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2017 Master Brewers Conference
 
7. Reach your manufacturing goals for safety, quality, and productivity using continuous improvement kata

Justin Shingleton, Qkata Consulting, LLC, Huntersville, NC, U.S.A.

World Class Manufacturing
Thursday, October 12
9:45–11:00 a.m.
Imperial Salon B

Growing breweries encounter new challenges that require front-line operators, supervisors, and site leadership to think and act differently than in the past when the team was small. Along with growth in brewery output, there are higher expectations for safety, quality, and manufacturing productivity. Reaching these new goals is challenging while growing both the operations team and the brewery capacity. There are job structures, training, standards, routines, and thought processes that will help a growing brewery reach their strategic goals for growth. A daily routine, or kata, for continuous improvement enables the team to successfully make the transition by improving communication, execution, and visibility of business metrics. Finally, site leadership has its own cadence and structure for reviewing execution towards the new goals and helping the team mitigate risks. This work describes the standards, routines, communication, and the leadership behaviors required for brewery personnel to take ownership of their goals and to initiate innovation where needed. Examples are included of how teams working in breweries and in other FDA-regulated manufacturing plants have used a continuous improvement kata to reach new performance levels, foster innovation, and communicate.

Justin Shingleton is currently director of operations at District 9 Brewing in Cornelius, North Carolina, and is also the founder and principal consultant at Qkata Consulting. He has 17 years of experience in manufacturing and quality leadership roles for food and drug companies and has developed expertise in areas of operational excellence, safety, and cGMP quality. Justin has a six-sigma black belt certification and graduated from Georgia Institute of Technology with a bachelor's degree and from The University of Tennessee with a Ph.D. degree, both in Chemical Engineering.

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