Chairmans Foods is a growing food manufacturing company operating three processing plants across Georgia and Tennessee, USA. With 13 production lines producing a variety of food products, the company operates in a highly competitive market where efficiency, compliance and product quality are non-negotiable.
Recognising that sustained success required more than just operational hard work, Chairmans Foods made continuous improvement a core pillar of its strategy. However, without accurate data, even the best improvement efforts were often misdirected.
Cutting through the noise and revealing true insights
Before adopting MaintMaster OEE, Chairmans Foods managed production performance largely through opinions. Success was often determined by how people “felt” a shift went, rather than by measurable outcomes.
"We didn't know any of our data. We'd classify good days or bad days based on qualitative measures...we didn't really have a numerical context."
This approach made it nearly impossible for the leadership team to objectively assess production bottlenecks or identify where to focus improvement efforts. Teams would gather to discuss performance, but without reliable data, conversations were dominated by opinions rather than facts.
The company needed a system that could provide clear, actionable insights and help drive cross-functional collaboration and continuous improvement efforts.
The right fit: practical, visual and built for day-to-day use
When the company set out to find a solution, the leadership team evaluated several options. However, MaintMaster OEE stood out for its practical application, ease of use and powerful visual capabilities that supported fast decision-making. Visual clarity and ease of use were key. The team needed a system that not only tracked data but made it engaging and accessible to teams across all levels.
"This system is so visual, you can see the bar chart change as the day progresses.“
Chairman Foods introduced MaintMaster OEE one site at a time, starting with a plant that already had a strong culture of collaboration between leadership and the Continuous Improvement (CI) team. This conscious decision helped demonstrate early value, build internal momentum and establish a solid foundation for a wider rollout across the organisation.
Teams at the initial site quickly saw the benefits of having real-time, actionable data at their fingertips. Today, the system is embedded across all plants and is used daily by both on-site operational teams and senior leadership.
"It’s always fulfilling to walk down the hall and see people with the dashboards on their screen...The CI team uses it daily for running reports, reviewing root cause analysis and looking at trends.”
Continuous Improvement in action
Chairmans Foods conducts an annual, site-specific review called Discovery, a two-week, cross-functional analysis of their performance data. MaintMaster OEE has now become the backbone of this initiative. Previously, teams made the most of the data they had, often leaning on their own experience to fill in the blanks. With MaintMaster OEE, these reviews have become data-driven exercises focused on identifying and quantifying the true causes of inefficiency.
One such review revealed significant downtime categorised as "Waiting on Cook". Investigation showed the delays were caused by potato preparation times. Working collaboratively, the CI and maintenance teams used OEE data to benchmark the issue, trial solutions and ultimately justify a capital investment.
"Maintenance was involved in the review of the equipment... we brought in the test equipment, ran the test... compared that to the standard and then said OK, this is a viable project."
The result? A 42% reduction in downtime related to the cooking process, a change that directly impacted production efficiency and output.
In a separate project, the team tackled allergen-related changeovers, a complex process in food manufacturing that requires thorough cleaning and preparation between products containing different allergens. Using MaintMaster OEE, the CI team tracked how long these changeovers were taking and identified where delays were occurring.
Thanks to the visibility and focused analysis in MaintMaster OEE, this initiative lead to a 25% reduction in allergen changeovers.
Chairmans Foods uses MaintMaster OEE to stay ahead at every plant
One of the biggest cultural shifts enabled by MaintMaster OEE was the move from reactive to proactive management. From his office, Eric Steer, VP of Operations, monitors real-time dashboards displaying performance data from all three sites.
“It gives me a quick reference... If there’s any major concerns, it may cause me to reach out to the respective manager,” he explains.
With MaintMaster OEE, there’s no need to wait for end-of-shift reports or monthly reviews. Issues are visible as they happen, allowing management to provide timely support without micromanaging. Eric sums it up best:
“World-class businesses go from problem to solution faster...MaintMaster OEE allows us to do exactly that - identify issues quickly, analyse them accurately and implement solutions efficiently.”
What's next? SKU-specific OEE for deeper insights
One-size-fits-all targets rarely work in complex production environments, especially when dealing with a diverse product range. Recognising this, Chairmans Foods has introduced SKU-specific OEE targets to ensure that performance expectations are realistic and achievable.
“Each item cooks, processes and fills at different speeds... You can't just set a blanket target.”
With more accurate, item-specific benchmarks, teams can better understand what good performance looks like for each product, keeping expectations fair and motivating continuous improvement without creating unrealistic pressure.
Results at a glance
- 42% reduction in downtime related to cooking process
- 25% reduction in allergen-related changeover time
- Capital projects justified based on OEE data
- CI reporting standardised across all plants
- Full team adoption, from operators to VP level
- Enhanced engagement and real-time awareness
“Data in our world is critical to solving the right problem the first time...MaintMaster OEE has helped us understand our business more thoroughly...it gives us more facts and data.”
Chairmans Foods is using MaintMaster OEE not just to monitor production, but to drive it forward. From capital investment projects to improving changeover times, the system supports a culture of data-backed decision-making and continuous improvement across all levels of the organisation.
