Martin's® Reduces Downtime and Product Loss with FoodSafe Conveyor Workshops

Customer Objectives

Martin’s Famous Pastry Shoppe, Inc.®—a 70-year-old, family-owned breads and rolls manufacturer—was experiencing frequent unscheduled downtime and product loss. The maintenance team was spending a significant amount of time addressing these issues reactively but lacked the conveyor expertise to prevent them.

Over the years, several Martin’s managers and supervisors had attended Commercial Food Sanitation (CFS) Sanitation Essentials Training and Hygienic Design Training with great results. Having realized there was a knowledge gap, Martin’s management turned to CFS, an Intralox® company, for a similar style of hands-on tailored training for its maintenance department.

Intralox and CFS Execution

Intralox sales engineers and CFS food safety specialists held three FoodSafe™ Conveyor Workshops at Martin’s, followed by an assessment of specific conveyors to evaluate progress and provide hygienic and mechanical design recommendations.

The workshop objectives were to increase the team’s overall knowledge of conveyors and belting, and to build their understanding of food safety risk prevention strategies, including foreign material mitigation.

The FoodSafe Conveyor Workshops also set the team up for success in the long term. Participants were able to apply the knowledge to multiple conveyors within the facility, and to pay it forward to other team members.

“The training was customized to our facility and maintenance team. That immediately had a positive impact, as participants could relate to the topics. Throughout the training, you could see their ‘aha moments,’ their engagement with the trainers, and the interest in applying these new concepts to their daily tasks,” says Martin’s Food Safety Manager.

Results

By applying what they learned at the workshop, the Martin’s maintenance team was able to:

• Reduce downtime events by 57% and product loss by 59%, increasing yield and capacity
• Apply hygienic design principles to new conveyor designs
• Modify existing conveyors to prevent food safety incidents and increase operating efficiency
• Update standard sanitation operating procedures (SSOPs) to achieve sanitation goals and increase belt life
• Shift focus to preventive maintenance
• Revamp their training to incorporate what they learned

Due to the great results, this service has evolved into a partnership. CFS and Intralox continue to work with Martin’s to improve processes, consult on hygienic conveyor design, and ensure future success.

“Both the workshop and assessment had a big impact here at Martin’s and were received positively by everyone. All teams now have a much better understanding of what is expected of them and how to contribute to building a food safety culture,” says Martin’s Plant Manager.