Product category:
Consultancy in Business + Management Systems
News Release from: PICME | Subject: Process consultancy
Edited by the Processingtalk Editorial
Team on 19 August 2004
Programme boosts manufacturing
operations
Surface Specialities UCB-BOPP has completed a programme of work with PICME that has seen the company achieve a series of radical improvements in a number of manufacturing operations
Surface Specialities UCB- Biaxially Oriented Polypropylene (BOPP) operation - has completed a programme of work with the Process Industries Centre for Manufacturing Excellence (PICME) that has seen the company achieve a series of radical improvements in a number of manufacturing operations Waste minimisation on slitting and coating operations, changeover reductions on the film bubble process, and rationalisation in the millroll store have all been achieved on the Wigton, Cumbria based site
This article was originally published on Processingtalk on 9 Mar 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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Based on these experiences Surface Specialties UCB's BOPP operation has now created work improvement teams of its own, founded on the manufacturing improvement principles adopted from PICME.
"The PICME approach is down to earth.
It works and it works for us", says Allan Cowan, Process Technology and Support Manager at the company.
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"No longer do we only have managers and supervisors aiming to meet targets, our shop floor operators are now using their knowledge and experience to make further improvements".
"Since the PICME exercise has got underway, our total waste figure on one process, for example, has dropped by 15-20%".
The company is now working to apply these and other savings across the other lines at the plant.
In the main bubble process area, an improvement of 40% in changeover times was achieved through the application of SMED and other techniques: "a very simple technique", notes Cowan, "that can now easily be applied to other areas".
And in the company mill roll store, the company team succeeded in clearing out redundant stock and made a full map of the store and the processes within it.
All four teams worked in parallel with each other and, says Cowan, following a brief to aim for waste minimisation across the board.
A number of additional bonuses occurred from engaging with the continuous principles demonstrated by PICME.
"One big benefit", says Cowan, "is the general increase in motivation and involvement from all in the cross-functional team, and from there, to all colleagues on the shop floor".
"We now have a situation where our operators are doing their own unsolicited continuous improvement work, including their own calculations of impact and cost savings".
Cowan adds: "The quantifiable and measurable aspects of the work in all areas have exceeded management expectations".
Annualised cost benefits of at least GBP 250,000 a year have been shown to be possible at the plant through the exercises with PICME.
And Surface Specialties UCB BOPP operation is now taking up the relatively new methods of policy deployment - a way of communicating these activities and other matters to a plant-wide audience.
"We hold regular information meetings where the activity is explained".
"It brings a common approach to the site", says Cowan.
The company has also enabled its employees to train for and receive NVQ qualifications as part of the new skills being deployed in manufacturing improvement.
Over 100 have now received training in NVQ Level II in Business Improvement Techniques and a smaller number are aiming to study at the higher levels.
"This is a recognition of attainment at a national level", notes Cowan.
"All our NVQs have been voluntary".
"We've had a very positive response".
PICME engineer Sarah Redfern notes: "It's great to see that the Surface Specialties UCB BOPP teams have maintained the high momentum set during the initial stages of the master class".
"The teams were not phased that many of the opportunities that they identified crossed many functional departments and have already delivered significant savings to the business".
The Surface Specialties UCB BOPP business started work with PICME in the Spring of 2003 after sister Cellophane operations, based on the same site, successfully worked through a number of waste minimisation issues with PICME in the previous year.
A team from Surface Specialties UCB BOPP will be presenting some of its manufacturing improvement expertise at the PICME annual conference on 7th September 2004 at Cranfield School of Management.
All in the process sector are encouraged to attend.
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