Meeting customer demand through capacity increase
BUSINESS CONTEXT
- Producer of high quality specialty alumina.
- Increasing global demand.
- All 4 plants under demand pressure.
- Capex investment in new plant on-going but timing not meeting market demand.
CUSTOMER NEED
- Increase output from existing assets in order to meet global customer demand and prevent transportation costs.
- Use Lean Six Sigma as a structural improvement tool.
RESULTS
- Output increase vs. baseline of 15 – 20% and multi million € benefits.
- At no additional capex & labour costs.
- More predictability in the daily manufacturing output.
- Translation to other plants.
CHANGES
- Installed a reliable measurement system on output and in-process metrics.
- Implemented operating standards & conditions.
- Improved feeding process control of the ovens (was considered unimportant).
R&G APPROACH
- Applied the Stable Operations concept by understanding daily output variation.
- Only 3 specific root causes identified and addressed through mini-projects.