1 of 4
Peru-born Marco Castro heads Hauni Consulting since the outfit’s creation three years ago. Credit: Hauni Consulting
2 of 4
Chart 2.pptx: In this real-life project for an undisclosed client Hauni Consulting was able to achieve the prevention of 41% waste at the GLT processing stage after applying its TWP methodology. Credit: Hauni Consulting
3 of 4
Chart 3.pptx: In this real-life project for an undisclosed client Hauni Consulting was able to achieve the prevention of 41% waste at the primary processing stage after applying its TWP methodology. Credit: Hauni Consulting
4 of 4
Chart 4.pptx: In this real-life project for an undisclosed client Hauni Consulting was able to achieve the prevention of 58% waste at the secondary processing stage (cigarette making) after applying its TWP methodology. The result proved to be sustainable in the long term. Credit: Hauni Consulting
An exciting initiative spearheaded by iconic German machinery supplier Hauni helps prevent a major proportion of waste across the entire value stream.
Waste reduction is an important process in tobacco manufacturing that saves companies enormous amounts in operating costs. But why only reduce (or recover and reuse/recycle) waste when it can potentially be avoided altogether; well, at least a large proportion of it anyway? This is exactly the premise offered by Hauni Consulting, a department of well-known German tobacco machinery supplier, Hauni Maschinenbau GmbH. Hauni Consulting’s “TWP” initiative simply is an abbreviation of “tobacco waste prevention” and promises to cut down on tobacco waste by as much as 60% in the complete value stream.
The initiative was kick-started in 2020, when Hauni’s management board requested department head Marco Castro (who is based out of Shanghai) and his global team to develop a waste reduction concept that effectively supported tobacco industry players’ concerted efforts in lowering their cost overheads. What Hauni Consulting came up with over the course of approximately one year was a completely novel approach to the tobacco waste problem. Instead of reducing waste in the usual manner, Castro’s team devised a unique integrated methodology that actually prevents waste generation at point of origin in the long term.
The ingenious aspect here is that the achieved waste reduction is permanent, justifying to classify it as actual “prevention”, according to Marco Castro. “The only moment when we actually reduce waste [in the conventional sense] is after a few weeks, at the very beginning of a project. Once we have attained a new optimum through our applied methodology, we are able to prevent any future recurrence of the original waste amount,” Castro explained to Tobacco Asia during a recent Zoom interview. He also pointed out that while there were numerous initiatives “that pretend or intend to reduce waste,” they invariably only kick into action when waste generation already occurred. In simpler words: they only sweep a floor already covered in a thick layer of dust and debris. “What we do is very different, as [with our methodology] we prevent this waste from happening in the first place, so it doesn’t need to be recovered anymore,” he asserted.
But it gets even better. Hauni Consulting’s method literally applies to any production line (or machine base) configuration and at any processing stage, regardless whether it may be at GLT, primary, or secondary. And the results carry forward throughout the value stream. “The entire production process benefits from the synergies generated,” Castro said. “In a factory setting, [the more waste that] we prevent at an earlier stage, the more also will be prevented from happening in the subsequent downstream processes.” He cited a recent client project in which the TWP method achieved a total waste prevention of 85%, measured at secondary. Just to dwell on this result, that is 85% less waste that under conventional circumstances would have to be recovered!
Although Castro understandably was tight-lipped about the exact nature of the methodology, he disclosed that it can be deployed for any production set-up, with only a few minor tweaks and adjustments here or there. Importantly, the method is applied on the client’s existing machine base, however dated it may be. Extensive machinery upgrades explicitly are not a requirement or precondition. Any project would start out with a meticulous quantification of all processes, con-sidering the machine base configuration and – in GLT and primary – assessing the mass flow, operating temperatures, the type of product manufactured, and other parameters. “In the end, the combination of equipment and product will define how much we can factually achieve, and at which point of origin,” said Castro.
Following the optimization of all processes, another crucial aspect is to ensure consistent reproducibility. “What we ask ourselves is, ‘Can customers always and sustainably reproduce the same result once we have transferred the methodology into their hands?” said Castro. This also comes down to what he called “the human factor”. “My job is to achieve the new optimum with the existing install base, which ideally also includes reducing the influence of the human factor. If you query two or three production staff members, I can guarantee to you that all of them will be making different decisions,” Castro elaborated. “So if they calibrate [their machines] incorrectly or apply the wrong settings, then that could potentially generate more waste than is necessary.”
Implementing a waste prevention project, for example in secondary, takes Hauni Consulting an average of 10 weeks from start to finish. But, that doesn’t terminate Hauni Consulting’s involvement for good. “Once everything has been set up and the methodology has been transferred, the client takes over. Indeed, Hauni Consulting are so confident about what they’re doing that they have no qualms attaching a very attractive warranty to every TWP project: If and when the stipulated waste prevention level cannot be reached during the implementation phase, the client in question pays nothing! Nada, zip, zilch.
Upgrades at the Client’s Sole Behest
Hauni Consulting’s TWP methodology does not involve any prerequisite equipment upgrades whatsoever, but is applied to the factory’s existing machine base. Taking all factors into account and under close consultation with the client, the company will carefully assess what tobacco waste prevention percentage is reasonably achiev-able. If the client is satisfied with that assessed target, the improvement plan is put into action. However, after a successfully implemented TWP project, customers can request recommendations for equipment modernization or component upgrades if they wish to reach an even higher waste prevention level. “This request must come directly from the client, as we will not push for costly upgrade investments unsolicited,” asserted Marco Castro. “Our aim strictly is to work out and implement the optimization of the equipment that already is in place. Anything beyond that is at the customer’s sole and only behest.” While Castro’s team is glad to devise a suitable plan, its involvement will subsequently end. “We are then referring the cli-ent on to our mother company’s services department,” Castro said. “If the upgrade should involve any non-Hauni components, the client is of course free to contact the respective suppliers.”