Application of Lean Tools to Reduce Waste in an Organic Mango Exporting Company: An Investigation in Peru

Abstract

Today, the agro-industrial sector has experienced a boom in its growth, especially in fruits and vegetables, and with it the customer's demand. One of the most requested conditions by users are the product quality and services offered. Therefore, it is essential to identify all the processes and activities that follow each of the materials along the supply chain. To have better inventories control, it is necessary to have an efficient traceability system that ensures accurate products tracking. The proposed model was based on four lean manufacturing techniques: Jidoka, Kanban, Visual Control, and Standardized Work to improve the inputs search time and, consequently, reduce product losses that currently represent 2.06% of net profit. With the tools used we were able to reduce labeling errors by 2%, excess pallets decreased by 0.72% and the search time for a product was reduced to 4.5 hours/day, saving 1.21 hours a day.