James Ross Consulting

Gerber Products Co. (Novartis)

Reducing Product Cost

Pressures from competition required Gerber Products Co. to review opportunity for strategic change (process change) and tactical change (performance and cost improvement).

gerber.com

World Famous For Baby Products

Gerber's more than 200 baby products include the almost ubiquitous glass jars of baby food. The company, which had its beginnings in 1927 in Dorothy Gerber's kitchen, also makes baby cereal, juices, and toddler food, along with baby bath and skincare products, bottles, teethers, breastfeeding accessories, spill-proof cups, and infant toys and clothing. Its Gerber Life Insurance Company offers various whole and term life products. Gerber feeds, soothes, and amuses babies worldwide. It is part of the Novartis group of companies.

Business Challenge

Reducing Plant / Product Cost

Market pressures and low cost country sourcing meant that Gerber Products Co. was recognizing the need to improve efficiencies and cut costs. The challenge was to prioritize which areas to tackle first to bring the most sustainable benefit.

How JRC Helped

Strategic Change / Technical Support

We surveyed the North American Gerber Products Co. plant and constructed a prioritized list of key cost improvement areas within the Supply Chain. This included packaging inventory reduction, reduced product damage, reduced manufacturing complexity and improved flexibility.

Following on from the survey we helped to realize the improvements during a six month deployment at the plant, working directly with the plant staff to work through a number of engineering, process and procurement changes.

Value Delivered

Bottom Line Improvement

Our project team delivered significant cost and process benefit on the key cost improvement areas. We also provided day to day technical support to assist the plant further.