Introduction
According to snack food folklore, legends, myths and/or old wives tales, (maybe even truth), the potato chip was invented out of anger in 1853 by a chef named George Crum at a restaurant called Moon’s Lake House in Saratoga Spring, New York when a patron returned his french fried potatoes to the kitchen complaining that they were too thick. So Mr. Crum did the exact opposite by cutting and frying thinly sliced potatoes. The customer was ecstatic over the wafer sized and crisp fries. Instead of failure, this bold reaction by Mr. Crum backfired and the potato chip was born.
Piecing together how the popularity of the potato chip spread from humble beginnings (being prepared in someone’s kitchen, sold from the back of a dilapidated truck or delivered immediately to stores and restaurants (shelf life was nil) to modern day 20th century industrialized, mass-producing, computerized “potato chip manufacturing” is difficult (your guess is as good as mine). However, one thing for certain is…as the Frito Lay commercial says…”betcha just can’t eat one”.
Product Profile:
Let’s examine this product (potato chips). Today’s product is made from farm-fresh potatoes delivered daily to manufacturing plants. The sources vary from season to season. Keeping this in mind, during winter, potato chip manufacturers depend on their stored supplies. Stored potatoes are kept at a constant temperature between 40-45 degrees Farenheit and moved to a reconditioning room that is heated to 70-75 degrees Farenheit several weeks before they are to be used. Size and type are important in potato selection. Potatoes smaller than a baseball but larger than a golf ball are best. It takes approximately 100 lbs of raw potatoes to produce 25 of chips.
Company Profile
In 1932, two young entrepreneurs independently started two separate small companies that would transform into the large flourishing world of snacks creating an industry based on unrivaled customer service and superior products Frito-Lay. These two savvy businessmen had the same objective in mind, and both shared the same basic business philosophy: "Provide the customer with a product of the highest quality and value; sell it for a fair profit; and make service a fundamental part of doing business."
Elmer Doolin of San Antonio, Texas started his company by purchasing the rights to a then unknown corn chip product that he would make famous – Frito’s. Herman W. Lay of Nashville, Tennessee developed his business by selling a product that was familiar to people in his region, but later would become America's favorite potato chip – Lay’s. They merged in 1961 and became known as Frito-Lay.
Industry Profile
IBISWorld is a research firm that offers key statistics and analysis regarding market size, market share, segmentation of products and services, business insights, market trends, as well as forces affecting demand and supply within an industry provides the following information: nine out of ten Americans eat salty snacks. The average household spends about $80.00 per year on salty snacks. Nearly 25% of those who eat salty snacks do so in front of the TV or the computer, as a meal replacement or between meals. According to Mintel's research, 93% of Americans with children in their households say that they buy salty snacks, compared to 87% of those without children under age 18 at home.
Current Stock Price
In the financial trading market/industry, potatoes, are an international stock commodity. Financial Content (a leading provider of stock market data, business news firm) shares that, potatoes current and year to date market performance, reflect positive gains with today’s opening price at 0.62c/lb. Dallas Business Journal’s (07/20/2010 bulletin) reports that potato chip maker Frito Lay North America saw its revenue grow by 2 percent during the second quarter of 2010, posted revenue of $3.2 billion for the second quarter, up slightly over the $3.1 billion recorded during the same period in 2009. Frito-Lay (North America) is the dominant player in the salty snack category/industry in the United States, with a 65 percent share of the market. In the United States, Lay is the leader in profit, and it is also responsible for one-third of PepsiCo's (its parent company) overall revenues. In layman’s terms: As a consumer, I walk through the aisles of grocery stores, I am amazed at the collection of product and packaging material – where does it come from, where does it go and how much does it cost? This is particularly true in the potato chip isle. In general, (depending on geographical location), potato chips price range from 0.99c - $2.99 for “regular potato chips” and $2.99 plus… for “healthier potato chips”. Regardless, all the potatoes, “the good, the bad or the indifferent” must be harvested. All require water, electricity and chemicals to grow. Next, someone either has to hand pick or operate/drive a (motorized vehicle) to harvest these potatoes. Either way, cost is involved. Once harvested, these potatoes are taken to the plant where more water, electricity, people and chemicals are required to process the chips.

