Implementing management tools and changing behaviours for rapid increase of performance and cost reduction.
The Situation
Our client produces a diverse range of specialised organic chemicals. Their business has suffered declining product profitability over last few years. It faced growing overseas competition with lower quality and prices. At the same time, their manufacturing site in the north of England established in 1877, had increasing unit costs from inconsistent performance and rising production costs.
Poor safety, supervisory and performance behaviours, little control over the usage and cost of raw materials, contractors, overtime and energy consumption also played their part.
Approach
Advisian completed a detailed analysis of the production facilities on the site that quantified the options available to the management team and provided a compelling business case. The Manufacturing Excellence Project commenced in September 2014 had Advisian support up until June 2015, when it became the client’s Continuous Improvement Initiative and was rolled out to other group manufacturing sites.
The Advisian analysis identified sustainable, annual improvement benefits of between £2.8 million and £4.5 million. The main areas for improvement were: labor efficiency, material usage, energy, effluent and engineering costs.
Manufacturing excellence workstreams were led in both the client’s manufacturing and engineering teams to create sustainable solutions to drive continuous improvement.
Approach
Advisian completed a detailed analysis of the production facilities on the site that quantified the options available to the management team and provided a compelling business case. The Manufacturing Excellence Project had Advisian support for approximately one year, then it became the client’s Continuous Improvement Initiative and was rolled out to other group manufacturing sites.
The Advisian analysis identified sustainable, annual improvement benefits of between £2.8 million and £4.5 million. The main areas for improvement were: labour efficiency, material usage, energy, effluent and engineering costs.
Manufacturing excellence workstreams were led in both the client’s manufacturing and engineering teams to create sustainable solutions to drive continuous improvement.
The focus of these workstreams included:
- Execution Control System (ECSSM) including Dashboard Development
- Short Interval Controls (SIC) to drive Active Supervision
- Maintenance and Reliability Improvement
- Performance Management
- Energy and Waste Management
- Production, Process and Material Controls
Results
Key achievements included:
- Higher levels of consistent performance, allowing the site to more than double production volumes within 12 months and consolidate production from another site
- Increased levels of management control and consistency
- Increased workforce productivity and flexibility to allow for safe reallocation of resources in a more cost-effective manner
- Improved communication and coordination between departments with common goals and objectives
- Short interval controls installed on all critical processes
- Creation of a continuous improvement system and culture
- Reduced spending on overtime, raw materials, waste, energy and contractors
