Ocean Spray was steamed. The fruit juice manufacturer had issues with steam generation at its Bordentown, New Jersey, facility. "We would lose steam pressure, which would shut down our packaging operations. That downtime was having a disastrous impact on us," reports Michael Browne, director of engineering at Ocean Spray.
Processing and packaging juice is Ocean Spray's core competency at Bordentown, Browne continues, and the problems with its steam system were negatively affecting the heart of its production in that plant. The company, which had fiscal 2007 gross sales of roughly $1.7bn, has 300 of its 2,000 employees working in the Bordentown facility.
Ocean Spray solved the problem by outsourcing the management, operation, maintenance, and repair of the Bordentown powerhouse so it has a continuous supply of steam. And in doing so, it saved $500,000.
Source: Outsourcing Journal, http://www.outsourcing-journal.com