Nestlé shares productivity success stories

The case studies from Nestlé focused on: investment, people and technology, employee empowerment, talent pipeline development, employee health and wellness and infrastructure.

Nestlé UK & Ireland chairman and ceo Dame Fiona Kendrick said she was passionate about boosting the UK’s productivity.

“I believe that this is a policy challenge where our practical experience as the world’s biggest food company makes us uniquely qualified to contribute,” she claimed.

“Productivity is multi-faceted and affects every part of the business but when it comes to raising productivity, investment in new technology and the skills of our people go hand in hand.

‘Empowering our people’

“We recognise that in order for our business to consistently prosper, we succeed by empowering our people to identify improvements and drive efficiency.”

Nestlé has raised its expectations and demands of its employees to boost productivity, Kendrick added.

At its Tutbury site in Derbyshire, Nestlé has invested £325M in technology and skills, boosting production to 40M cups of coffee a day. The site employs just fewer than 1,000 people across 22 production lines.

Every year, Nestlé invests £1M in 40–60 hours of continuous development per person at Tutbury.

Nestlé invested in improving staff skills and confidence at its Halifax site and has boosting productivity as a result.

It has reduced the frequency in which a machine used to make Quality Streets broke down from once every eight hours to up to two months.

Material waste by 71.1%

This has cut material waste by 71.1%, cleaning hours by 82.1% and days working from six to four.

The machine produces 2.5t of sweets an hour.  

To keep up the momentum across the UK, the government and wider food supply chain must work together to become more productive and to rival global competitors, Kendrick said.

Environment secretary Liz Truss welcomed Nestlé’s insights.

“Food and drink is a powerhouse of our economy and the country’s biggest manufacturing sector, greater than cars and aerospace combined,” she said.

“We produce more new food products each year than France and Germany combined and it is only right we champion new technology, skills and improvements in the sector to make British food as productive as possible.”