=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-2030/HAICTA_2017_paper87
|storemode=property
|title=Making the Canned Tomato Paste Production Green
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2030/HAICTA_2017_paper87.pdf
|volume=Vol-2030
|authors=Dimitris Folinas,Panayotis Karayannakidis,Dimitrios Aidonis
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/haicta/FolinasKA17
}}
==Making the Canned Tomato Paste Production Green==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2030/HAICTA_2017_paper87.pdf
Making the Canned Tomato Paste Production Green
Dimitrios Folinas, Panayotis Karayannakidis, Dimitrios Aidonis
Department of Logistics, Technological Educational Institute of Central Macedonia
Kanellopoulou 2, GR-60100, Greece
(*) dfolinas@gmail.com, karayannakidis@yahoo.gr, daidonis77@gmail.com
(*) Corresponding author
Abstract: The main objective of this paper is to propose a systematic approach
for measuring the environmental performance of supply chains in the food
sector and specifically in canned tomato paste production based on Lean
thinking techniques so as to identify sources of waste in the selected supply
chain.
Keywords: Food Supply Chain; canned tomato paste; Lean thinking; Value
Stream Mapping; Green Supply Chain.
1 Introduction
Lean thinking tools have recorded significant successes resulting in a worldwide and
across sectors recognition including both products and services. Some of the
available and known tools used are: Takt Time, Kaizen, Statistical Process Control,
Poka-Yoke, 5S, Value Stream Mapping (VSM), Total Quality Management, Kanban,
and Jidoka, among many others. In the literature there is a number of research
initiatives that propose the deployment of lean methods and tools in the agrifood
sector aiming to reduce the environmental emissions. For example, Simons and
Mason (2002) examined the emission characteristics of a generic food supply chain
which includes both transportation and cold storage, while Venkat and Wakeland
(2006) investigated the environmental performance of lean supply chains using
carbon dioxide emissions as the key performance indicator. Tanco et al. (2013)
discussed the applicability of lean manufacturing’s body of knowledge to a seasonal
food industry and Folinas et al. (2014) propose an approach for measuring the
environmental performance of a supply chain in the food sector based on lean
thinking techniques so as to identify sources of waste. In the recent years a number of
researches have focused on the application of Value Stream Mapping, which is one
of the lean think techniques for supporting the greening efforts. The proposed
approach aims at determining waste, in terms of measuring the non value-added time
of production and logistics processes, as well as water and energy usage across
organizational boundaries. United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA)
when at 2007 first introduced the Environmental Value Stream Mapping (EVSM)
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method, which has all the characteristics of its parent -Value Stream Mapping- but
additionally environmental issues and the usage of material or energy.
This study introduces the application of the VSM tool so as to determine the
waste that have environmental impact in a specific agrifood supply chain; the
production of the canned tomato paste. The main objective of this paper is to propose
a four-step approach for measuring the environmental performance of supply chains
in the food sector based on Lean thinking techniques so as to identify sources of
waste in the selected supply chain.
2 Deployment of VSM in Canned Tomato Paste Production
In this study we propose the use of Value Stream Mapping (VSM) diagrams to
develop visual representations of the canned tomato paste production. First, the
Current State Map (CSM) is developed to represent the production “as-is” in order to
identify the highest sources of waste (non-value added activity) in the value stream of
the examined process, as well as, to develop an implementation plan for lean
techniques with the development of the Future State Map (FSM).
We are following a four-step process based on relative studies (Rother and
Shook, 2003; Lasa, Laburu and Vila, 2008; Belokar, Kumar and Kharb (2012):
• Step 1: Selection of agrifood supply chain processes to be value-streamed.
• Step 2: Development of the Current State Map (CSM) of the selected processes in
the agrifood supply chain.
• Step 3: Development of the Future State Map (FSM).
• Step 4: Development of the Action Plan (AP).
