| dc.description.abstract | ABSTRACT: Chocolate is consumed all over the world and its demand is increasing. Chocolate manufacturing recipes are driven by trends and must be continuously updated to what consumers are looking for. Nestlé works with the Sustainable Development Goals, relating to goal number 12 on responsible production and consumption, goal number 4 on quality education, goal number 5 on gender equality and finally, goal number 6 on water quality. The Nestlé factory in La Penilla is a multi-product factory that annually produces 97,000 tons of finished product. Confectionery, the department where this study was carried out, produces around 57,000 tons of chocolate, which is distributed to countries all over the world. The chocolate manufacturing process consists of several stages. The first is roasting, in which the cocoa beans arrive to the factory and go through a roasting process, shelling and grinding of the bean, in which sizes of less than 20 μm are reached and this is known as cocoa liquor. The cocoa liquor is subjected to 500 bar pressure in hydraulic presses and cocoa butter is obtained on the one hand, and cocoa cake on the other. The second step in the chocolate manufacturing process is refining, in which raw materials such as cocoa, sugar or butter are introduced into the process and refined until the desired fineness of the chocolate is obtained. The last step in this process is conching, in which an exhaustive control of the process variables is necessary. Parameters such as time and temperature can contribute to a change in the amount of polyphenols present in the chocolate. The third step is chocolate molding. At this stage of the process is critical to crystallize the cocoa butter present in the chocolate correctly, which is known as the chocolate tempering process. A bad crystallization can cause the phenomenon called fat bloom, in which the cocoa butter blooms outside of the chocolate, generating white spots on the chocolate. Once the tempering process has been completed, the chocolate is dosed into the molds by heads that distribute the product appropriately. The last step is the filling of the chocolate into bags. The chocolates manufactured in the molding stage, called carrés, are individually wrapped with a film and then filled into bags by grouping the individually wrapped chocolates. The molding and filling of chocolates in bags is the case of study of this project. If bags are overfilled, undesired over costs are generated. To adjust the desired quantity, a statistical process control is required. Moreover, it must be compliant with Real Decreto 1801/2008, which establishes rules regarding the nominal quantities for packaged products and the control of their actual content. Using the Loss Tree Analysis (LTA) methodology, it was identified that a large part of the economic losses of confectionery were associated with overweight. Based on Real Decreto 1801/2008, an investigation was initiated based on the implementation of the Statistical Process Control (SPC) methodology using Minitab software, to find out if these losses came from the chocolate molding or from the filling of the bags. VI The critical process variables and the points where the process failed, were identified. Both in the molding of the carrés and in the filling, points that were not being carried out properly were found, and that should be corrected in order to have the process under control. In addition, a market study was carried out and an equipment which fits with the process was found. This equipment would significantly improve the process. To check if improvements have been obtained economically, a calculation is made of the losses associated with overweight in 2022, and compared with those of 2021 for the product references related to this work. In a first stage of this project, some uncontrolled process variables were identified and corrected. In 2021, the loss due to overweight in the filling was 57,782€ and has been reduced to 19,407€ in 2022. In addition, future options have been proposed to complete the reduction of this loss in 2023. | es_ES |
