On the screen, Sesame Street’s Elmo emerges from the flames, arms raised in triumph, hands clutching “perfect pierogi.” This was the introduction to Amy Couture’s final project for the Front-Line Supervisor program, “Project More Pierogi!”
JaJu Pierogi is a business created by sisters Casey and Vanessa White, and inspired by years of working with their grandfather, or “JaJu” in his Polish food business when they were young. During college, the two really missed the food they had grown up with. Using their grandfather’s recipes, they began creating pierogi in their parent’s kitchen to sell at farmer’s markets. Ten years later they have a growing business with JaJu Pierogi sold in stores across the country and still made from scratch.
During a meeting with Mass MEP’s Rick Mongeau, Casey and Vanessa learned about the Front Line Supervisor Program and felt JaJu’s Product Manager, Amy Couture, may want to participate in the training that focuses on developing skills in Leadership, Manufacturing and Problem Solving to help participants sharpen their supervisory capabilities. “Amy has been with us from the very beginning and has always been very capable but a bit shy,” shared Casey. “We wanted her to take this training to help her build skills and confidence to get her to the next level!”
Front Line Supervisor students are required to do a final project which will improve a process or situation at work and make things better for them and their company. “Project More Pierogi” outlined Amy’s strategy to address yield fluctuation and waste.
Her problem statement read, “case yield per production run varies between 5-15 cases per batch indicating a discrepancy in the current standard work process, resulting in loss of product and confusion among staff as to the correct standard.”
The scope of project included the pierogi machine and the packaging area. The operator fills the pierogi machine with dough and stuffing, extrudes pierogi, and inspects them as they come off the line. The packaging area makes sure there are 12 pierogi per pouch and 6 pouches per case, then stamps and seals packages and places them on pallets.
Amy gathered a team including the production and packaging line supervisors, food safety manager, the pierogi machine operator, and the dough maker, to talk about their observations and issues. This became the Kaizen team. She utilized the 5 Why’s with the group to get to the root cause of the problem. It was determined that the key issues resulted from machine operator error due to unclear standards which had not been written down or updated.
The two key performance indicators measured were case yield per batch and weight of food materials waste at the end of a production run.
Current State: (Before improvements began.)
- Lead time of 33 minutes: from pierogi coming off machine to packaging and palletizing.
- Machine is running 85% of the time.
- Waste produced 40-50 lbs. per day (4 batches worth!)
- Case count varies from 125-135 per day.
- Bags should contain 11-12 pierogi per bag and weigh 430grams.
- Bags with thirteen or more pierogi cost company thirty cents per extra pierogi.
- Miscommunication about current procedures.
- Packaging changes, indicating that 12 pierogi per package is approximate, and that focus should be on package weight, had not been communicated to all staff.
After making time and quality observations and collecting data, Amy and the team developed their Action Plan. People from the group made physical changes to the processes including set-up procedures on machines, creating work instructions and visuals and training employees.
As Amy’s spearheaded projects at JaJu her confidence grew. She was also more comfortable in the training and offered ideas and answers in class earning her the nickname “Obi-Wan Pierogi, among her classmates.
“Amy is typically a soft-spoken work horse who stays in her own lane,” says Casey White. “Since the training, she is more confident and communicative with other members of the team to get tasks done more efficiently together, not as individual contributors.
The Ideal Future State from “Project More Pierogi” would result in increased productivity and cases per batch and stronger standards to follow which would result in more consistent quality. The team implemented the following changes:
- Retrained staff on standards for packaging and machine operation to improve productivity.
- Use of visuals to show acceptable and not acceptable quality.
- Fixed nozzle on machine that was affecting quality.
Initial improvements:
- Waste reduced by 20%
- Case yield per batch Increased by 12%
- Staff trained and more knowledgeable.
Amy’s lessons learned: Write everything down. Update regularly. Provide clear instructions with photos. Collaborate!
During a recent follow up conversation Amy reported, “After meeting the initial goal of increasing case yield by 12% consistently, JaJu has been able to surpass that goal to 15% for our sweet potato and caramelized onion pierogi. “And we hit our target of 50% waste reduction! The employee retraining and establishing clear, visuals, SOP’s and job descriptions has really helped production on the line.” The team is in the process of changing their retail bags, to show the net weight on the bag rather than a pierogi count. This will help with inconsistent pierogi counts and clarify things for customers.
“A few months ago, we got to use our new training procedures when we introduced our new baked potato flavor pierogi, because we were having problems with a consistent case yield. This time it was more to do with the recipe than the production line. We had a goal to increase case yield by 10% and we’re already at 8%. We’re pretty happy with that number and know we can reach our goal!” Amy remarked.
Summer is a slow season for pierogi, but according to Amy the team was busy, trying to launch into more stores for the fall and winter. “The results from the class and the project were great! I feel confident in the staff that we have running the pierogi line, and we’ve been able to uphold our quality.” JaJu will be able to carry standard processes and training to other facilities as the company continues to grow. “Right now, as we train new employees, I’m getting flashbacks of Henry (Henry Hall the program instructor) talking about visual aids and how to write job instructions,” laughs Amy. “We need all our employees to produce the same quality and standard and trust that they can manage this consistently. It has been a challenge, but we want to train everyone using visuals and detailed specs of all processes,” she added. 
Casey White feels that Amy seems much happier than she did prior to the training, she says, “As the program progressed, I continued to give Amy more and more responsibility and autonomy when it came to managing production demands, our supply chain, and the efficiencies that we struggle with on a daily basis. She has thrived having more on her plate. She seems to feel like she has more purpose which is always what we strive for as her employer. We want her to feel fulfilled in everything she does at Jaju Pierogi.”
“I loved how well Amy connected the topics she learned in the program to her day to day,” continued Casey. “She really put it to use on the production floor, and we all benefit from her hard work and her taking the initiative to reduce our food waste at the plant!
The tools Amy learned and the processes she developed with her team have made it easier for employees to be trained at JaJu’s facilities, which has saved the company a considerable amount of training time and has helped them significantly decrease excessive waste production and variation of quality and weight of product. The results are more “perfect pierogi” to share with more satisfied customers!