Step 1: Selection of agrifood supply chain processes to be value-streamed
A typical process for the production of canned tomato paste is illustrated in Figure 1
(SuperPro Designer, version 9.0; Intelligen, Inc., Scotch Plains, NJ, USA was used,
to document, model and simulate the examined canned tomato paste production line)
and consists of the following stages:
A typical process for the production of tomato paste is depicted in Fig. 1.
Initially, the tomato fruits are placed in wooden crates with 17-20 kg capacity and
then transferred to the tomato processing plants by lorries.Upon arrival, the fruits are
weighed and then samples are taken from each load to ensure the quality is suitable
for processing; thisbasically determines the price of the tomato fruits. Once tomatoes
are introduced in the production lines, they are washed with water. Washing is
carried out at two stages: during the first washing the foreign materials like insects,
leaves and soil are being removed, while during the second washing any chemical
residuals (i.e. pesticides) are removed. After washing, the tomato fruits are subjected
to screening, which is performed manually under specific lighting conditions and
aims at removing the fruits that are not suitable for further processing. Following
screening, the tomatoes are crushed and transferred with a pump to a heat exchanger.
The temperature of the pulp is kept at 92 oC and aims at the deactivation of enzymes.
The heated pulp is then subjected to refining, where the peels along with fibers and
seeds are removed. Then, the pulp is transferred with a centrifugal pump to an
evaporator in order to increase the solids’ content. Evaporation is carried out until a
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30 Brix tomato paste is produced. The condensed tomato paste is then sterilized at
108 oC for 1.5 min and cooled at 35 oC. Aseptic bags are filled with the sterilized
tomato paste, the bags are then sealed and placed in cartons. The final product is
stored for 10 months, which allows the content of the bag to reach equilibrium.
For the production of tomato paste, the most energy and water consuming stages
are the initial stages of tomato fruit washing, essentially carried out in two stages, as
well as the stages of hot break and evaporation. In order to decrease water usage,
water recycling is proposed after the first stage of washing as well as the second
wash, as described in the flow chart, and reuse it during the initial washing step.
Regarding the concentration of the tomato paste, a three-way evaporator is used
which employs the steam produced by the first and second stages of evaporation to
heat the concentrated tomato paste in the second and third stages, respectively.
Therefore, the steam produced is almost fully utilized to concentrate the tomato paste
with the exception of the condensate produced by the evaporator, which exhibits a
temperature of about 50 oC. This water may be used to raise the temperature of
tomatoes prior or after crushing, therefore decreasing the energy requirements prior
to preheating. However, it is necessary to insulate the tanks and pipelines in order to
reduce energy losses due to temperature differences with the environment. Finally,
the peels and fibers produced during refining can be used as animal feeds, creating an
extra revenue for the tomato processing industry.
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Fig. 1. Flow chart for the production of tomato paste using hot break (SuperPro Designer v.
9.0; Intelligen Inc., Scotch Plains, NJ, USA).
Based on the above description of the canned tomato paste production the
following discrete processes are identified: tomato reception, hydrotransport (first
washing), second washing, screening, pulping, pre-heating, refining, holding,
evaporation, holding, sterilizing/cooling, packaging and storage. But, are all these
processes potentially waste sources?
In order to identify the processes to be value-streamed the following six criteria
are applied (Folinas, Kelemis and Manikas, 2011):
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1. Processes that require significant amounts of inputs / resources, such as pounds of
materials used, pounds of hazardous materials used, gallons of water used,
gallons of water consumed, watts of energy used, etc.
2. Processes that emit significant amounts of outputs, such as pounds of solid waste
generated, pounds of hazardous waste generated, pounds of air pollution emitted,
etc.
3. Processes requiring environmental permits or reporting to environmental
agencies, and
4. Processes that include special pollution control equipment and/or specialized
infrastructure.
5. Processes that potentially affect the environmental consciousness and
sensitiveness of the producers.
6. Processes that potentially affect the environmental consciousness and
sensitiveness of the consumers.
