 1.92 – 2.12 GBP/Kg 1.5 – 6 GBP/Kg 0.67 – 0.84 GBP/Kg
Fresh Water Very Good Very Good Very Good
Sea Water Very Good Very Good Very Good
Weak Acid Good Very Good Very Good
Strong Acid Poor Good Good
Weak Alkalis Very Good Very Good Very Good
Strong Alkalis Good Very Good Very Good
Organic Solvents Average Very Good Average
Totals 6 13 10

19. Hopper attachment specified and ordered

20. Delivery

21. Delivery

22. Fitting

23. Fitting

24. Estimated total weight of waste generated with hopper attachment installed
during one 8 hour shift:
0.646 kg x 2 (30 minutes) x 8 (hours) = 10.336 kilos
Over the course of the working day of two shifts of eight hours, this gives a cost
of:
0.646x 2 (30 minutes) x 16 (hours in two shifts) x £5 = £103.36
Therefore the cost per week of seven working days is:
£103.36 x 7 (days) = £723.52
Per month of four weeks:
£723.52 x 4 (weeks) = £2,894.08
And per year of thirteen four week cycles:
£2894.08 x 13 (four weekly cycles) = £37,623.04

25. Saving
£48,455.68 - £37,623.04
= £10,832.64 PA
A reduction in waste of
22 per cent.

26. Evaluation
 Only one waste sample taken before and after
installation. Repeated sampling over a number of weeks
is required to give a better indication of the potential
saving
 Time scale – implementation took far too long considering
the potential savings at stake.
 The screws necessary to hold the hopper in place and the
screws on the attachment will get misplaced, making use
of the attachment potentially dangerous.
 Further consideration is needed to address these issues.

27. Questions?
Suggestions?