We work hand-in-hand with our clients to maximise profits, by pinpointing and solving their most valuable and complex manufacturing problems.
It’s a fact: Consultants have a bad reputation. We, however, are different. We work towards specific, well-defined goals agreed in collaboration, which have a measurable impact on the bottom line. If we don’t deliver, we don’t get paid.
Instead of a vague overview of ‘what we do’, here’s a recent example of our results with Butternutbox:
Their problem…
The client manufactures dog food, which is sealed in pouches, cooked, frozen, and then sent to their customers on a subscription basis.
Early in 2020, around 1 in 10 pouches were popping during the cooking process, leading to a loss of capacity, and increased raw material costs.
When cooking meat in a sealed pouch, water in the meat turns to steam. If the resulting pressure is greater than the pouch is able to withstand, it will pop.
How we fixed it…
We went back to first principles. To design the appropriate solution to this problem, first we had to properly understand what was going wrong, and wanted to ensure we challenged every assumption.
We systematically broke down the causes of the pressure:
- Volume of pouch
- Temperature inside the pouch
- Amount of steam
- Volume of air inside the pouch
We found that the weld at the edge of the pouch remained intact, but instead the Polyethylene/Polyamide layered composite film had delaminated in the layers above the weld. This meant that we had to focus on ways to reduce the pressure.
Results
- A happy client
- 10% more capacity
- 10% saving on raw materials
- Zero waste
- Improved aesthetic
- A comprehensive understanding of why the pouches perform the way that they do
“The majaco team have a very first principles approach and the work they did on our pouch formats was an incredible display of this. This is rare in businesses but they bring it to the table. Their work is always backed up with a mathematical and scientific approach which really helped us understand what was causing our problems.“
– Co-founder, Butternutbox.
majaco 