Based on the proposed six criteria we used both primary and secondary data
analysis to evaluate the level of the environmental impact of the processes that were
emerged by the description of the canned tomato paste production. These approaches
were applied in one of the biggest canned production company in Northern Greece
that follows the typical production of the targeting product (The main facts and
assumptions are presented in the Appendix – Table 3). First, a number of interviews
were arranged with key persons in the Production and Quality Assurance
departments. Respondents took into account the effects, causes and environmental
impact of the seven wastes as depicted in Table 1 and evaluated the processes using
four values: Not significant, Low, Medium and High (significance). Data extracted
from both departments and referred to the production line of the last 3 years were
collected and analyzed. A number of reports were created and given to employees /
respondents to make a more reliable evaluation. Table 1 presents and evaluates the
processes that were identified with the above criteria according to the responses
(modes values are presented).
Table 1. Identifying the processes to be value-streamed
Criteria Inputs / Outputs Agencie Equipm Producer Consum
Process resource s ent need s ers
s consciou consciou
sness sness
Reception M M M H L L
First Washing M L L L L L
Second Washing M H L L L L
Screening M M M L L M
Pulping L M L L L L
Pre-heating M M M M M M
Refining M M L L L L
Holding L M L L L L
Evaporation H H H H M M
Holding L L L L L L
Sterilizing/cooling M M M H M M
Packaging M M M M M M
Storage L L L L L L
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According to the above findings all the above processes were selected for the
development of current and future stream maps (Steps 2 and 3).
Step 2: Development of the Current State Map (CSM) of the selected processes. In
order to develop the CSM of the examined product, a number of calculations were
made in every process that was identified in the previous step. In general, through
this step both qualitative and quantitative data were collected for the identification of
waste. The data were categorized into two groups: 1) General information including
the following issues: cycle time, change over time and up time, processing time for
each of the production and logistics tasks performed, reliability of equipment used
and availability of such materials as packaging, average waiting time for each order,
number of operators, etc., and specific information, which according to
www.greensuppliers.gov (n.d.) include the following: pounds of materials used,
pounds of hazardous materials used, gallons of water used, gallons of water
consumed, watts of energy used (watt-hour per pound of output), BTUS of energy
used, pounds of solid waste generated, pounds of hazardous waste generated, pounds
of air pollution emitted and gallons of wastewater treated. This study was focused on
the environmental aspects of the targeted procedure and was referred to litres of
water and energy used (electricity and steam).
Since, the production is already automated no further improvement of the total
process time could be achieved. Additionally, since the last 5 years the company
have successfully used the make-to-order policy there hasn’t been any stock
remaining. The company receives the orders from June to August and produces in
September the required quantities. Much effort has been applied in practice by
cooperatively working with the tomato producers so as to establish a smooth deliver
procedure.
Therefore the study focuses on CO2 emissions and water usage. First, regarding
the water usage there are two stages where there is significant water consumption:
washing for removing foreign materials (leaves, insects, etc.) and then to remove any
residual chemicals from the tomato fruits. In both cases a fixed and predefined
quantity of water based on the needs and it is estimated straightforwardly and in an
ad-hoc basis. Manufacturer maintained and used a specialized instrument for filtering
the water in the above two stages so as to clean the shop-floor areas.
Second, regarding the energy the following table presents the steam and
electricity usage.
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Table 2. Estimating water and energy used
Electricity used (kWh/per Steam used (% of the
production line) total use)
Reception - -
First and Second Washing (P- 5280 -
2)/(P-5)
Screening (P-8) 5280 -
Pulping/Pre-heating (P-10)/(P- 19800 30.94
12)
Refining (P-13) 145200 -
Holding (P-14) 7260 -
Evaporation - 63.39
Holding (P-19) 7260 -
Sterilizing/cooling - 5.67
Packaging (P-22)/P-23) 11880 -
Storage - -
Figure 2 in the Appendix presents the Current State Map (created with MS
Visio).
