Background

The Sweetooth Candy Company was founded in London, England in October 1939. The recent British declaration of war on Germany posed as an opportunity in disguise for Forastero and Trinitario Sweetooth. It was this ambitious couple that reasoned military troops consuming bland rations could benefit from a sweet treat at the end of their meal. Thus, the Sweetooths founded a Candy Company which aimed to raise troop morale while turning a profit at the same time.

After securing contracts from the British government for Sweetooth Candy Company to be the sole supplier of chocolate dessert candies to the entire British Royal Forces, the Sweetooths opened a factory in the suburbs of London. The Sweetooths had been saving for some time, which made possible the purchase of production equipment that involved large fixed capital costs with only limited financing from local banks. Within 6 weeks, Sweetooth had received its first shipment of cocoa and was ready to commence production. The goal was to make small, individually wrapped candies which could be distributed along with food rations. The factory opened on November 27th, 1939 with 18 employees who were capable of producing more than 1,250 chocolate candies per day. This was enough to meet the company’s contractual obligations as well as satisfy local demand.

Sweetooth Candy Company sources its cocoa powder from Africa through an intermediary in Brussels, Belgium. In its early years, Sweetooth’s production of chocolate candies was limited to the amount of cocoa, butter, and milk it could purchase. Wartime rationing made it difficult for Sweetooth to produce any extra candy for retail sale. After the war, however, conditions began to stabilize and the company began to expand its operations. Never outsourcing production, Sweetooth to this day still produces chocolates in its original factory outside of London, and although the production machinery has changed a few times, the Sweetooth secret recipe never has.

Efficiencies discovered through the use of production and operations management combined with state-of-the-art advances in chocolate-producing technology have allowed Sweetooth’s daily candy production to rise to 80,000 pieces (10,000 pieces per hour). Once the British market for Sweetooth’s candy became saturated in the early 1960s, the company began exporting candy to foreign markets in an attempt to continue expanding operations.


Today, Brussels is the largest export market for Sweetooth’s chocolate candies, which have maintained their small, rectangular shape. The material used for wrapping the candies, however, has changed throughout the years from what was originally paper to what is now a more foil-like casing. Sweetooth, in adopting a new wrapping material, did not replace the machines used in wrapping the candy. As a result, the foil material can sometimes slip on the conveyer belt inside the wrapping machine. This results in about 1% of Sweetooth’s candies having a loose wrapping. Because Brussels is such a large consumer of Sweetooth chocolates, the company must send shipments of the candies in bulk to Belgian regional distributors.

These bulk shipments, sent via ship and truck, are not particularly delicate modes of transportation, and as a result the candy can sometimes rattle around during shipping. This, added to an already imperfect wrapping process, causes the 1% of poorly wrapped candies to undergo an alteration of taste that has, as of late, begun to bother end consumers in the Belgian market. Six Sigma Consulting intends to investigate this matter, and make appropriate determinations regarding the steps that Sweetooth should take in order to get its contracts and client relationships back in line.