Lion Castlemaine Perkins Brewery Tour

Lion showcases its Manufacturing Excellence (MEX) Journey

In November 2013 two staff from Lion’s brewing operations joined us on our Lean Japan Tour, and on their return kindly agreed to host a brewery tour at their Castlemaine Perkins Brewery this February for our clients in South East Queensland and local members of the Australian Industry Group.

Lion is well-known in Australia as a leading beverage and food company employing 7,500 staff. The company boasts a portfolio of market-leading brands in beer, spirits, wine, milk, fresh dairy foods, juice, cheese and soy beverages.

Lion’s Castlemaine Perkins Brewery is famous for its signature bitter ale. The brewery is well equipped to host visitors, and the tour started with an audio-visual explanation regarding the brewing process. The group then proceeded through the brewery to witness the various processes described. The highlight of the tour was the session held in the brewery’s Manufacturing Excellence (MEX) room where Manufacturing Excellence Leader Chris Sheehan shared details of Lion’s MEX program and lean journey.

Lion’s continuous improvement program focuses on several themes with autonomous maintenance, asset care, set-up time reduction and quality identified as key pillars of the MEX program. Teamwork in eliminating waste, 5S discipline, visual management and structured problem solving for continuous improvement are also highlighted, with safety and leadership as a foundation of MEX. Presentations and a report on the November 2013 Lean Japan Tour followed from Mark McGuinness, Manufacturing Manager of Moffat, and Ben Sparrow and Paul Smith, Directors of Shinka Management.

Thanks to Lion for hosting the brewery tour (and for putting on the drinks!) and to Mark McGuinness of Moffatt for his talk. We look forward to running our next factory tour in South East Queensland in mid 2014.