In the bottom of the map there are three lines that represent: 1) Total lead time
and value added time, 2) Amount (litres) of water used (top line) and amount (litres)
of water needed (bottom line) per day and per process, 3) kWh’s of energy used (top
line) and kWh’s of energy needed (bottom line) per day and per process: for
measuring energy consumption a power measuring device (the power consumption
of a machine for machining a part or a batch over a particular time in 24 hours) and a
data logger were used. Since the examined production process is fully automated and
especially from Storage to Packaging, Total Lead Time and Valued Added Time are
not considerably different.
Therefore, and based to Table 2, Inventory, Transportation and motion waste, as
well as, the Waiting waste are not critical. Furthermore, according to the historical
data maintained by the Quality Control company’s department, the Defect level
(caused by scrap rate, design error, machine setup, wrong process production and
quality protocol assessment) is very low (~0.5% per lot) so this waste is also not
critical.
In contrast, there are two processes that have significant environmental impact in
terms of water and energy used: Peeling and subsequent washing and pasteurizing.
Based on the above the Current State Map (CSM) is created for the examined
production process as depicted in the Appendix (Figure 1).
Step 3: Development of the Future State Map. The main objective of this step is
the identification of processes with main environmental, health, and safety
opportunities on the CSM. But most of all, this step includes the identification of the
appropriate practices, technologies and tools in order to minimize waste. According
to the findings of the previous step, authors and the two managers of the
manufacturer have focused on one waste (S-121), which includes fibres, peels and
tomato seeds and three processing steps as follows: the initial stages of tomato fruit
washing, essentially carried out in two stages, as well as the stages of hot break and
765
evaporation. Based on the above, the following practices were proposed (Figure 3 in
the Appendix).
Among the various stages of a typical production line of canned tomato paste, hot
break and evaporation are the most energy consuming. The steam condensate
produced by process P-16 along with the steam produced by the evaporator may be
used to pre-heat the tomatoes, thus partially covering the energy requirements of the
tomato paste production line. Another point to be made is that most of the holding
tanks and piping, in the tomato paste canning industries in Greece, are lacking
insulation and this is of significant importance for minimizing the energy losses,
especially in the stages where heating and cooling are involved. Finally, the by-
products generated after refining (P-13).
Step 4: Development of the Action Plan (AP). This step involved the design or
drafting of an action plan based on the Future State Map that was created at the
previous step. An AP in general includes the following information: 1) First,
information regarding the project of the application of the suggested improvements,
such as the title and description of the action, its goals and objectives, the responsible
process managers / supervisors and the timeframe / scheduling, and 2) Second,
information regarding the examined business (production and logistics) processes,
such as the title, description, status (not started, in progress, completed), impact, and
priority. Table 5 (Action Plan Management of actions) in the Appendix presents the
above information.
3 Discussion - Conclusions
This paper provides a perspective of the application of the Lean thinking tools to
support the green supply chain and logistics management initiatives. Authors argue
that the VSM analysis can be an effective and efficient tool for a number of
improvements not only for the identification of the wastes but for the determination
of the greening of the agrifood supply chain. It suggests a systematic (four-step)
approach that consists of specific tasks and activities.
A number of to-do (improvement) practices are proposed. Each of the improvement
activities aimed at either eliminating non-value adding steps in order to reduce on the
length of the value stream which subsequently would contribute to the reduction of
the total process, lead and customer query cycle times and consequently the energy
consumption and water usage. The proposed systematic approach was deployed in
the canned tomato paste production. After the deployment of the Action Plan (AP)
the following achievements have been realized:
• Insulation of piping and vessels, where heating or cooling is involved can further
reduce steam consumption and therefore energy usage.
• The steam condensate produced during evaporation along with the steam
produced can be used to partially cover the energy requirements during the pre-
heating process.
• Finally, the wastes (peels, fibres and tomato seeds) that derive after refining can
be used for animal feed.