Potato Chip Manufacturing Process (information retrieved and paraphrased/summarized from) http://www.madehow.com/Volume-3 Potato-Chip.html
When the potatoes arrive at the plant, they are examined and tasted for quality. The potatoes move along a conveyer belt to the various stages of manufacturing. The potatoes are then peeled and washed in cold water and passed through a revolving impaler/presser that cuts them into paper-thin slices, between 0.066-0.072 in (1.7-1.85 mm) in thickness. If the potatoes need to be chemically treated to enhance their color, it is done at this stage. The paper-thin potato slices pass under air jets that remove excess water as they flow into 40-75 ft (12.2-23 m) troughs filled with oil. The oil temperature is kept at 350-375°F (176.6-190.5°C). After frying the chips are deposited into a trough where salt is sprinkled from receptacles positioned above the trough. Potato chips that are to be flavored pass through a drum filled with the desired powdered seasonings. The chips are then conveyed to a packaging machine with a scale where it releases a predetermined/measured amount of chips into bags without breakage or letting too much air into the bags before they are sealed. The sealed bags are then conveyed to a collator and hand-packed into cartons. For quality control taste samples are made from each batch throughout the manufacturing process.
Competitive Landscape
Demand is driven by consumer tastes and health considerations. The profitability of individual companies depends on efficient operations, effective marketing/advertising/packaging. An article by Ms. Lynn Dorblaser (from Prepared Foods, Inc.) states “salty snacks is a mature market with sales totaling $17.7 billion in 2009”. In spite of the economy, salty snacks have proven to be a recession-proof category. Health wise, interests in salty snack products that are organic or all natural, low-calorie, low-fat, low-carbohydrate, low-sodium or offer health-promoting benefits such as soy or the elimination of trans fat are in greater demand by consumers. soy or the elimination of trans fat are in greater demand.
Although consumers are interested in healthier snack products, they are not willing to sacrifice flavor. In terms of customer preferences, in the salty snack category, it hardly matters what type - potato chip, tortilla chip, pretzel, popcorn, meat snack, you name it - at least one company has introduced a “healthier” version for example Marc Summers (commentator for the Food Network TV Unwrapped show) states that since 1982, the Kettle Brand Company, in Oregon, has produced a healthier alternative, a natural chip (hand cooked chip using a special potato a russet burbank fried in safflower oil). Key competitors in this industry to name a few include household names like ConAgra Foods, Inc. General Mills, Inc. Kraft Foods Inc. the Proctor and Gamble Company, and Campbell’s Soup Company.

Whether you are a business manager, owner, or just a worker, you have most likely been concerned with your production speed at some point in your career. All businesses are always striving to improve their production speed, because a higher production speed yields a higher profit. And every business man and woman knows that a higher profit is good for everyone. So perhaps you’re looking for new ways to improve your production speed, but you’re not sure where to begin. Well this article is here to tell you that in tracking your process flow you can improve your production speed. And here is how to do just that.
Let’s start with an explanation of process flow. Process flow is the steps of a procedure used in making, delivering, or accomplishing a product or service, and how it impacts the layout of your facility and your decisions about technology, as well as how your company works together. Process flow is an important aspect to building a strong company with a competitive edge. A given procedure can be classified as job shop or flow shop when applying the concept of “process flow.” Flow shop is not a flexible procedure and uses specialized resources. Job shop is very flexible and uses general resources.
Process flow may also be familiar to you in the diagram form used by chemical and processing engineers. This diagram indicates the general flow of a factory or plant’s processes and equipment. It is not, however, the definition we are looking for in this article and therefore we shall cease discussion of it.
With this overview in mind, let us now look at an example where tracking your process flow could improve your production speed. Let us imagine that you own a company that makes kitchen gadgets. In your company you have several divisions, including divisions that do the following things: order parts, sort through parts, divide parts into specified areas, assemble parts, check the product, package product and ship product. Lately your ordering division has been slacking in their workload. They haven’t been ordering parts on time and so the parts haven’t been arriving on time. And your checking division has been awfully lax about what quality of product they allow through, so packaging has been sending many products back to assembly to be fixed.
Because of these problems, your company has been behind in orders and customers are starting to complain. And along with that, workers from different divisions of the company are beginning to blame other divisions for the problems. Basically you’re loosing money, your employees are unhappy, and your customers are thinking about buying another brand of product.
What can be done to remedy this situation? Well, for one thing, it sounds like you need to start tracking your process flows. Wait, you mean you don’t have any idea of how they should be? Well then its time to start from square one.
First you need to make a detailed list of the steps that need to be followed in order to make your product. Start from the top (being you) and describe everything that should happen to the product before it hits the market. Then go through your list and write down how much time it should take each department to accomplish their portion of the job. Once you’ve done that, you’re ready for a period of observation.
Take your list and make a similar list, but this time write down what actually happens to the product. How much time does it really take? Where are the problems or back-ups occurring? Once you know these things, it’s time to start finding out why these problems happen so that you can fix it. Doing this will help you realize how much time it should actually take to accomplish tasks. Then you may remedy any unpleasant situations and thereby improve your production speed.
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