Shivani’s Kitchen Boosts Production with Our Food Automation Consulting

INDUSTRY:
Food and Beverage Automation

TYPE OF WORK:
Conceptual design, design validation, analysis, and design for manufacture (DFM)

My experience working with Enginuity was great! The team calculated my current costs, and so they were able to give an actual [financial] figure to what we were spending on time and labour, and how we can get a good return on investment. I’m looking forward to continue working with Enginuity as the business scales.

Shivani Dhamija
Founder, Shivani’s Kitchen

About the Client

Shivani Kitchen

Shivani Dhamija, Founder of Shivani’s Kitchen, was looking to increase production capacity without significantly increasing costs following an increase in market demand.

While running her restaurant business, Shivani identified a need for her customers to recreate her dishes at home – and so their “Ready to Use” Sauces and Spice Blends line was launched. However, because of the challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, Shivani successfully pivoted her Indian food restaurant business to a new production plant for spices and sauces in Newport Station, in just the span of a year. 

Understanding the Problem

The Challenge

Though these ready-made sauces and spice blends were already sold in local stores in Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM), Nova Scotia, Canada, Shivani was able to further expand her reach. She not only successfully released her product line to retail stores, she was also able to begin expansion to the United States.

With this business expansion, it was harder to keep up with product demand. Implementing food processing automation within her kitchen was imperative, so she sought help from Enginuity.

Our goal was to first identify areas and bottlenecks in her current process where she could optimize her production, without significantly increasing costs, and determining opportunities for automation.

Solving the Challenge

The Solution

Our Discovery Process focused on identifying bottlenecks in Shivani’s current process where they can improve their production: from “goods in” through the “packaged product out”. It was important to identify the quick wins or fixes that can be already done without having to invest heavily in new equipment, and to maximize use of the existing production space.

Enginuity was able to give a series of recommendations with varying time frames: immediate improvements, short term improvements (can be done <1 year), and longer term improvements (2-3 years).

This way, at varying time frames and budget allocation, Shivani’s Kitchen was able to see the full picture and get a roadmap of everything that they can do to improve their throughput in lockstep with their production scale and market demand.

Summarizing the Outcome

The Conclusion

The costs associated with each of those identified areas were estimated by diving into the available site data including production throughput, labour and maintenance costs, in addition to services and supply costs. From there, we were able to provide an estimate of project costs and resulting ROI for implementing these changes. 

Key Takeaways

Optimized Production Process

Identified bottlenecks and provided immediate and long-term recommendations for higher productivity.

Significant Production Increase

The recommendations help double production within six months and quadruple in a year.

Positive Client Experience

Shivani’s Kitchen saw high ROI potential, and praised Enginuity for effective cost analysis and practical solutions.

Applying Know-Hows to Food and Beverage Automation Industry 

The Shivani’s Kitchen project demonstrates our ability to enhance production efficiency, increase yield, and drive productivity in the food industry. By identifying bottlenecks and recommending tailored improvements, we provided scalable solutions that doubled production capacity within six months.

The strategies implemented can be adapted to improve:

  • Bakery: Optimize baking processes, enhance production efficiency, and improve resource management.
  • Beverage and Brewery: Increase production yield, streamline bottling processes, and ensure quality control.
  • Dairy: Enhance milk processing, improve production workflows, and utilize resources effectively.
  • Prepared Foods: Scale up production lines, improve packaging processes, and minimize labor-intensive tasks.
  • Protein Processing: Improve meat processing efficiency, enhance asset utilization, and ensure safety compliance.

Our expertise helps clients across these sectors achieve significant gains in productivity, efficiency, and quality, ensuring sustainable growth and success.

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