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Considering the findings that were observed following the implementation of the
pilot project at the examined company, the research project provided viable evidence
that these Lean techniques and principles have a positive impact on and that VSM
was a workable technique in the production and logistics operations. There are also
many challenges that need to be considered for future study regarding the examined
sector. Introducing global supply chain management into the green and lean equation
increases the potential conflict between the green and lean initiatives. So as
companies begin to implement lean and green strategies in supply chains, especially
large and complex global supply chains, manufacturers need to explore the overlaps
and synergies between quality-based lean and environmentally based ‘green’
initiatives, and understand the various trade-offs required to balance possible points
of conflict. Finally, there is a need to evaluate and possibly improve this tool, based
on practice and the applicability in other sectors as well.
References
1. Belokar, M., Kumar, V. and Kharb, S. (2012) An Application of Value Stream
Mapping In Automotive Industry: A Case Study. International Journal of
Innovative Technology and Exploring Engineering, 1, p.152-7.
2. EPA (2007) The Lean and Energy Toolkit. Energy’, 2007;56.
3. Folinas, D., Aidonis D., Triantafillou D., Malindretos G., (2013) Exploring the
greening of the food supply chain with lean thinking techniques, 6th International
Conference on Information and Communication Technologies in Agriculture,
Food and Environment (HAICTA 2013), Corfu, September 19-22, 2013, Corfu
Island, Greece.
4. Folinas, D., Aidonis D., Voulgarakis N., Triantafillou D., (2013) Applying lean
thinking techniques in the agrifood supply chain, 1st Logistics International
Conference Belgrade, Serbia 28 - 30 November 2013.
5. Lasa, I.S., Laburu, C.O. and Vila, R. de C. (2008) An evaluation of the value
stream mapping tool. Business Process Management Journal, 14, p.39-52.
6. Rother, M. and Shook, J. (2003) Learning to see. Cambridge: Lean Enterprise
Institute.
7. Simons, D., Mason, R. and Cardiff, U. (2003) Lean and green: doing more with
less. ECR Journal, 3, p.84-91.
8. Tanco, M., Santos, J., Rodriguez, J. and Reich, J. (2013) Applying lean
techniques to nougat fabrication: a seasonal case study. The International Journal
of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, 68, p.1639-54.
9. Venkat, K. and Wakeland, W. (2006) Is Lean Necessarily Green? Proceedings of
the 50th Annual Meeting of the ISSS, ISSS 2006 Papers.
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Appendix
Table 3. Facts and assumptions:
• Focus on canned tomato paste production
• There is no IT system for designing and managing the materials in the production line
• Start/End of canned tomato paste production: July – End of September / Working hours: 23 h Approximately 10,500 cans/production
line/h are produced. Each can weighs 1 kg
• Factory operates: 60 days x 23 h/day = 1380 h
• Assuming that all engines have an average performance of 80%
• Reception: 45 lorries / 21 tn on a daily basis / packaging materials are procured from local producers
• 90% of the total orders are exported / no problems associated with over-production
Processing step Number of Processing Installed Energy consumption (per tn) Scrap (%)
employees time (min/tn) capacity Oil and electricity
Reception 4 10-15΄ - - N/A
First washing 3 1΄ 4 kW - Soil, leaves, insects
Second washing 3 1.5΄ 4 kW - N/A
Screening 4 2΄ 4 kW - Ν/Α
Pulping 1 2.5΄ 15 kW motor - N/A
Pre-heating 1 1.5΄ - 30.94% of steam consumed N/A
Refining 1 1΄ 4 Kw - Peels, fibers etc.
