Rapid Plant Assessment on Goldwyn

Manufacturing Laboratories Inc.

Sharmaine Claire Galola ​| ​Rainier E. Mendoza | Vivien C. Sarmiento
Department of Chemical Engineering, University of the Philippines Diliman

INTRODUCTION

Goldwin Manufacturing Laboratories Corp. has come a long way from distributing
various cosmetic products to manufacturing various skin care products It has continued to be a
toll/ contract manufacturer for private labels. Its product lines are Herbal and Specialty Soaps,
Facial and Body Cleansing Preparations, Creams and Lotions, Hair Care products, and other
care and decorative Cosmetics.

The company’s business affiliations include the Marikina Business and Industry Club,
Inc., the Philippine Exporters Confederation, Philippine Society for Cosmetic Science, Inc.,
Philippine Cosmetic Technical Assistance Center Foundation, Inc., and the Philippine-Saudi
Arabia / Qatar / South Africa Business Councils.

A Rapid Plant Assessment was conducted while visiting the company of Goldwin
Manufacturing Laboratories Corp. on April 21, 2018. During the tour, visual cues were noted to
be used while answering the RPA rating sheet and questionnaire. Various observations were
also made regarding the employees, the layout of the workplace, the methods and processes,
the possible company problems and etc.

METHODOLOGY

Rapid Plant Assessment focuses more on the visual indicators in the plant to know how
well their operations are doing. Interviews on workers and managers may be conducted but it
must be kept to a minimal level. There are 11 factors to look at and rate during an RPA and
these factors and the scoring system is shown in the Table 1 below.

Each of the members on the group were assigned to observe and rate the plant on the
specific factors given in Table 1. Prior to the visit, the members of the team familiarize
themselves with the factors in table 1 and how to spot them during a plant visit.
 During the plant visit proper, the whole visit was done only for 2.5 hours and the itinerary
is as follows:
8:30 - 10:00 Introduction and Walk through the Process
10:00 - 10:30 Break / Caucus
10:30 - 11:00 Final Observations
During the introduction, facts about the company such as their market, their supplier and
key products were discussed. Information about their facilities were also mentioned in the
introduction. During the walkthrough the process, we were able to observe the workers in their
work environment as they made papaya soaps that day.

As part of the RPA process taught to us in ChE 132, the group refrained from taking
pictures and taking down notes during the whole duration of the tour. Information were only
recorded during the time for break and caucus. The factors were initially rated during the caucus
but the ratings were finalized after the final observation. The yes-no questions in Table 2 were
answered after the tour to help our team to further assess the plant we visited.

In the post plant visit meeting, the problems in the plant were discussed further and then
the main problem (to which we are about to suggest a solution to) is identified.

Table 1. Rating Sheet

 Table 2. Assessment Questionnaire

OBSERVATIONS AND RESULTS

The group has identified major problems: the inventory space not being fully maximized
and organized, the layout of the process not allowing straight flow, and the soap scraps left
unused. Firstly, the group has noticed that the inventory space allotted for products ready to be
delivered was not being used to its full capacity. The boxes as well as the supplies were not
arranged in the most organized manner so the room gets more congested with additional
finished products. Next, the layout of the workplace does not let the raw and processed
materials follow a straight, smooth flow. One process will involve the processed products to be
elevated into the second floor and then it will be required to be put back in the first floor once
again for the next steps.

The last problem mentioned will be the focus of this paper’s discussion and
recommendations. Sacks and sacks of various kinds of scrap soaps are left just to be stocked
up in a pile in one of the rooms, which takes up a lot of space. Scrap soaps of the main line
products (papaya soap products) were continuously reworked and reprocessed into “fruity
soaps.” The scraps were finely minced into small pieces and then mixed with melted liquid soap
in small rectangular plastic soaps. These are left alone to solidify then are finally put into the
packaging. However, certain types of scrap soaps cannot be possibly reprocessed as they will
disrupt the major operations of the main line soaps. Reprocessed products of these scraps also
do not turn out to have the same quality with the original ones so they were not prioritized.
Examples of these are tea tree soaps, oatmeal soaps, and lavender soaps. Tea tree soaps
have tiny leaf crumbs and oatmeal soaps have oatmeal flakes. Meanwhile, lavender soaps have
different coloring so reprocessing it while main line products are being made is not possible
since it will affect the color quality of the main line products. Not only these variants have scraps
but also some main line blocks of scraps were unable to be reworked as they do not have the
same quality with the original products in terms of color, texture, and etc.

On the other hand, the results of the Rapid Plant Assessment are shown in tables 3 and
4.

Table 3. Rating Sheet Results

 Table 4. Assessment Questionnaire Results

RECOMMENDATIONS TO SOLVE MAIN PROBLEM

Based on the main problem identified during the rapid plant assessment conducted at
Goldwyn Manufacturing Laboratories Inc., the following measures could be done to address
their main problem, which is the accumulation of scrap soap in their plant for months:

1. Look for a market where the scrap soaps can be sold at a cheaper price.

A portion of the scraps could be treated as factory overrun especially the bigger ones
and they can be sold at a different market at a lower price, usually on a per kilogram basis. The
possible outlets where the scraps can be sold as factory overruns are in wet markets and in
tiangge like in Divisoria.

This option is the most ideal for Goldwyn because they will still earn something out of the
scraps that they have made and they can still sell the products without using the brands that
they manufacture for which is something that they don’t own since they are a toll manufacturer.
 Furthermore, there are soap variants that were manufactured in Goldwyn only once or
twice and therefore there are no longer ways to re-incorporate them in the production process.
The only best way to dispose them is this option.

2. ​Invest in a size reduction equipment (Shredder) or manually shred the soap

scraps

Goldwyn tried to re-incorporate the smaller soap scraps into the new batches of soap
made. Unfortunately, the final product became lumpy. The main reason for this is because the
soap scraps where added without further size reduction thus the effect on the texture of the final
product was significant.

To solve this problem, we encourage Goldwyn to invest in a size reduction equipment

that will turn the soap scraps into uniform soap flakes/filings. When this fillings are re introduced
in the new batches of soap, the effect on the texture will be less significant. By reducing the size
of the soap scraps, we are also increasing the limit of soap scraps that could be added to the
system.

Whether they do the size reduction manually or using a shredder would depend on
which is a better investment based on economics. It is important to note however that the
amount of soap scrap that gets recycled in this process is less compared to the ones that can
be sold thus selling in the market is still preferred by our group.

3. ​Create a new variant of Fruity Soap using scrap soaps other than Papaya Soap

Before, goldwyn created the fruity soap to get rid of their scrap papaya soap in the plant.
Now, fruity soap is the best selling product/ most ordered product in Goldwyn. Following fruity
soaps success, our group believe that it is time to have other fruity soap variants like lemon.

What Goldwyn can do is to try to innovate new products or new variants that would
consume their existing soap scrap. This may also pave a way to an increase in production and
sales since there will be more products to be manufactured.

However, since there is no demand yet for a new fruity soap variant, this is basically a
product pitch and there is no 100% assurance that this will work. Careful market research is
needed to ensure the success of this venture.

Figure 1. Fruity Soap

REFERENCES

[1] ​http://www.pureskin.com.ph/

[2]
http://www.theauditoronline.com/lean-rapid-plant-assessment-as-a-tool-for-more-effective-audits
/

[3] ​https://hbr.org/2002/05/read-a-plant-fast