Analysis and Management of Production Waste Causes: The Gruppo Veronesi case study.

Within the production environment of the agri-food industry, process management and organization represent critical challenges for the optimization aimed at increasing efficiency, reducing waste and applying Lean Manufacturing principles. This study focuses specifically on analysing and improving the shell egg packaging process phases within the Caselle production plant, located in Sommacampagna (Verona) and part of the Gruppo Veronesi, the leading agri-food processing company in the Italian territory. The primary objective is to address and mitigate issues related to the production waste and the process inefficiencies in order to reduce the volume of products that need to be reclassified as shelled egg items. This has been achieved through the identification of the root causes and the consequent development of the targeted countermeasures, guided by the Problem Solving philosophy and related performance metrics. The corrective action implementation phase began with a root cause analysis, supported by the analytical data collection and the use of Lean Production and Lean Six Sigma tools. The core of the research, in particular, shifted the focuses on problems related to the management of the Moba Omnia PX, a grading and packaging machine that represents the main player in the process. Through the execution of a series of operational tests, and the calibration and activation of a new configuration, results were obtained showing a clear reduction in the volume of discarded and reclassified products, without adversely impacting production volume trends, which is a crucial condition for maintaining competitiveness in the sector.