Holding 0 6΄ - - N/A
Evaporation 1 5΄ - 63.39 of steam consumed N/A
Holding 0 10΄ - - N/A
Sterilizing/cooling 1 1.5΄ - 5.67 of steam consumed N/A
Packaging 2 1΄ 6,4 kW - N/A
Storage 1 - - - N/A
Total
768
Order-by-Order Production Schedule Make to order practices
(Pure Pull philosophy)
Customers /
Farmers retailers
700 tn / month ~1000 tn / month
le
(via 25 tn silo vehicles) Via lorries
du
he
sc
ly
ai
D
Receipt
Final product Warehouse
Tomato Hydro- Second Pre- Evapo- Sterilizing /
Screening Pulping Refining Holding Holding Packaging Storage
Reception transport washing heating ration cooling
Empl.: 4
Empl.: 3 Empl.: 3 Empl.: 4 Empl.: 1 Empl.: 1 Empl.: 1l Empl.: - Empl.: 1 Empl.: - Empl.: 1 Empl.: 2 Empl.: 1
Time:
Time: 1' Time: 1,5' Time: 2' Time: 2,5' Time:1,5' Time: 1' Time: 6' Time: 5' Time: 10' Time: 11,5' Time: 1' Time: 0
10-15'
2,600 kWh 2,600 kWh 82,600 kWh 2500 kWh 6,000 kWh 2,500 kWh Total Electricity used
Electricity needed (kwh/per production line)
19,800 [19,800 145,200 7,200 7,200 11,880
Electricity used
5,280 kWh 5,280 kWh kWh kWh] kWh kWh kWh kWh Total Electricity needed
(kwh/per production line)
Steam used Total Steam used (%
of the total use)
30,94% [30,94%] 60,39% 5,67%
Steam needed Total Steam needed
(% of the total use)
Fig. 1. Current State Map
769
Order-by-Order Production Schedule Make to order practices
(Pure Pull philosophy)
Customers /
Farmers retailers
700 tn / month ~1000 tn / month
le
(via 25 tn silo vehicles) Via lorries
du
he
sc
ly
ai
D
Receipt
Recycling of
Utilization
water
Insulation
Recycling of
Final product Warehouse
water Insulation
Tomato Hydro- Second Pre- Evapo- Sterilizing /
Screening Pulping Refining Holding Holding Packaging Storage
Reception transport washing heating ration cooling
Empl.: 4
Empl.: 3 Empl.: 3 Empl.: 4 Empl.: 1 Empl.: 1 Empl.: 1l Empl.: - Empl.: 1 Empl.: - Empl.: 1 Empl.: 2 Empl.: 1
Time:
Time: 1' Time: 1,5' Time: 2' Time: 2,5' Time:1,5' Time: 1' Time: 6' Time: 5' Time: 10' Time: 11,5' Time: 1' Time: 0
10-15'
2,600 kWh 2,600 kWh 82,600 kWh 2500 kWh 6,000 kWh 2,500 kWh Total Electricity used
Electricity needed (kwh/per production line)
19,800 [19,800 145,200 7,200 7,200 11,880
Electricity used
5,280 kWh 5,280 kWh kWh kWh] kWh kWh kWh kWh Total Electricity needed
(kwh/per production line)
Steam used Total Steam used (%
of the total use)
30,94% [30,94%] 60,39% 5,67%
Steam needed Total Steam needed
(% of the total use)
Fig. 2. Future State Map
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Table 4. Action Plan Management of actions
Title / Area Description Action Impact Priority Supervisor Time Status
L=Low 1=Low scheduling N=not started
M=Medium 2=Medium I=in progress
H=High 3=High C=completed
Production 1st and 2ndWashing Recycling of water recovered after L 1 Production C
the first washing and hydrotransport Manager
Production Refining Utilization of peels, fibers and tomato M 2 Production I
seeds for animal feed Manager
Production Evaporation Utilization of steam and steam H 3 Production I
condensate in the pre-heating process manager
to minimize the energy requirements
and develop and energy efficiency
production line
Production First holding Insulation of holding tank and piping H 3 Production C
Manager
Production Second holding Insulation of holding tank and piping H 3 Production C
manager
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