Sourcing materials for a new production line for a micro business

Sourcing materials for a new production line for a micro business

18th of March, 2022

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The Business

The Business was an established, family-run business based in Scotland, selling premium real ale products via a microbrewery process. The business had a project to establish a new product line for a high protein/high fibre snack made from ingredients recycled from the brewing process.

The Challenge

The Business obtained grant funding from Zero Waste Scotland to source all the machinery, equipment, tools, and workwear to establish the new production line.

However, the business did not have the resources available to complete the sourcing activity in the previous fiscal year. As a result, the new production line was delayed, and the grant had to be re-awarded to the business.

The Business was relocating into a commercial unit. This unit would function as the micro-brewery, shop, and bar. The production line for the new snack would also be located in this unit.

The objective of this project was to complete the sourcing actions on behalf of the Business Owner allowing them to focus upon the crucial relocation activities.

The challenge was to complete the project within a timescale to allow actual procurement to be completed within that fiscal year and to ensure that the cost of all purchases would be under the grant funding level.

The Action

The delivery of the project was achieved by;

• Full background discussion with the Business Owner and the agreement of the scope of work and timescale for completion.

• Reviewing the potential production flow and the requirements of safety and food hygiene, identifying potential gaps and opportunities for improvement, to ensure we had a complete scope of required items.

• Working off-site on a desk-top sourcing exercise to identify the specification of items required to suit the scale of the production volumes and identify potential sources that will meet the required budget and lead-times.

• Feedback to and engage with the Business Owner.

The key deliverables were;

1. A spreadsheet Bill of Material detailing the full scope of the machinery, equipment, tools, and workwear.
2. Line by line links to the sources of supply to allow each item to be reviewed for suitability of fit and function.
3. Defined lead-times for all items to ensure that each item can be purchased within the timeline for the start of production.
4. A defined unit and total cost per item.
5. Three sources for high-value items that had an individual purchase price greater than £100.
6. Identification of areas of risk in terms of fit for purpose (specification), cost and/or lead-time.

The impact for the Business

The scope of work was delivered in a short timescale with the active involvement of the Business Owner.

All items met the specification and requirements of the new production line.

The total cost to procure the full scope of supply, along with a contingency, was below the value of the grant funding.

The lead-times for each item in the scope of supply could be procured within the required deadline.

No items had any risk in functionality, cost, or lead-time.