Donut proofing process improvement case study of a factory in Roi-Ed province

Abstract

The objective of this research is to improve the production process of donut at the case study factory. It was found that the dough proofing step is the most time-consuming stage in the production process, leading to high waiting time and increased production costs. Therefore, the research team designed a dough proofing machine to reduce waiting time for dough fermentation and minimize transfer time between production processes. After conducting tests, it was discovered that using the dough proofer could reduce the fermentation time from 2 hours to just 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Additionally, various Industrial Engineering principles such as ECRS and flow process charts were used to improve the factory's operations. As a result of these improvements, the production time decreased by 61.38 minutes per production cycle, representing a 10.16% reduction in overall production time. Consequently, the production costs decreased significantly by 4,471.44 Baht per month or 53,657.28 Baht per year. Moreover, unnecessary employee movements were minimized, resulting in reduced work fatigue as well.