Keurig Dr. Pepper
Manufacturing systems and process innovation for coffee production at scale.
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Overview
Improving coffee-manufacturing processes through data-led prototyping and design for six sigma.
As a Coffee Manufacturing Engineering Co-op, I designed and rapidly prototyped process-improvement systems across coffee production and K-cup transfer operations.
Coffee degassing bottleneck
Coffee degassing held product in process for up to 48 hours, increasing the risk of expired inventory and tying up valuable manufacturing capacity.
Approach
I designed and rapidly prototyped an OPEX coffee-degassing rig that paired an infrared gas analyzer with a structured DOE across roasting methods. The goal was to generate credible, process-specific data on degassing behavior and identify a faster operational window without compromising the production decision. The resulting work supported a reduction in degassing time from 48 hours to 8 hours and projected $1.5M in savings from expired coffee.
K-cup transfer reliability
Problem
At the pick-and-place station between check-weighing and packaging, K-cups could spill during transfer, knock over adjacent cups, and create pileups. Because selectively recovering unaffected rows was too tedious, operators often had to clear the entire station which turning a localized failure into a larger downtime event.
Approach
I redesigned the station’s existing gripper fingers with a changeable suction-lined grip that secured individual K-cups throughout transfer from the check weigher to the outbound packaging conveyor. By reducing spills at their source, the redesign helped prevent cascading pileups and avoided unnecessary station clears. The broader reliability work applied DFSS principles, improved OEE, and reduced downtime by 34%.
Chaff upcycling
Problem
Coffee chaff generated during roasting had no useful role in the existing production process. It was treated as a disposal stream, and the business paid to have it hauled away for recycling; creating a cost without recovering any value from the material.
Approach
I designed an upcycling process that turned the chaff into fire starters, creating a practical reuse pathway for a material that had previously been treated as waste. The work reframed chaff from a haul-away expense into a potential value-added product and established a more circular end-of-process option for the roasting operation. I also designed the production flow of the additional machinery adn the methods to bring them into the already engrained process.
