Chocolate company
Theo Chocolate, located in Seattle, Washington, produces premium organic and Fair Trade specialty chocolate. Their founder, Joseph Whinney, pioneered the import of organic cacao beans into the United States in 1994. Whinney envisioned building the first organic chocolate factory in the U.S., as prior to Theo’s inaugural chocolate run in March of 2006, all organic chocolate was manufactured in Europe and imported to the U.S. market. As the first organic and Fair Trade chocolate factory in the country, all of Theo’s ingredients are carefully screened to ensure they meet standards for social and environmental responsibility. Theo’s standards and practices include:
• “Using only pure ingredients that are grown sustainably. We source our ingredients locally whenever possible.”
• “Partnering with our growers by ensuring they earn a living wage and have access to education for their families.”
• “Honoring and respecting our employees and suppliers. This is possible due to the unique fact that we control every step of our own manufacturing process.”
• “Using green energy sources to power our factory.”
• “Using sustainable packaging and printing methods.”
• “Educating about social and environmental accountability 7 days a week through public tours of our artisan factory.” As a group we chose to do our project on Theo Chocolate because of their practices, uniqueness, location, and the ability to go on a tour of the facility to gain primary knowledge and information on organic chocolate manufacturing. We decided to focus on topics of process design and supply chain management. Our objective for this project was to study Theo’s process selection and factory layout, work practices and supply chain issues—and then determine if any lean improvements could be made. This paper firstly describes Theo’s supply chain or sourcing practices, the disadvantages of industry activities versus the advantages of Theo’s activities, and any possible lean improvement suggestions
• “Using only pure ingredients that are grown sustainably. We source our ingredients locally whenever possible.”
• “Partnering with our growers by ensuring they earn a living wage and have access to education for their families.”
• “Honoring and respecting our employees and suppliers. This is possible due to the unique fact that we control every step of our own manufacturing process.”
• “Using green energy sources to power our factory.”
• “Using sustainable packaging and printing methods.”
• “Educating about social and environmental accountability 7 days a week through public tours of our artisan factory.” As a group we chose to do our project on Theo Chocolate because of their practices, uniqueness, location, and the ability to go on a tour of the facility to gain primary knowledge and information on organic chocolate manufacturing. We decided to focus on topics of process design and supply chain management. Our objective for this project was to study Theo’s process selection and factory layout, work practices and supply chain issues—and then determine if any lean improvements could be made. This paper firstly describes Theo’s supply chain or sourcing practices, the disadvantages of industry activities versus the advantages of Theo’s activities, and any possible lean improvement suggestions