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UNILEVER GOES LIVE IN SIXTEEN PLANTS WITH INFORMANCE EP
NORTHBROOK, IL — SEPTEMBER 13, 2004 — Informance International (formerly
FactoryWare, Inc.) announced today the completion of the implementation of sixteen
of Unilever plants in the United States and Canada. The implementation supports
Unilever°s Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) Program, which helps plant managers
track and report Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) and other operational metrics
to drive higher reliability in their manufacturing processes.
"We selected Informance for its simplicity and ease of use. We wanted automatic
data collection that could be implemented rapidly without a huge investment in reworking
our controls infrastructure," said Terry Herber, Manager of Industrial Engineering.
Informance has been working with Unilever in a close partnership deploying along
side the Informance software platform its IMPACT services offering in order to help
the plants quickly adopt the software and effectively use it in daily problem solving.
Informance°s unique IMPACT service is a combination of on-site and web-based training
performed after the installation has been completed and focuses on using the Informance
solution in a real-world, problem-solving context. This approach drives adoption
of Informance as a tool within the plant because training is conducted with all
levels of the plant management team focusing on specific improvement opportunities.
Informance is collaborating closely with Unilever°s TPM Implementation team to customize
IMPACT to suit their specific needs.
"Unilever has been a big influence on our IMPACT services offering. As
a leader in implementing TPM, Unilever has given significant input into focusing
our training and delivery of the technology to help them drive improvements,"
said Aaron Martin, Executive Vice President- Global Services, Informance International.
The ease of deployment and simplicity of the user interface of Informance EP
has earned positive acceptance by the plants. "Informance has given us a detailed
view of what the issues are on the line without sacrificing operator involvement.
For example, we used the system to identify the root cause of an issue on a production
line that was creating a large amount of minor stops. The improvement we developed,
using Informance to track progress, helped us improve OEE by twenty percent in six
months," said Dave Smith, Continuous Improvement Manager, Olathe Kansas Plant.
About Unilever
Unilever is one of the world's largest consumer products companies with annual
sales of $48.4 billion in 2003. It produces and markets a wide range of foods and
home and personal care products. Unilever operates in more than 100 countries around
the globe and employs 234,000 people.
In the United States, Unilever sales were approximately $11 billion in 2003.
It employs 16,312 people and has 55 offices and manufacturing sites in 21 states.
Our major brands include:
Foods:
Lipton teas, soups and side dishes; Wish-Bone salad dressings and marinades; Lawry's
seasonings and specialty sauces; Shedd's Country Crock and "I Can't Believe It's
Not Butter!" spreads and sprays; Ragu pasta and pizza sauces; Knorr soups, sauces
and bouillons; Hellmann's mayonnaise; Skippy peanut butter; Bertolli olive oil,
premium pasta sauces and frozen dinners; Carb Options line of food products specifically
formulated for use as part of a low-carb diet; Good Humor, Breyers, Popsicle, Klondike,
Ben & Jerry's ice cream and frozen novelties; and Slim-Fast shakes, meal bars and
snack bars.
Home and Personal Care: "all" laundry brand, Wisk laundry detergents; Snuggle
fabric softener; Lever 2000, Caress, and Vaseline skin care; Degree; the Dove family
of anti-perspirant, skin- and hair-care products; the Suave family of anti-perspirant,
skin- and hair-care products; Axe deodorant bodyspray for men; Q-tips cotton swabs;
and Calvin Klein, Cerruti and Vera Wang prestige fragrances.
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