Aimia Foods - Leading UK Food and Beverage business. Complete Sales, Marketing and Manufacturing solutions - including outsourcing and co-packing capability.

Proud of what we do, Proud of how our Customers regard us !

Here at Aimia Foods we run a manufacturing business that is World Class in terms of both quality and consistency. Our dedication to continuous improvement borders on the obsessive. We have won numerous awards and accolades most impressive of which was the recent awarding of the unannounced BRC accreditation following a two day audit for the second year running. This makes us one of only a handful of food companies to have reached such a standard.

We have 548 Customers and 461 SKU’s. We are a very diverse business.

Process

Here at Aimia Foods the leaders of the business have taken the Lean Six Sigma and Kaizen ways of thinking to create a best in class systems of continuous improvement. We benchmark ourselves against other organisations. In 2003 we undertook best factory tours of Japan (Toyota & Honda) and America (UPS & Steinway) in order to gain best practice knowledge of their 5s and culture. These powerful tools have allowed our leaders to eradicate non added value streams, increase capacity through streamlining and keep processes under tight control. We are also passionate about 5S which we have adapted to 6S (to include Safety), TPM which is based around productive maintenance, SMED which reduces change over times, improves productivity, reduce speed loss, achieve Conformance to Plan and measure it all through OEE.

Combined with a program of substantial investment over the last few years, the results are astonishing which has seen us working closely and proudly with some of the big blue chip companies and brand owners. At Aimia Foods we pride ourselves on working to both wow and delight our customers.

Communication

Lean Six Sigma tools are deployed in both operational and non-operational areas. We deploy our KPI’s and strategy via a Hoshin Matrix. Here at Aimia Foods, each employee receives an appraisal linked to the goals and values set by the Board of Directors. Goals and values are clearly displayed for our staff to see. They get communicated via cascade briefs. This is when we stop production for 30 minutes every 3 months to communicate the company performance and strategy.

A daily quest

Here at Aimia Foods, every single working day begins with an assessment of the previous day’s performance through the use of shop floor performance meetings. These take place around production line activity boards. The aim is to clear up any issues, set priorities for the current shift and remove potential pressure points. This allows the teams also to look at areas for improvement. A weekly review meeting is then held to discuss details in greater depth. To make our data easily identifiable we use “Andon boards”. We also make use of a regular ‘Kaizen hour’ where each area of the business has a planned stoppage and everybody has the chance to contribute their own ideas.

People

At Aimia we believe that everything starts and ends with the right people. Culture is everything. An Investor in People for more than ten years, Aimia Foods also recruits the very best specialists from around the food industry to head up various departments.

At Aimia Foods all staff are empowered to learn and get involved in process improvements. Lean Six Sigma operates on a colour belt structure starting at yellow belt, following onto green belt and finishing at black belt. Master black belt is the highest accolade and awarded when evidence of multi projects and ranking structure are demonstrated and in operation.

The Operations Director is the Aimia Foods master black belt and at the moment we currently have 31 staff trained in Lean Six Sigma ranging from black, green and yellow belts straddling different areas of the business such as supply chain, quality, production and engineering at both operator and management level. The accreditation has been awarded externally. It is a very clear demonstration of the level of commitment to quality and manufacturing best practice.

Factory Tours

Aimia Foods run factory Best Practice Tours because we are so very proud of what we do. They are always well attended and we only continue to run them because of the hugely positive feedback we receive :

With regards to your own business if you’ve ever asked the following ;

How do I share my vision for our factory with everyone in the business?
How do I get my workplace organised?
How do I create ownership on the factory floor?
How do I get positive change now?
How do I create a world class engineering facility?
How can I build a great culture?

..You may want to come and visit us.

Recent “Quotes” from our Best Factory Tour Visitors :

“The visit exceeded my expectations. I found it a very relaxed, very measured, well organised and professional company.”

“All aspects were very informative and covered everything that I needed to help improve and further my company’s lean journey. Staff were very open and willing to speak about their individual areas.”

“The tour and discussion exceeded expectations. Enjoyed informal discussions. People extremely attentive, knowledgeable and helpful.”

But don’t just take our word for it :

“Although Aimia Foods was an exemplar business ten years ago when I first worked with them as a Lean Consultant, their relentless pursuit of perfection has now placed them in the highest echelons of manufacturing excellence.

If you’ve read the theory, you will see it here in practice: visual management, kaizen, six sigma, 5’S, OEE, standard management, lean culture – the list is endless.

Do yourself and your business a favour – go look see”

Phil Shelley
Lean Enterprise Director
Becketts Foods

“Aimia Foods is a company where the principles of operational excellence
are firmly embedded and where continuous improvement is simply part of
what they do every day, at every level of the business.”

Eilish Henry
Head of TMI Practitioner Services
The Manufacturing Institute
“This morning at our weekly C.I. meeting I was briefing the team on my visit to Aimia Foods. I was telling them that while I observed a lot of really good C.I. work what really stood out for me was the incredible positive attitude that permeated across all the Aimia Haydock sites. People genuinely love coming to work in Aimia & are 100% committed to making the company prosper.

In most organizations it is acceptable for employees to apply themselves at only 70% of their potential. Your people are operating at over 90% which gives Aimia a major competitive advantage. Having a group of people who see C.I. as part of their normal duties & who will consistently pull out all stops for the company & it’s customers is priceless. What you have achieved is incredible – you should be very proud.”

Noel Hennessy
C.I. Director
Lake Region Medical

“Visiting Aimia Foods for me could only be described as a start to finish experience that could only compare with, when Charlie entered Wonka’s Factory. The standards and practices are as one should expect from an award winning factory, however the overwhelming impression that you receive from personnel is that it has been achieve by everyone in the form of the companies culture. I left Aimia Food with the feeling that culture change is possible, to stick with it and that rewards based around culture are real, not something that is read about.”

Stuart Tolson
Continuous Improvement Manager
Thornton and Ross Ltd

“It was good to be present to see Patrick and his team receive Best Factory
Awards in so many categories. I have worked with Patrick at various sites
over the last 20 years and his consistent success come as no surprise. To
add a black belt to formidable people skills ensures the high achievements
will continue. To those who have yet to tour the Aimia Foods operation,
make time in the diary, it will be well spent.”

Alan France
Operations Director
Idhammar Systems Limited