VALUE CHAIN ANALYSIS OF FOOD TRAYS

RESEARCH ON CAMBRO

Our mess use a lot of catering products of CAMBRO ( manufacturing company) such as food trays , beverage containers , cup racks etc. so I did some research on it.
 When William and Argyle Campbell first opened the doors at Cambro Manufacturing in 1951 their goal was to make a hospital meal tray of the highest quality possible. Named the Camtray®, it demonstrated that they were as committed to excellence in the food service industry as they were to the quality of their own  products. As 2011 marked the company’s 60th year of leadership in quality, innovation and customer service, today Cambro serves the world with the industry’s most complete selection of products for widely diverse segments of the food service business.to know more about CAMBRO click here (You Tube)

CAMBRO'S CAMTAINER

Camtainer is used to hold transport and serve hot or cold beverages.

Its constructed with seamless double-wall polyethylene material with thick foam insulation andstack interlocking ensures stable stacking during transport and storage.

Product model 250LCD , the one our mess use.Its holding capacity is 21/2 gal which means approx 40 liters. Dimensions of product is 9 x 18 3/8 x 16 1/2" (W X H X D) and the wight is 4 kg .

PROPERTIES OF POLYETHYLENE MATERIAL

Mechanical properties

Polyethylene is of low strength, hardness and rigidity, but has a high ductility and impact strength as well as low friction. It shows strong creep under persistent force, which can be reduced by addition of short fibers. It feels waxy when touched.

Thermal properties

The usefulness of polyethylene is limited by its softening point of 80 °C (176 °F) (HDPE, types of low crystalline softens earlier). For common commercial grades of medium- and high-density polyethylene the melting point is typically in the range 120 to 180 °C (248 to 356 °F). The melting point for average, commercial, low-density polyethylene is typically 105 to 115 °C (221 to 239 °F). These temperatures vary strongly with the type of polyethylene.

Electrical properties

Polyethylene is a good electric insulator. It offers good tracking resistance, however, it becomes easily electrostatically charged (which can be reduced by additions of graphite, carbon black or antistatic agents).

CAMBRO'S COMPARTMENT  TRAYS

It has Six compartment tray designed specifically for in-cell feeding programs and serves both hot and cold food from the same tray.Tray with cover separates each compartment to retain food temperature and reduce spills.It has six compartment, five for food and one side compartment for utensils and its made by ABS polymer material.

PROPERTIES OF ABS POLYMER

ABS polymers are resistant to aqueous acids, alkalis, concentrated hydrochloric and phosphoric acids, alcohols and animal, vegetable and mineral oils, but they are swollen by glacial acetic acid, carbon tetrachloride and aromatic hydrocarbons and are attacked by concentrated sulfuric and nitric acids. They are soluble in esters, ketones, ethylene dichloride and acetone. to knowmore about abs polymer : (You Tube material demo)










CUP RACKS

Used for Wash,store and safely transport mugs and cups.
Open inside compartments ensure thorough cleaning.
Closed external walls keep fingers and contaminants out.
Tilt feature drains water from mug bases for quick and sanitary drying.
Smooth sides and rounded corners reduce risk of injury. 
Smooth top rim ensures quick,stable stacking.
Inter-stacks with all other racks.
Durable,long-lasting polypropylene will withstand chemicals and high temperatures up to 200°F (93,3°C).
Fits through any commercial dishwasher.

 

Stakeholders analysis

Assessment Matrix

  Mess kitchen is divided in 3 major sections.Cooking are, food vessel wash area and tray wash area.
Chef Arjun Singh told me this mess was made for only 200 people, so to make food for approx 600 people we face a lots of conflicts and mess kitchen is small too.
   The food vessel wash area face one major problem because that area is very small to wash those big vessels, workers feel very congested there.

Existing system for tray wash in mess (Field research )

Here I showed how existing tray wash system works in mess. There are four workers  involved in this system and I showed them using different colors such as red , yellow, green and brown for better understanding which you will see in further sketches.

There are two workers present at wash counter. After having food when you submit your tray to wash counter, red worker take that tray and separate bowls, spoons, glass , waste food. Then he forward it to yellow worker. yellow worker clean the trays using water and he forward it to green worker. The job of green worker is apply liquid soap on trays and then it goes to brown worker, he wash tray again with water. Then he send it to wash machine .

The job of the red worker is to separate spoons ,waste food in tray,cups , bowls and glasses.He dumps all the spoons in a bucket , collect cups in a cup rack  and then dump all the waste food in a container through the hole as you can see in picture below.      

 A garbage container is present underneath the table to collect waste food

 

Then trays come to yellow worker, his job is to clean trays properly with water. 

now  trays comes in hands of green worker, his job is to apply liquid soap on them and pass it to brown worker.

brown worker's job is to wash trays properly , clean them again with water and forward them to wash machine.After that he collects all the fresh trays from the other side of wash machine and  gather them at their place.

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Wash machine , use to clean  trays ,cups,bowls and drinking glasses. basically it apply hot water with force on them to vanish oil and stink.

then some workers brings all the fresh trays outside for drying.

Trays are ready to use again.

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 Define problem

• select target area (mess dish wash )
• trays pile up

Problem statement - Organize mess problems.

• field research
• doubt about problem

Rethinking

• back to field
• spoke to worker (dipstick)
• reinforced problem statement, supporting factors found
• problem expanded to user. 

When I went back to field and talked with the worker, he mentioned that he lives in one of the domes of mess building.There also they face several problems,so this supporting problem also found.

Today's work - Visit mess kitchen and dome. 14/4/16